UNH Announces - $17,570.00 Table 'Was a Bad Idea' - Granite Grok

UNH Announces – $17,570.00 Table ‘Was a Bad Idea’

new-tech-table at UNHUniversity of New Hampshire Media Relations Director Erica Mantz told the New Hampshire Union Leader that the $17,570.00 table purchased for the Holloway Commons, “…was a mistake, and it won’t happen again.”

You think?

“We believe the concept of what they wanted to do with the table was great, but we believe that it could have been done a lot less expensively,” Mantz said.

The LED table was funded through the dining and hospitality budget, Mantz said, and not from the Holloway Commons project. Construction on Holloway Commons, which added 350 seats and improved foot traffic through the dining hall, was paid for entirely through bonds issued by the New Hampshire Health and Education Facilities Authority, which will be repaid by future dining hall revenues.

But ordering the unique table for the dining hall was never part of the university’s plan.

“We work to be fiscally responsible with all of our funds,” Mantz said.

She also noted: “There are protocols in place and we believe this was an anomaly, but we are doing a full review and wherever possible we are going to change the current practice to mitigate this risk in the future.”

We appreciate the PR dance but UNH has a history of questionable spending priorities while barking at the legislature for more taxpayer support. Excuse me if I don’t take you at your word when you say “it won’t happen again.” But I am willing to wait until you’ve gone through the other 11 steps before I pass final judgement.

As an alternative, I have long argued that UNH does not need our help. That if it cut the taxpayer-cord it could then spend whatever it wanted on whatever it wanted without having to answer to the likes of me.

That’s a hint.

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