Military academy alumni call for inquiry

A long-simmering feud between a small group of alumni and the administration of Valley Forge Military Academy and College has erupted into a major battle as both sides hurl allegations and threaten legal action.

After three years of attempting to take their complaints to the school's trustees, the alumni group, known as the Valley Forge Old Guard, plans to call on the state attorney general to investigate the nonprofit that runs the school.

In letters scheduled to be delivered tomorrow to Gov. Rendell, Attorney General Tom Corbett, and other state officials, the group charges that top administrators and the board of trustees are mismanaging private and state funds.

The alumni group blasts the school's leaders for increasing the amount paid to top executives by 47 percent in one year and for spending more than $1 million on legal fees for "frivolous" lawsuits against critics.

The alumni group, which has 93 members, also says that the school has filed incomplete nonprofit tax forms with the IRS.

The trustees "are failing to exert the oversight that is required of them as fiduciaries of the school and the foundation," said Art Houston, a 1970 alum and Old Guard official.

John Miller, a school spokesman, called the allegations "unconscionable" and "irresponsible."

"They are slanderous to the school; slanderous to the head of the school," said Miller. "And rest assured, Valley Forge will soon file a lawsuit against these individuals."

Miller added: "This little band of guys is clearly intent on destroying the school. They would rather burn it down than not get their way."

Under state law, the attorney general is responsible for ensuring that assets of charitable trusts and nonprofit organizations are safeguarded.

Nils Frederiksen, a spokesman for Corbett, said the office reviews all complaints. He declined to comment because the attorney general had not yet received the Old Guard letter.

Last week, Valley Forge announced an ambitious plan to build a $32 million academic facility so the junior college could more than double its enrollment in 2014.

Old Guard officers labeled the announcement a diversionary tactic.

"I would refer to it as 'spin,' to take eyes away from the real questions the alumni are asking," said Alastair G. Crosbie, a 1990 graduate and a board member of the Old Guard.

The call for the state investigation is the latest salvo in a three-year dispute between some alumni and the administration over the management and future direction of Valley Forge.

The school was founded in 1928 as a private, all-male college-prep boarding school. The two-year college later became coed. This year there are 307 students from seventh grade through postgraduate at the military academy and 219 cadets at the junior college.

The Old Guard said it gathered more than 1,000 signatures of alumni, former trustees and faculty, and parents on petitions calling for the removal of Charles A. "Tony" McGeorge as president. The petitions were sent to school trustees this month.

In addition to the financial concerns, Old Guard members said they are seeking McGeorge's ouster because he eliminated the junior ROTC program, abandoned various military traditions, relaxed strict disciplinary rules, and alienated many alumni.

Miller said neither McGeorge nor trustees chairman William R. Floyd Jr. would comment on the Old Guard's complaint to the attorney general.

During an interview about the new building last week, Floyd dismissed the petition.

"We have made it very clear that the board of trustees is 100 percent behind Tony McGeorge," said Floyd, a 1963 graduate.

He pointed out that the Old Guard is not the official Valley Forge alumni organization. Niles P. Dally, chairman of the Valley Forge Military Academy Alumni Association, the official group, noted that the alumni association has 8,000 members compared with the critic group's 93.

"I am perplexed by their attitude, said Dally, a 1963 graduate. "If the attorney general were to look into everything, he would find that the school is being well-managed and there is no problem with money except in the mind's eye of these individuals."

The Old Guard claims that staff changes since 2004 reflect a school in turmoil. More than 160 staff and faculty have left, including six commandants of cadets, four academy deans and five college deans.

Ninety-five cadets have departed since October, they said. Miller said the number was 90 and included 16 who withdrew for financial reasons.

Old Guard members say they are troubled that Valley Forge's nonprofit tax forms show money spent on executive salaries jumped in one year from $341,113 paid to three executives in 2005-06 to $642,170 paid to five executives in 2006-07. McGeorge's salary increased from $130,769 to $194,758.

Miller countered that two vacant positions were filled and said that a chief financial officer was hired to replace a financial consultant.

In the letter to Corbett, the Old Guard suggests dissolving the current board and replacing it with an interim board appointed by Corbett.

Letters also are scheduled to be sent to legislators who voted in 2007 to designate Valley Forge the state's "official military college."

McGeorge has said the school hopes the designation will help the college become the primary commissioning source for young officers in the Pennsylvania National Guard. Using federal money, the state covers the cost to commission guard officers.

Just under 8 percent of the school's revenues of $27.4 million in 2006-07 came from public funds, tax forms show.

"If they [trustees] went behind closed doors and talked to us years ago, we would not be at this point," Crosbie said, referring to their three-year effort to meet with trustees.

As an indication of the bitterness, Old Guard president Peter Robinson, Crosbie, Houston and two other Old Guard leaders were barred from campus last week. Floyd, the trustees chairman, told the men they had been designated persona non grata and would be prohibited indefinitely from entering the school's 120-acre campus, and excluded from Valley Forge-sponsored events on campus or off.

In his letter, Floyd accused the Old Guard officers of sending a threatening letter to McGeorge on March 23, improperly attending a closed trustees meeting, and stalking and harassing parents who were leaving a parents' association meeting.

"Your actions constitute a reckless disregard for VMA&C's reputation and have damaged VFMA&C's ability to recruit and retain students, impugned the professional reputations of various staff and board members, and resulted in a significant loss of income to the institution," Floyd wrote.

The Old Guard leaders have denied the allegations and said the March 23 letter had asked McGeorge to step down in June in response to the group's petition.

The alumni group has been at odds with Valley Forge since July 2005, when trustees named McGeorge president. A former health and marketing executive, McGeorge is the school's first civilian president.