University of the Arts supporters call for Pennsylvania attorney general to investigate abrupt closure
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- University of the Arts supporters are not giving up on their fight for answers after the school abruptly shut down earlier this month. Now, they want the state's top law enforcement official to step in.
It was a call Friday for Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry to investigate the University of the Arts closure.
A group marched from Hamilton Hall to Love Park. Many of the people CBS News Philadelphia talked to have the same questions they had weeks ago and say they've still heard nothing from university leadership. They hope the attorney general jumping on board can change that.
"Let's not kid ourselves, this is a crime scene," Adam Nelson, UArts class of 1991, said.
Other lawmakers have been involved in the UArts situation. State lawmakers held a hearing on the closure earlier this week. City council also passed a resolution calling for hearings but people want the attorney general's office to take things further.
"To not launch an unofficial investigation, not a review, but an actual, formal investigation into the criminality, I think, of these financial issues that they won't share," Nelson said.
Students and staff said there has still been no communication from school leaders. Union officials said on Thursday a lawyer representing UArts told them the university "lacks the cash flow" to pay faculty what it's owed under federal law.
"The only communication we had from the university yesterday said that the financial information and the details of why the university closed, they said that information doesn't exist," UArts faculty member and Vice President of United Academics of Philadelphia Bradley Philbert said. "And we're willing to believe that it does."
Students and parents have also not been able to get answers about tuition reimbursement. Micah Kleit's 17-year-old daughter was supposed to start a summer program at UArts before the school closed. Despite numerous calls and emails, his $1,600 now sits in limbo.
"The only work they're putting into this now is to basically blowing off parents, pushing aside any kind of actual resolution," Kleit said.
CBS News Philadelphia reached out to the attorney general's office for comment on Friday's rally but have not heard back. Our calls to lawyers representing UArts have also gone unanswered.
