Texas State University at San Marcos, which has long benefited from the largess of the Roy F. and Joann Cole Mitte Foundation, has cut ties with the nonprofit organization following the arrest on cocaine charges of Scott Mitte, who was until recently the foundation’s senior vice president as well as president of its board. He is also the son of the charity’s founders.
In a letter posted on a blog for sports fans of the San Marcos campus, Denise M. Trauth, the university’s president, explains that she has resigned from the foundation’s board and returned gifts that supported a scholarship program under the Mitte name.
“For many years, Texas State University enjoyed a relationship of mutual benefit, trust, and respect with the Mitte Foundation of Austin,” the letter says. “After the recent arrest of Mr. Scott Mitte, the then-president of the Mitte Foundation, on a charge of cocaine possession, I had to reconsider whether that relationship remained in our university’s best interest, given the exemplary conduct we expect of our faculty, staff, and students. In spite of efforts by the university to come to an agreeable position with the Mitte Foundation, I have concluded that the time has come for me to recommend to the Texas State University System Board of Regents that the university sever its ties with this foundation.”
Some students and alumni commenting on the blog said that Ms. Trauth was overreacting. But the foundation has been on a downward spiral for many years, notably while Mr. Mitte has been involved with it, as The Chronicle reported last month.
Some have questioned his spending at the foundation, where he has used money to buy concert tickets and doors for his home. Foundation dollars also covered sexual-harassment lawsuits against him. Most recently, the foundation backed out of supporting various scholarships at several colleges, saying that it was running out of money. The colleges were forced to dig into their own pockets to support the students.
Mark S. Hendricks, a spokesman for the university, said the decision had been based not merely on the arrest, but also was “tied to a steady degradation of the foundation.” —Scott Carlson
