The best piece of in-depth investigative reporting you’re likely to read this week comes not from any journalist, but rather from the office of Eric Schneiderman, New York’s attorney general. His 55-page report into what went wrong at Cooper Union should be required, and sobering, reading for anybody who cares about higher education in America.

The story here is narrowly about Cooper Union, and the way in which two presidents – George Campbell first, then Jamshed Bharucha – managed to bring a great institution to its knees, destroying its most precious and unique principle. More broadly, the report is an indictment of otiose trustees, egotistical technocrats, and a culture where university administrators gone wild can effectively railroad all stakeholders, including students, faculty, alumni, and even the attorney general’s office.

There’s a hint of good news, too, primarily in the fact that the New York authorities were willing and able to conduct a year-long investigation into Cooper Union.

...

The AG’s report is clear: the lion’s share of the blame for Cooper Union’s current dire predicament can be laid squarely at the feet of former president George Campbell, along with the board which enabled his megalomania and created a recipe for disaster.

Campbell, and his board, inherited a fundamentally healthy institution with what the Attorney General calls “general fiscal stability”. To be sure, there were deficits, but there was no existential crisis, and the balance sheet was strong, thanks to two incredibly generous gifts dating back to 1902. The first was a large endowment from Andrew Carnegie; the second was an acre of land at the corner of Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street, which now sits underneath the Chrysler Building. (This asset – the land underneath the Chrysler Building – will end up playing a starring role in the saga of Cooper’s egregious financial mismanagement.)

The income from Cooper’s two big assets was more than enough to support a small, high-quality educational institution while staying faithful to the most important and defining characteristic of the college: that of free tuition. Peter Cooper emphasized repeatedly from 1853 onwards that his institution should be “open and free to all,” and so it was, at least for 150 years. Not only did it charge no tuition, but it also gave a bully pulpit to the likes of Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony.

...

Realistically, Cooper Union won’t be able to revert to being free any time in the foreseeable future. It’s going to be hard enough to tackle the deficit even with tuition revenues. (One of the big ironies of this whole saga is that while starting to charge tuition was hugely damaging to Cooper Union’s legacy and reputation, it hasn’t actually helped the finances very much.) But at least, now, if going free ever is possible, Cooper Union has a legal obligation to do exactly that. Which is great news.

This is not quite the turning over of a brand-new leaf that it could be. Specifically, the board has not accepted the Attorney General’s report as being factual; in a rather peevish response, they have agreed to all of the specified remedies, while maintaining that the AG’s findings are “incorrect and incomplete in numerous respects.” And Jamshed Bharucha is still hitting back at all charges that his presidency was a failure.

But thanks to the AG, the future for Cooper Union is as bright now as it could realistically be. And one trustee in particular, Kevin Slavin, has quietly started a Facebook group, called Off Script, which allows for unprecedentedly open communication between the broader Cooper Union community and the board of trustees. With luck, that group will continue to grow and thrive, and will help reassure everybody that the new board is truly aligned with the students, the faculty, the alumni, and the founding wishes of Peter Cooper.