University of the District of Columbia President Allen Sessoms blamed the rigors of the job, a broken bureaucracy and bum legs for his grand expenditures over the past two years, including a first-class ticket to Cairo for nearly $8,000 and a $60,000 Lincoln Navigator.
The third-year president’s defense on Monday came as about 50 student protesters called for his resignation and amid tensions on campus over proposals to end 17 major-level programs, including French and early childhood education. It followed about a week of scrutiny over Sessoms’ spending, first reported by Fox 5 News.
“These are the things that the president does,” Sessoms said, referring to a trip to Cairo to visit UDC’s sister university, the Modern Academy in Maadi, and a subsequent stopover in London to visit another UDC affiliate, the University of Sunderland.
The $60,000 vehicle allowance is in Sessoms’ contract, as is a $1.6 million university-owned home in Northwest D.C.
Sessoms said the ticket to Cairo was purchased three days before departure only because he hadn’t planned to go, but “the Egyptians insisted.” A ticket to Cairo purchased in advance would have cut the cost by about half, according to a survey of travel Web sites.
As for the first-class ride, Sessoms cited doctors’ orders on account of poor circulation in his legs.
“They need to be elevated,” he said. “Yeah, I’m gonna fly first class because I’m not going to die for any job.”
Sessoms was asked by reporters about his failure to provide receipts for his travels.
“I turn in my receipts when I return from trips; where they go from there I can’t say,” he said. “A lot of it is paper. Paper gets lost.”
Student activists who met with Sessoms on Monday afternoon had mixed reactions to his explanations.
Terrance Williams, a senior graphics major, said the blowup became an opportunity to gain concessions from Sessoms about more regular meetings with student clubs and organizations.
Student Senate President Michael Watson was less conciliatory, however, and said that Sessoms’ “tap dancing around the questions” cast him with an air of guilt. Neither did Watson buy the “paper gets lost” excuse.
“I use the same process that he uses to record my expenses — it’s not that hard,” Watson said.
