Wooster Volunteer Network
After the submission of this concern to The Voice, members of the business and finance office reached out to WVN assuring this issue would be moved to the top of their priority list and we would receive a response to our initial inquiry about the missing donation within 24 hours. The WVN does truly appreciate this response and sincerely hopes this issue can be resolved quickly. However, this issue should never have occurred in the first place, and likely would not have occurred had the Business and Finance office been properly staffed. We stand firmly by our initial statement and remain frustrated with the mass layoffs of staff, but do remind readers that the Business and Finance office is looking into the matter of missing donation money.
Dear readers,
We, The Wooster Volunteer Network, vehemently oppose the recent layoffs initiated by Anne McCall and the College’s board of trustees. In light of recent events, we would like to share additional negligence committed by the Business & Finance Office that will likely remain unsolved due to further layoffs:
We were informed at the beginning of this semester that the business office of the College misplaced our account containing nearly $13,000. This money was raised by volunteers last semester at Soup and Bread, a beloved weekly charity lunch, and was intended to be donated to the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center. We have been in contact with numerous members of the Business & Finance Office, but no effort has been made to return this money. This mismanagement represents a pattern. A pattern, we believe, which starts at the top of the pyramid. As the person in charge of these funds was fired over the summer, given the eight months in which this position has remained unfilled, it seems likely that the wrong person was fired. Perhaps, change needs to be top-down and not bottom-up.
In sharing this story, we hope to make readers aware of an additional example of gross negligence committed by the College’s administration, as we feel it is our duty as the largest organization on campus to be transparent about where our money does – or does not – go. We have a voice and a platform, and we’re going to use it. We care deeply about this community and want to ensure volunteer efforts are recognized, and donation promises are honored.
Community is what makes Wooster special. But community requires trust, and that trust is actively being destroyed. Given the mismanagement of organization funds, and the fundamental mistrust driven by the recent termination of longtime employees, we withdraw our support for this administration.
Thank you,
Bella Coenen ’26 (President), Amelia Knaysi ’26 (Treasurer), Bella Woodbury ’26 (Executive Board Member), Nate Hanson ’27 (Executive Board Member), Molly Sterrett ’27 (Executive Board Member), Cassidy Driscoll ’28 (Executive Board Member), Maida Carr ’29 (Executive Board Member), Lauren Acker ’29 (Executive Board Member)