Kean table
A custom-made, high-tech conference table in Kean University's Green Hall Building is drawing criticism from students and lawmakers who question its $219,000 price tag.
(Kean University)
UNION — For $219,000, Kean University administrators got not only a custom multi-media conference table, but also a good deal of controversy.
The purchase of the table has puzzled students, drawn criticism from lawmakers, garnered national attention and even spawned a parody Twitter account that satirically brags about the table's famous "relatives," like the desk in the Oval Office.
A student-led online petition launched Wednesday calls on the school's Board of Trustees to fire university President Dawood Farahi, pointing to the table purchase and past controversies. The petition had nearly 200 signatures as of 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Kean junior Kelly Tomas, who wrote the petition, calls it a "baby step" intended to get people thinking.
She said the table is a vanity project that doesn't benefit students, and an example of poor decisions made by the university administration.
"As a junior at Kean University, I am sick of hearing something negative every two weeks in the news," Tomas said. "Frankly, it's embarrassing and it's time to do something."
The table is the centerpiece of a new, glass-enclosed conference center inside the Green Lane Academic Building, which houses the Global School of Business and the Robert Busch School of Design.
Built into the $219,000 price is an array of electronic equipment including microphones, speakers, power-outlet panels, an amplifier, an equalizer and a feedback suppressor, as well as an equipment cabinet to hold the electronics. The table was designed by a Shanghai firm to represent the artistry and history of the region of China where Kean recently opened a campus.
In a statement, school officials call the conference center and its furnishings "a strategic investment to further develop Kean as an epicenter for world-class education as well as a host institution for meetings and discussions on matters of local, state, national, and international impact."
Among students, however, discussions of potential demonstrations or other action showing disapproval of the table purchase have bubbled up on social media.
One Twitter post Wednesday shows a young man sitting outside on campus in the rain, behind a table with a $219,000 price tag and wearing a shirt bearing the words "Why not?" — Farahi's reported response when asked why the purchase was necessary.
The table is continuing to draw reactions from those outside the school community as well.
Assemblyman Joseph Cryan, who previously called for an investigation into how Kean was allowed to buy the table without a public bidding process, is now asking the New Jersey Council of College Presidents to publicly condemn the purchase.
“The Council of College Presidents should move to publicly disapprove of the infamous conference table at Kean, which comes with a $219,000 price tag, as well as the bid waiver process from which it was unscrupulously acquired,” Cryan said in a statement Wednesday. “Middle class New Jersey families are struggling to pay for higher education and a public condemnation of such reckless spending would reassure students statewide and confirm confidence in the Council of College Presidents.”
Union Mayor Clifton People has also criticized the Board of Trustees for approving the expenditure. He said the conference table's price was "outlandish."
“This is an extravagance, when in fact there are students who are struggling to get an education and could have got grants with this money,” People said.
The township of Union and the university are engaged in a dispute over the former Merck property that was once owned by the Kean family. The university, also on land once owned by the family, claims it has the right of first refusal for the former Merck tract. Union disputes the claim.
Staff writer Tom Haydon contributed reporting.
Katie Lannan may be reached at klannan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @katielannan. Find NJ.com on Facebook.