Great Red River College legend — alas, it wasn’t true

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/08/2015 (3414 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was quite the legend while it lasted.

Alas, it wasn’t true.

One of the most popular stories on our website for a few days last week was my story on new Red River College president Paul Vogt’s contract being made public, and particularly the detail that Vogt not only pays for his own parking spot, he has to scramble for a parking spot just like everyone else on campus.

That’s what board of governors chair Lloyd Schreyer told me while explaining about Vogt’s contract and the college’s decision to make it public. “It was decided to move from the designated spot to scramble parking. The president will lead by example; he’ll scramble like everyone else,” said Schreyer.

You can read it here.

Great story, especially in the wake of the financial scandal over former president Stephanie Forsyth’s record of questionable expenses and spending decisions, and her firing spree of senior managers.

Only one problem — it’s not true.

RRC told me this morning that Vogt does indeed have a designated parking spot.

It’s not the closest spot to the building, but it’s his spot, a designated presidential parking space.

Red River says now that Schreyer was mistaken in what he told me.

This may not seem like all that big a deal, but this came as Red River College continues to clean itself up after a ghastly mess. It took eight days to get around to letting me know that what it told me, and which became the lead on our story, was not true.

The time to let me know was the minute that RRC realized that the information it had given me was wrong. That’s how I’d advise anyone to deal with a mistake — own up to it immediately, get the correction out, and everyone forgets about it and any embarrassment goes away.

Instead, eight days.

Sigh.