Monk misses another meeting

Monk offered no explanation last night for the missed appointment, saying only, "It just didn't happen." Monk, who insisted he is "honestly trying to get the financing" to refund students who paid in advance for newspapers but did not receive every issue, said he plans to submit a letter to The Daily Pennsylvanian Monday to detail a refund plan. Friday's missed appointment marked the fourth time Monk has forced the postponement of such meetings since the attorney general's office launched an investigation of the news delivery service in February. The investigation was prompted by a complaint filed by Wharton senior Alyssa Rokito on behalf of about 120 other students seeking refunds because of poor newspaper delivery service. Rokito said the claims vary from about $50 to $150 each. Galloway, who is investigating the Penn News case for the office's Board of Consumer Protection, said "nothing is happening" with the investigation because Deputy Attorney General John Kelly will be out of the country until the end of the month. Galloway refused to speculate where the investigation might lead, but he did say his office could sue Monk unless a settlement is reached. But Rokito said yesterday that while Galloway has told her the attorney general's office will "definitely stay on the case," he has encouraged her and the others listed in the complaint to ask the University's Judicial Inquiry Officer Constance Goodman to help them resolve the dispute. Goodman could not be reached for comment last night. Rokito added that Galloway told her the decision on whether to sue Monk has developed into a political dispute between Kelly and Attorney General Ernie Preate. While Kelly may push for a lawsuit because Monk is not fully cooperating in the probe, Rokito said Preate has cautioned that suing a student may be politically damaging. But Galloway said even if the state takes Monk to court and a judge orders him to refund the students, there is no guarantee the refunds will ever be paid. The investigator explained that a judge could order Monk to repay students only if the Penn News owner has enough money to do so. Monk said last week he plans to borrow money from friends and maybe take legal action to repay students. He said any legal action would be against "other parties involved," including the University. Galloway said the judge could also prohibit Monk from ever operating a newspaper delivery company in Pennsylvania again, or possibly any company at all. Several students listed in the complaint said they intend to continue pursuing their refunds, regardless of the outcome of the attorney general's investigation. "He's still acting as if ignoring the problem will make it pass and it won't," said Wharton graduate Jonathan Eilian, who helped Rokito file the complaint. "We'll just keep pounding and pounding and pounding." Eilian said "there are many other options open to us," including filing a class-action suit and going to small claims court. Penn Student Agencies operated the campus newspaper delivery service until last summer, when University officials agreed to allow students the chance to run Penn News and earn extra money at the same time. Monk assumed control of the company in November, but by the end of the semester, The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and USA Today had stopped providing Penn News with its newspapers. Monk currently owes the three newspaper companies over $24,000. According to Monk, the problem began when the University ruled Penn News could not bill students through the Bursar's Office. He claimed the University did not inform him of the change until just before Thanksgiving, but Deputy Vice Provost George Koval said last year that former Penn News owner Mark Stanley knew of the University's decision as early as September. Last week, Monk said he would still seek payment from those students who agreed to pay through their bursar bills for issues they had received, and then use that money to help refund disgruntled subscribers who paid in advance and are now demanding partial or total refunds.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.