Judge Nancy Dusek-Gomez ruled that Mead had admitted to sufficient facts to be convicted of one count of larceny over $250 by a single scheme, but continued the case without a guilty finding until July 27, 2005. According to the College's Chief of Police John Carter, this means that the court will not record any finding of guilt as long as Mead stays out of criminal trouble for two years. Judge Dusek-Gomez also ordered Mead to repay the money, write "a letter of explanation and apology" to the College and perform 96 hours of community service.
Mead declined to comment on the matter, but has submitted a letter of apology to The Student. "As you are no doubt already aware, over the course of the spring 2003 semester, I abused my power as Publisher of the paper. First I would like to apologize to the staff of The Student and to Amherst College as a whole for my conduct," Mead stated in his letter. "I flagrantly violated the trust of you the staff, a group of people I have worked with for as many as three years."
"He will be eligible to enroll for his senior year during the Fall of 2004," said Paul Statt, Director of Media Relations. Before he can enroll, however, Mead must face the disciplinary committee for his theft from the newspaper.
"As of July 30, 2003, Mead had fully reimbursed The Student bank account, and we will be able to operate normally this fall. The Amherst Student will approach this incident as an opportunity for policy review," according to a statement released by Kelly Smith '04, editor-in-chief of The Student.
Carter filed the complaint against Mead on July 10, after Smith and Lawrence Baum '03, the publisher who preceeded Mead, presented him with a list of withdrawals from The Student's bank account that they alleged Mead had made. Mead later admitted to Dean of Student Ben Lieber, Carter and the court that he used the newspaper's ATM card to steal the money in a series of withdrawals and purchases beginning Nov. 18, 2002 and ending April 24, 2003. Mead withdrew money from ATMs 36 separate times and also occasionally used the card at local businesses. The amounts stolen each time ranged from $7.47 to $500. The total added up to $12,068.59
Smith first requested that Baum investigate the newspaper's financial situation because she was "worried that there seemed to be a lot of unanswered voicemail and people were beginning to complain about subscriptions not being fulfilled and bills not being paid," said Baum.
When the problems got worse, Baum scheduled another meeting with Mead, but the latter did not keep the appointment. Baum became more worried, checked the newspaper's mail and opened a bill from the Turley publishing house, which prints the newspaper. "[The bill] said we owed them what amounted to a ton of money," said Baum.
Finally, according to Smith's statement, "Mead was asked to step down from his position because it had been determined by senior staff members of the newspaper that both he and the newspaper would benefit from his doing so." Livia Angiolillo '04 replaced Mead and will serve as publisher and business manager for the remainder of the current executive board's term, which ends in November.
On May 8, Smith and Baum went to the Dean of the Campus Center Samuel Haynes, who acts as a liaison to all student organizations on campus. "They were worried about [Mead] doing something to himself under the mounting pressure," said Haynes. "I told them to contact Lieber." That afternoon Mead was finally confronted with the evidence.
"John essentially came forward, in part because he believed they had spotted the problem," said Lieber. Lieber told Smith and Baum that, in situations of this severity, the College usually takes a two-pronged approach: filing criminal charges and referring it to the College's disciplinary committee. Smith and Baum told Lieber that they were comfortable with this approach.
Lieber and Carter met with Mead and his lawyer. "Beyond meeting with John there wasn't any need for investigation. He was exceptionally cooperative," said Carter. Carter and Lieber then made the decision to file a complaint with the court on the behalf of The Student.
The newspaper's managers admit that Mead was able to steal $12,068.59 from the newspaper over a long period of time, undetected, due to The Student's lax financial procedures. Mead "was the only one with direct access to the [ATM] card. He was solely responsible for The Student's finances starting in November 2002," said Smith. "There had not been a past precedent of the editor-in-chief or other members of the editorial board monitoring finances."
The executive board of the newspaper plans to make substantial changes aimed at correcting this problem. "We will use the first few weeks of the fall to discuss our operating policies in depth," said Smith. "We have made some changes including a double-signed check policy, and I anticipate that we will implement more measures to improve accountability."
Taking more preventative measures will be essential for the newspaper, as it tries to restore its relationship with advertisers, students and their parents, and the rest of the Amherst community.
"This set us back at least one year in terms of long-term goals," said Baum. "It also destroyed a large number of advertising relationships [due to Mead's neglect of his duties as publisher] where the damage won't truly be felt until 2003-2004 and beyond. "
Angiolillo began working on the behalf of the newspaper before its Commencement issue in May 2003. Smith describes Angiolillo as "the perfect candidate; she has strong financial management and communication skills, and comes with the trial-by-fire experiences of having served as both Budgetary Committee Chair [and Treasurer for the Association of Amherst Students] and editor of the Olio, [the College's yearbook]."
Lieber agreed: "I think given [Angiolillo's] vast experience as treasurer she is a very reasonable choice. She has had to deal with large amounts of money and she has done so with integrity," he said. "I'm confident that they will bounce back and continue to produce as they have," said Haynes.
-Editors of The Amherst Student most directly involved in this incident did not participate in the editing of this article.