Alumni Foundation cuts event ties with DSU: List includes Arts Roundup, football tailgate

The Dickinson State University Alumni and Foundation is cutting ties with the university for some events it has sponsored in the past.
The foundation will no longer sponsor the Arts Roundup and Outstanding Senior Luncheon events, and will cease ties with pregame football tailgating events, according to minutes from a Feb. 3 meeting of DSU President D.C. Coston’s cabinet.
The foundation will also cease to provide financial support to the university for the annual Theodore Roosevelt Symposium.
Reached by phone on Friday, Foundation CEO Kevin Thompson confirmed the changes, saying the decision to part ways with the university on the events came from the Foundation’s leadership. Coston’s office confirmed the decision in an email to The Press.
“We’re just evaluating everything that we do,” Thompson said. “At times, we have limits with staff and limits with time commitments. We just decided that we were not going to continue. We’re trying to partner with other entities to carry those out.”
The Foundation has come under fire in recent months due to questions about financial record keeping and questions about building project cost overruns, among other issues.
Thompson said the moves in no way signify a broader shift away from DSU by the Foundation and added that the decision was relayed from Foundation leadership to Coston in early January.
“There is not one iota of this that is pointed toward DSU in retaliation,” Thompson said. “These are decisions made by the Foundation for the betterment of our organization. I have been asked that question way too many times - it is exactly where The Dickinson Press wants to take all of these discussions.”
DSU spokeswoman Marie Moe told The Press she did not know if Arts Roundup would continue.