Tune into the first episode of “Inside HCCS”!
The Board of Trustees of the Houston Community College System will meet as a Committee of the Whole this Thursday, January 16th, 2014 at 12:30 p.m. OR AFTER, and from day-to-day as required, at the HCC Administration Building, 3100 Main.
The agenda item that caught my eye is topic II, A -4:
“Extension of Contract with Qatus Advisors and Any Other Related Matters”
A quick Yahoo! search on the keywords Qatus Advisors yields this result. Chase Untermeyer served for three years as the United States Ambassador to Qatar under President George W. Bush. Mr. Untermeyer’s resume identifies him as the Managing Partner, Qatus Advisors–September 2007 – present.
In this September post I wrote a source intimately familiar with the HCC District II Trustee race stated Bruce Austin told the Chronicle board that HCC was looking into two accounts; one is associated with the Qatar campus.
- Will Dave Wilson sit at the dais?
- Will anyone from Qatus Advisors be present at the Thursday meeting?
- Has Gigi Do prematurely returned from her two year, tuition & fees and transportation paid for by YOU (including two years’ salary) sabbatical at UT-Austin? Psst—-I know she has come back to Houston….wink, wink. What a shame for her to interrupt full-time pursuit of her Ph.D.
If you can’t attend in person you can watch the meeting LIVE!
We’ll soon learn if all is well over at HCC!
Anxiously awaiting your after action report Yvonne…
Sources have informed me that the whole Qatar fiasco may have been the brain child of the partnership via Untermeyer and Fonteno.
Dave Wilson won, again, this morning and he will be at the HCC meeting tomorrow.
Brief review of HCC BOT meeting of January 16th: review of board video reflects Mr. Untermeyer was present and gave a short verbal presentation to the HCC Board. Trustee Wilson stated during his campaign he knocked on over 1000 doors in District II and not one person he spoke with in District II was in favor of continuing the contract with CCQ. His constituents felt CCQ was outside the mission statement of the education code and that HCC should get out of Qatar as soon as we can. Mr. Untemeyer also stated professional contacts were leveraged to secure a 2016 Presidential debate at HCC in 2016 and that “we” (I assume he means Qatus Advisors) are not advocates for the relationship but serve as a liaison to provide oversight of contractual obligations, and keep the HCC Board informed.
It was expressed during the meeting that “we haven’t exchanged any students” and “we’re kind of in the dark…and took the word of the Chancellor”.
Exit question: Was the CCQ/ HCC contract reviewed by an attorney? Are HCC taxpayers and the broader constituents of Harris County, Fort Bend County aware of the terms & conditions of the CCQ/ HCC contract?