Union, NJ – Kean University violated the state and its own policies by purchasing a conference table from China for a total of $ 250,000, the New Jersey State Comptroller’s Office said.

Even before the university’s board of trustees voted on the purchase, the custom-built table had already been built and was making its way onto a ship from China in May 2014, according to the OSC.

Several items were uncovered during the OSC’s investigation, proving the purchase was in progress before board approval.

An email sent five months ago where the president of Kean University gave the “green light” and approved the purchase has been discovered.

Other documents, payments and correspondents were also found as evidence of the OSC’s findings.

As a result, the purchase did not follow state procurement laws and even the University’s own procurement policy.

“It was a deal done before the board vote,” state comptroller Philip James Degan said in a statement.

Kean University has attempted to claim two exceptions to the law on public tendering, including: “extraordinary non-specifiable services which cannot reasonably be described by written specifications” and “the acquisition of artefacts and d ‘other elements of a unique intrinsic, artistic or historical character’.

Despite the university’s claims, the OSC found that Kean had failed to prove how the table fell within these exceptions. The OSC even found evidence of an architect with the specs on it.

As a result of the investigation, the OSC recommended that Kean provide appropriate training for academic staff and update and modify its policies and procedures.

• Kean University Statement:

The William F. Loehning Conference Center in Kean University’s Green Lane Academic Building is a proud and positive development and asset for the University which serves the region and state. Through a lengthy due diligence process in accordance with the State College Contracts Act, the University was awarded the best value for money on a unique and extraordinary architectural device designed to support the Global Business School of Kean and others. programs. The report released by the State Comptroller’s Office contains significant omissions that explain Kean’s actions. Kean University has acted legally and transparently throughout the development process of the Loehning Conference Center. The OSC’s recommendations are already in place.

The conference center, and the university’s final decision to work with its Chinese partners on the development of the center, was the culmination of a comprehensive strategic plan for the top floor of the facility approved by the leaders of the university and the board of trustees. This strategy is in the process of being realized. The conference center has already generated invaluable interest and income from alumni, investors, business leaders and lawmakers. The Conference Center has hosted dozens of political roundtables on important state, local and national issues, including: solitary confinement; rampant drug abuse among New Jersey adolescents; domestic violence; the issues facing New Jersey’s Latino community and the nation; and the ramifications of the Affordable Care Act on business and government. The Conference Center also hosted representatives from 25 Chinese universities for an interesting session on the globalization of higher education; serves as a meeting place for members of the Global Business School Advisory Board; received the Consul General of the People’s Republic of China; hosted a remarkable exchange between human rights activists that connected Kean students with community activists in Congo and Washington DC; hosted several state and municipal agencies and officials, such as New Jersey Transit, Elizabeth Development Company, Jersey City Mayor, and Union County Acting Attorney; and has already generated a surplus of $ 22,000 in rental income and $ 250,000 in donations for the University.

Now it is a cliche. If you are a startup, you have a ping pong table in your office. Maybe if you’re one of those fancy startups, you also have a foosball table, a slide, or a corner full of bean bags. But for a certain type of business in 2016, a ping pong table is like cell phones or the toilet — it’s a no-brainer.

The table probably sits in the middle of your open plan office, a beacon of fun and youthful spirit among common desks and laptops. To be sure, ping pong tables are awesome — who doesn’t love a game of table tennis after you’ve totally passed the release cycle deadline? But your standard pong table doesn’t say what you think it is. For you, that says “we are a cool young startup who cares about work-life balance.” Just about everyone it says, “We have red cups in our binders. “

Poppin is an office supplies company that promotes itself as the startup helping other startups. It provides staplers, paper clips, desk organizers and now a new and improved ping pong conference table. Poppin calls it the “A-Series” (yes, really) and recommends it for companies with 50-200 employees. These are the types of budding startups where a ping pong table can be included in your perks package, so it’s a smart move.

I wanted to roll my eyes at another work and play design, but Poppin’s table is actually pretty cool. It’s minimalist — all white with a colored stripe in the middle — and it does double duty. The company is quick to say that it is first a conference table, then a ping-pong table. “It’s about creating meaningful corporate furniture that turns into something fun,” says Jeff Miller, head of design at Poppin. Fair enough. The table is of regulatory size (5×9 feet) and can accommodate up to 12 people. The net and paddles are hidden in a compartment that only reveals itself when the two sides are separated. That same compartment has a slot for phones or router wires, and the slot is just narrow enough that a ping pong ball cannot slip out.

For a simple table, it is well thought out. The table is built on the same beam and lever system as all of Poppin’s tables and desks. Miller explains that it would have been easier to simply build the table with a standard sliding mechanism that would allow the ping pong table to open like an average dining table. Instead, he and his team built a custom roll and stand that attaches to the beams under the table, giving it continuity with the rest of the company’s home furnishings. “I think there is a certain appreciation inherent in the fact that the system has been thought out intelligently,” he says. Of course, very few people are going to care how the table opens — they just want it to open, period.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Poppin’s first ping-pong conference table was his second bestseller, behind his binders, which are a less obvious nod to the company’s motto “work happy.” Tables cost $ 3,000. “It’s a great price for a conference table, and it’s very expensive for a ping-pong table,” Miller says. And just in case your business hasn’t quite hit conference table success levels, good news: Poppin is currently working on a coffee table that turns into a set of corn holes.

UNION – A conference table that cost Kean University $ 219,000 only brought the school $ 22,000 in rental income, but a former student recently donated $ 250,000 to cover expenses.

The university said in a press release that since the fall of 2014, companies and nonprofits have rented the conference center where the table is located to host retreats, working sessions and political discussions. .

Meanwhile, Kean announced that 1970 alumnus William F. Loehning had donated $ 250,000 to cover the cost of the Green Lane Academic Building center.

The conference center hosted seven days of events in 2015, generating $ 15,745 in rental fees, according to a report in The Bergen Record. In addition to the high-tech table, the 1,200-square-foot center also includes chairs purchased for $ 1,272 each, according to the report.

In response to a question from NJ Advance Media about the relatively small amount of rental income compared to the cost of the table, Kean spokesperson Margaret McCorry said the conference center is also an active meeting space for internal university events and is more valuable than just its rental income.

“Since the conference center opened, Kean has recouped more than 10 percent of its cost and received a donation to fully cover the cost,” McCorry said in an email. “It’s a successful fundraising strategy for the university.”

She added that Kean will continue to seek opportunities to lease the center to outside organizations.

The university’s purchase of the conference table in 2014 was met with much criticism from students, local officials and state authorities.

Kean defended his purchase at the time, telling students in an email that they were benefiting from the university’s “enhanced image” through the rental of the conference center.

“Greater brand awareness and our improved image means added market value to your Kean degree,” wrote executive vice president of operations Philip Connelly in the December 2014 email.

Marisa Iati can be reached at [email protected] Follow her on Twitter @Marisa_Iati. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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Kean University has so far paid $ 219,000 for this 22-foot conference table.

(Kean University)

The head of the State Assembly’s higher education committee today criticized Kean University for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a bespoke conference table with electronic equipment from a company in China, calling the purchase exorbitant and an emblem of misplaced priorities.

Central to criticism from Assembly woman Celeste Riley (D-Cumberland) is a 22-foot oak multimedia conference table adorned with mosaic artwork and stainless steel decorations that seats 23 people. and the ability to conference with other people from over two a dozen locations around the world. The table is in a conference center on the top floor of a newly opened college building on the school’s campus in Union Township.

The price of the table and accompanying electronic equipment is $ 219,000, according to the university, which contracted with Chinese company Shanghai Rongma Office Furniture for the table without submitting the project to a call for tender. ‘offers.

While officials at Kean University have defended the purchase, Riley and other Democratic lawmakers say it shows an administration deviating from its core mission of providing affordable education to New Jersey residents.

“This is a prime example of the misguided priorities that are failing our students and putting the university even further out of reach for them,” Riley said in a statement. “The administration’s continued justification for spending over $ 200,000 on a table shows that it is both disconnected from the community it is intended to serve and more focused on style than substance.”

Kean University spokeswoman Marsha McCarthy said the university had received a waiver to acquire the table, conference equipment and a detached console containing additional equipment for the conference center on the 6th floor of the Green Lane University Building which opened in January. An initial waiver, McCarthy said, covered approximately $ 150,000 in costs. A second waiver was obtained to make changes that brought the total price up to $ 219,000, McCarthy said, but that price is dependent on the exchange rate.

The price includes the cost of the table, mosaic artwork and motorized two-level turntable, according to McCarthy, as well as a “smart conference system,” 23 gooseneck microphones, two wireless microphones, four built-in speakers. Bose conference speakers, five output panels, a power management unit and a separate equipment cabinet to contain a feedback suppressor, equalizer and amplifier.

McCarthy said the price also included lighting, as well as the cost of designing, building, delivering and installing what she calls a conference center, not a conference table.

McCarthy said Kean University President Dawood Farahi, who led efforts to open a high school campus in Wenzhou, China, was out of state this week and was not available for an interview.

Farahi told The Record, which first reported the purchase, that the school saved money by purchasing from a Chinese company.

Assembly member Joseph Cryan (D-Union), however, called the purchase unethical and “a waste of taxpayer money.”

While some in the custom conference table industry questioned the price, others said it didn’t seem completely unreasonable.

Although the university provided a list of the electronics included in the price, they said there was no breakdown of the estimate as the table and related equipment were all included in one price. .

Paul Downs, owner of a Bridgeport, Pa.-Based custom shop, said today it was difficult to provide an estimate without further details on what exactly was in the table.

Still, Downs said he looked at what was included in the equipment and the cost seemed too high. “We built similar tables,” he said, “for a lot less money.”

Just three miles from Kean University in Irvington is Arnold Furniture Manufacturers, Inc. Mark Lipka, the managing director, said he can see the $ 219,000 prize “being in the stadium once you add the wood, metal, glass, mechanics, and electronic components.

But Lipka said he wanted Arnold Furniture to have the opportunity to bid on the project.

“We were a little shocked that we didn’t even have the chance,” he said. “This is what we do for a living. We manufacture custom conference tables.

Cryan said he asked the attorney general to review the university’s use of waivers to the public tendering process.

New Jersey Advance Media writer Ted Sherman contributed to this report.

Erin O’Neill can be contacted at [email protected] Follow her on Twitter @LedgerErin.%20Find%20NJ.com on Facebook.