NEW YORK STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL TO INVESTIGATE COOPER UNION

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is launching an investigation into the Cooper Union’s financial practices—and in particular its management of the land underneath the Chrysler Building, which the school received in 1902 from the family of its founder Peter Cooper, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Mike Vilensky, via Artnews.

Using the building as collateral, the school took out a $175 million loan to construct new facilities to a tune of over $100 million in 2006. Schneiderman will be examining what led to the school’s decision to start charging undergraduate tuition for the first time, last year.

Also coming under scrutiny are the “lease agreement at the Chrysler Building with real-estate company Tishman Speyer, possible inaccuracies in regards to the board’s financial decisions on the school’s website, and a board-approved bonus for former president George Campbell Jr.,” notes Artnews’s John Chiaverina.