School’s Darth Vader Purchase Questioned

Florida state lawmakers are questioning a university’s decision to spend $10,000 on items including statues of Darth Vader and a Stormtrooper. State Sen. Paula Dockery said University of South Florida Polytechnic regional Chancellor Marshall Goodman’s decision to spend the money on the statues of the “Star Wars” characters, as well as a statue of E.T. and a replica of Captain Kirk’s chair from “Star Trek” marks “another example of questionable expenditures at a time when we’re trying to stretch education dollars across all the various needs that we have,” Dockery and state Sen. Mike Fasano asked Goodman last week for an audit after he was accused of mismanaging the school’s money. The university said the sci-fi items were purchased to “encourage inspiration beyond conventional thought” for business students.