According to Ferris State’s Department of Public Safety Director Bruce Borkovich, an investigation into credit fraud on a Ferris club team was launched on April 6.
The Ferris State lacrosse club team filed charges with DPS against their former president Kieran McAlister, accusing him of charging more than $5,000 to the team’s credit card, according to acting president of the club and Ferris automotive management senior Carson Hayes.
Hayes, along with four other members of the club, went before student government during an open meeting on April 12 to discuss both what had happened, and how funding for club sports could be restructured to avoid a similar instance in the future.
McAlister adamantly insisted that the claims were false.
Each player paid $400 in dues, then at least $139 in apparel costs to participate on the team. The club is hoping to refund current members through credit on next year’s dues.
Because the team missed the Club Sports Council meetings required for the club to be funded by the student activities fund, the team was deprived of $4,000 of funding and also placed on probation according to Hayes.
“Because we were put on probation, we couldn’t participate in any away games. Our away games are advantageous to us because we don’t have to rent the field. We don’t have to pay for the officials. If you host a game you have to pay for both of those,” Hayes said. “Officials are $125 a piece for a game, renting the field is $150. You need three officials so it comes out to be just around 500 bucks a game.”
The club had just enough money left in its depleted bank account to host two home games and was forced to cancel all of its scheduled away games. The team was originally slated to play 12 games around Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio.
“By canceling those games, we lost a lot of credibility with those teams,” Hayes said. “It’s not just making us look bad and ruining our season, it’s really making Ferris as a whole look bad because we can’t follow through with promises that we made in the beginning of the year.”
Despite the near total loss of this year’s season, Hayes is adamant that the lacrosse club team will endure.
“Oh yeah, there’s definitely going to be a team next year. There’s enough kids to demand the team,” Hayes said. “We’re past this already. We’re past everything that has gone wrong so we’re just looking forward to the future and next season.”
A GoFundMe page was started in hopes of raising money to replace the missing dues in the lacrosse team’s funds. Donations are being accepted here: https://www.gofundme.com/qqz28dbw.