I was delighted to accept an AV engineer position with my old alma mater and I joined them shortly after Thanksgiving in 2021. I was to work alongside the internal AV team and a group of AV contractors.

It took a bit to get integrated into the Northeastern flow of things but I did so seamlessly. There were many irregularities I noticed right off the bat however, the office was very disorganized, There were biweekly meetings where everyone seemed too scared to speak their mind but perhaps they had a reason.

Unbeknownst to me, the previous AV design team had been dismissed summarily after implementing a new AV solution called NU-Flex which was an overly engineered and underpowered solution that is almost obsolete now 9 months later. Millions were spent and when it was universally panned by students and faculty out the design team went. (4 person team) Sadly so did all the data that supported the project, schematics, etc. Five different AV integrators had a hand in making these Nu-Flex rooms but there was no knowledge base about any of it. Talk about flying blind.

A month into my tenure EJ and I met to talk about how it was going and I mentioned all the irregularities I had encountered thus far and I made notes about I even introduced a few ideas that I thought would better track these issues and while he thanked me, he then reached out to my parent company to say that I was being a problem.

So flash back to where I am now. Sitting at home after being dismissed on 2/17/ 22 Northeastern because EJ didn’t like me and said my communication was hostile. I was cordial up until the last moment.

Here is my last discussion with EJ Lewis in fact from 2/16/22 the night before. Turns out IT had turned off my key card a day early by accident.

[2/16/2022 7:28 PM] Lewis, EJ It sounds like there may be an ssue with the card. They’ll have to replace it tomorrow am.

[2/16/2022 7:28 PM] Bensley, Robert Ok thank you

[2/16/2022 7:28 PM] Lewis, EJ How was 216?

[2/16/2022 7:29 PM] Bensley, Robert

A rip-roaring crying shame honestly

[2/16/2022 7:32 PM] Lewis, EJ It’s pretty stupid.

[2/16/2022 7:33 PM] Bensley, Robert I think I ripped open and trashed the equivalent of my NU tuition so it was sort of cathartic lol

[2/16/2022 7:35 PM] Lewis, EJ I had to dump 50 gallons of milk at Starbucks once. They weren’t refrigerated right overnight and barely went over the safe temp threshold. It was brutal.

[2/16/2022 7:36 PM] Bensley, Robert

but was there crying over spilled milk? sorry

[2/16/2022 7:36 PM] Lewis, EJ Not the same but it was during the Katrina aftermath and I felt like a real jerk.

[2/16/2022 7:37 PM] Bensley, Robert

Yeah, I can see that.

[2/16/2022 7:40 PM] Bensley, Robert

I have found that anytime you see financial injustice (or injustice of any kind, for that matter) and don’t feel something, that is a problem. I could not just look away in this case.

I did not realize that EJ had already turned off my office access and dismissed me without reason, or did he?

His department was pulling down Sony Laser projectors out of ceilings at an alarming rate. Laser projectors cost about 10,000 new. They last 20,000 hours. They were being replaced and recycled after 2,000 hours. They were also being recycled by A company run by a former Northeastern University graduate by the name of Sheel Dave’ Does that not seem fishy?

Sheel Dave’

In addition to Gizmodo and other endeavors, he was taking in van loads of these perfectly good Sony laser projectors and “recycling them”. I am pretty sure that those projectors were being resold and the profits were being funneled back to those two Northeastern IT persons listed above. In fact, if you do a deep dive into Both Karen and EJ’s finances you will find them spending much more money than either of their salaries would indicate just for starters.

In my last discussion with EJ above about room 216, this was a storage area that the IT department had rented over at the Christian Science Center complex. This had become a massive storage area for all the unused equipment from the aforementioned failed NU Flex systems. I had been sent there earlier in the day to literally destroy my 1980s Northeastern tuition in perfectly good AV equipment. Holy destruction Batman! (See enclosed)

I guess documenting the issue and reporting it to my contracting company is what got me another position within that organization but I am guessing that Karen, EJ, and Sheel are still managing to skim money out of the AV department at Northeastern University. If they have not been found out yet that is the biggest travesty.

I had sent this information to the Northeastern University Press in 2022 but they declined to get involved, so much for Journalism at Northeastern University Press.

So when people asked whatever happened at Northeastern University a while back, now you know. I found people stealing from the university, called them on it, and was shown the door.

When Northeastern reaches out for money I tell them I have given enough. While I have great memories of attending Northeastern University in the 1980s you can never go home again.