Use of UNLVino funds as loans will end, organizers say

My tipster was correct. Not all the money raised at the hugely popular UNLVino wine tasting under the catchy slogan "Take a Sip for Scholarship" actually goes to scholarships.

A big chunk of the UNLVino money went to construction projects at University of Nevada, Las Vegas with the approval of UNLVino founder Larry Ruvo.

After looking into it, Don Snyder, the interim dean of the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration at UNLV, said there is no indication the UNLVino money was going to some nefarious purpose.

Snyder, who started his job July 1, said one former practice is going to cease. UNLVino proceeds will no longer be used as a bank to float loans within the hotel administration college.

Former Dean Stuart Mann had authorized some loans, including an interest-free $98,000 loan for UNLV's Singapore operation. That has been repaid.

Ruvo said he never knew the money had been used for loans until I told him Wednesday. "If he (Mann) would have asked me, I would have denied it. That money stays here, and it's for students."

Snyder's reputation is that of a man of integrity. He's had an ever-evolving career as a banker, a gaming executive with Boyd Gaming, the CEO of Fremont Street Experience and has been a prolific fundraiser for numerous nonprofits.

He and Margaret Walsh, the new business manager for the hotel administration college and a CPA, looked into the records after I inquired and found nothing askew. The money was "managed properly," Snyder said. "The accounting is complicated as hell, but except for a $9,000 loan, everything is accounted for."

The only issue still pending is a $9,000 loan for a gift account in fiscal 2006, and the records aren't clear whether it has been repaid. If it hasn't been repaid, it will be, Snyder said.

Ruvo, whose philanthropy has expanded to include the creation of the $80 million Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in honor of his father, started the wine tasting in 1974 to raise money for student scholarships.

In 1999, Ruvo agreed about $200,000 could also be used in refurbishing the Southern Wine & Spirits Lounge and the Boyd Dining Room in Beam Hall. Then in 2001, Ruvo approved financing to build a lounge at the Stan Fulton Building. (Academics prefer calling them labs rather than lounges because students learn how to operate restaurants, bars and lounges at these sites.)

In 2009, Ruvo signed an agreement in which 30 percent of the money raised would go to the student scholarship endowment, which is now at $1.1 million. Scholarships would be paid from the endowment. Another 30 percent would go to professional development activities for students, covering such things as travel to seminars. Another 20 percent would go to facilities and upgrades and the final 20 percent would go to faculty and staff development.

Today, UNLVino is a three-day event attracting about 6,000 people and held at major hotels, which donate their locations. Southern Wine & Spirits of Nevada, where Ruvo is senior managing director, donated $211,859 in graphics, wine and miscellaneous expenses for this year's event.

You'd think a simple question like how many scholarships UNLVino provided in its 36 years would have been something someone would have tallied. But UNLV records were incomplete, and Ruvo can only estimate the number is in the hundreds.

Walsh's review of the past seven years showed that since 2004, there were 224 scholarships given from UNLVino's endowment. The event netted an average of about $100,000 each of those years.

Taking a sip for scholarship now has a broader meaning than it once had, but the students are still the beneficiaries, which was Ruvo's plan all along. But UNLVino won't be a source for no-interest loans.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison.