Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

In March, Papitto filed suit in March, accusing Roger Williams of reneging on its agreement to pay Kentron Associates $8.4 million for the purchase of the former 33-acre Best Western Baypoint Inn and Conference Center. Kentron, a limited partnership Papitto created, bought the inn in Portsmouth for $2.7 million in 2000; it was transformed into a residence hall to help lessen a housing crunch.

The university filed a countersuit the same day, accusing Papitto of defrauding the school by using his position as board chairman to orchestrate a bad deal for the university. It alleges that the university agreed to pay $2.7 million for the inn, but Papitto persuaded the board to let him purchase it under terms he said would benefit the school.

Instead, Papitto, through "bait-and-switch tactics," designed a lease agreement that did not reflect the terms the board agreed to, "to enrich himself at a significant cost to the university," the suit says.

Papitto is the founder of Nortek Inc., a Fortune 500 manufacturing company, who gave $2.8 million to the university through the years. After a protest by students following the disclosure that the then board chairman used a racial epithet, Papitto asked that his name be removed from the law school's title. It is now called the Roger Williams University School of Law.