Can't trust college kids with money

Florida Atlantic University is the target of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency investigation, correspondence between the agency and the university confirms.
At issue are taxes on about $200,000 of work that the university's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute had done outside of the country on its flagship research vessel, the Seward Johnson. The Seward Johnson sailed to the Bahamas in April to be retrofitted after it was put up for sale. Once a ship re-entered U.S. waters, taxes on out-of-country repairs and refurbishment work were due.
A written Customs notice provided by the university shows the ship was detained in May, but an FAU spokeswoman said it is now free to sail. "Harbor Branch is currently working with Customs to assist in its inquiry," the university said in a written statement, adding that it will "appropriately respond" when Customs has determined what is owed. "The question of what, if any, duty is owed has not yet been determined."
According to sources close to the university, George Gunther, the ship's long-time captain, protested to Harbor Branch about its delays in providing information needed to make sure taxes would be paid. Gunther has since resigned, and declined comment for this story.
A Brazilian environmental consulting firm, Cepemar Group, appears to be the front-runner in the sale. It has chartered the ship and is now negotiating its purchase. It's not known if the retrofitting in the Bahamas was part of the proposed sale, or who ordered and paid for the work.
Craig Ash, general manager for a Boca Raton-based arm of Cepemar, declined to comment on who paid for the repairs, citing ongoing sales negotiations for the ship. Ash, however, said he was unaware of any dispute over taxes.
Named after Harbor Branch founder J. Seward Johnson Sr., the 204-foot Seward Johnson is best known for its two Johnson-Sea-Link four-person submarines. The bubble-faced submersibles helped pinpoint the wreckage of the space shuttle Challenger, retrieve the anchor of the Civil War's USS Monitor, and have transported Harbor Branch scientists in thousands of marine research operations.
The backbone in this submarine work has been the Seward Johnson, whose 18-ton crane is specifically outfitted to launch the subs to depths of as much as 3,000 feet.
But the Seward Johnson and its submersible operations have been operating at a loss of up to $2 million a year. A leasing arrangement with Cepemar would ease the money strain while still allowing Harbor Branch to use the ship in some instances. And Harbor Branch, which merged with FAU in 2007, can still use ships that are part of the University National Oceanographic Laboratory System, a network of ocean research vessels.
"We get attached to things which may be emblematic, but science does not stand still," said newly named FAU president Mary Jane Saunders. Saunders pointed out that safer, more cost-effective ways of ocean exploration now exist that do not depend on aging technology.
Still, "I'm very sad about the loss of the Seward Johnson primarily because of what it means in terms of the loss of the Johnson-Sea-Link submersibles to science," said Edith Widder, CEO of Fort Pierce's Ocean Research & Conservation Association Inc. "They have been the center piece of many National Geographic, Discovery Channel, PBS, and BBC productions and draw intense public and student interest."
Losing the educational tools, said Widder, "will be devastating to many more than just the scientific community."