State Auditor Says Allegations At WSU Have Merit School Denies Record-Keeping Problems, Money Misuse At College Of Education

Seven of 12 allegations of money mishandling and record-keeping problems in Washington State University’s College of Education have merit, the Washington state auditor said Tuesday.

And WSU Education Dean Bernard Oliver should either provide better documentation for more than $800 he spent on travel and entertainment or reimburse the university, the auditor’s report said.

A WSU spokesman said the university had just received the report and isn’t ready to comment. However, the university disagreed with most of the conclusions in its written response to the auditor.

The allegations were raised two years ago by a whistleblower who was dissatisfied with WSU’s internal review of the complaints, according to a report issued by Auditor Brian Sonntag. The complaints cover everything from the dean’s expenses to a lack of training for people who track college transactions.

The auditor’s office concluded five of the other allegations were unfounded.

Sonntag said the issue is not what the money was spent for or the amount.

“It’s serious because we are talking about the control the public entity has over public money,” he said in an interview Tuesday. “Their operation is going to be as sound as their internal controls are strong.

“If the controls aren’t good, the risk is the amounts could be quite a bit higher.”

The auditor’s office will not levy penalties against WSU as a result of this investigation.

Instead, the auditor sees this as a management tool that WSU can use to make things work better. “I don’t think any individual was trying to use the system and take any advantage of it,” Sonntag said.

In two of the seven instances where the auditor found problems, the allegations were “substantiated as a violation of state law,” the report said. In two cases, the auditor found the allegations were “partially substantiated as a violation of state law.”

WSU’s own policies were violated in at least one instance. Other allegations will be forwarded to the state’s Executive Ethics Board for review and possible sanctions, the report said.

The Executive Ethics Board was created by the Washington Legislature in 1994 and is made up of citizens and state employees. It has the authority to recommend reprimands, employee dismissals, and monetary penalties.

Oliver did not return telephone calls. However, WSU officials disagreed with the auditor’s findings at nearly every turn.

For example, the auditor’s staff questioned why Oliver was reimbursed for $746 in entertainment expenses without providing the names of the people he hosted in six separate cases. After obtaining further documentation from Oliver, “we do not believe that reimbursement is required,” WSU wrote to the auditor’s office.

In the case of three missing receipts for $272 in meals, the dean followed university policy for “lost meal receipts” also negating the need for reimbursement, the university said.

WSU did agree, however, that Oliver should reimburse the university $84. That was necessary not because of wrongdoing, but because a receipt was misread and Oliver accidentally received more money that he had coming, the university said.

The money in question went for film Oliver purchased for a trip to Japan for “donor cultivation,” the report said.

WSU did revise a policy prohibiting employees from authorizing their own reimbursement for personal expenses. But its own investigation concluded that “the questionable and inadequately documented items noted in the report were determined to be allowable and no further action necessary.”

Sonntag says WSU’s documentation essentially is “too little, too late.”

, DataTimes