Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 31, 1994 TAG: 9408310056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER NOTE: below
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The news came Tuesday as the university's board of visitors released a report on the audit, launched in June when faculty gave the board 550 documents that they alleged showed financial mismanagement. Dedmon, who has been ill, took sick leave at that time, and officially retires in August 1995.
"There was no intent by Dr. Dedmon to defraud the university, although there were irregularities, as I have noted," Rector Bernard Wampler said at the close of Tuesday's meeting.
As a result of the investigation, policies governing use of the fund likely will be tightened. Broad guidelines that allow wide use of the fund, financed through campus vending machine proceeds, will be reviewed. Also, the board's rector, who historically had approved discretionary expenditures, will report on the fund to the board's auditing committee.
If such a control had been in place, "we would have been aware and probably wouldn't be here today discussing what we're discussing," board member John Clayton said.
Through his wife, Geraldine, Dedmon refused comment Tuesday.
Professor Al Pearson, who obtained the documents given to the board, and Faculty President Tom Mullis both said they felt the audit report closed the matter and that it was time for the university to move ahead.
The audit was time-consuming and exhaustive, using 75 percent of internal auditor Bill Shorter's time since June, said Wampler, who was elected rector in July. Shorter examined 268 items contained in receipts that covered expenditures from Jan. 8, 1986, to Dec. 18, 1990. He also reviewed 24 pages of phone calls from May 1987 to October 1990.
Funds were repaid for:
$1,640.20 in Federal Express charges. Many of the packages were sent to family members, including Dedmon's son-in-law, who is active in RU alumni affairs. They likely contained university-related documents for family members who served as "ambassadors for the university," Shorter reported.
$114.99 for phone calls, paid for from the university president's office fund.
$20.10 for a book called "Hurricane Hugo and the Grand Strand."
Back in June, Shorter visited both Hickory Hill, the university-owned president's house in Radford, and Dedmon's South Carolina beach house, in search of $21,377 worth of items shown in the documents. Shorter said he found almost everything he was looking for at Hickory Hill and the president's Preston Hall offices, and spent only about 20 minutes at the beach house.
Of all the items, Shorter could not find three. Missing were a lamp and a silk flower arrangement, "although there are several lamps and floral arrangements" at the house and office, Wampler said. A VCR had been damaged by a storm and replaced, he said.
"Since the flower arrangement and lamp may well be on university property, Mr. Shorter believes it would not be appropriate to ask for reimbursement," Wampler said.
Shorter also found:
Twelve instances of noncompliance with state procurement regulations, wherein purchases such as furniture for the president's home were not purchased through proper procedures, Wampler said.
$125 in overtime for a groundskeeper and housekeeper were taken from the discretionary fund instead of the university's payroll.
Shorter also spoke for the first time about the 1993 state whistle-blower audit that was revealed to the board in June when it first obtained the documents. The audit was handled by state officials under strict confidence, according to laws governing whistle-blower audits. The audit was not reported to the board because no fraud was involved.
Shorter said he did not report the audit because the state internal auditor was dealing directly with Dedmon. He said that he and Charles Wood, Dedmon's assistant, had agreed that it was up to Dedmon to tell the board about the audit.
"In hindsight, it was a big mistake. It gave the appearance of a cover-up," Shorter said.
But there are lessons to go around for those involved in the events of the summer.
"I would like to comment that the position of university president is an extremely important and powerful one," Wampler said. "Individuals who aspire to run such public universities must maintain high standards and be mindful of their responsibility ...
"A mistake was made when Dr. Dedmon did not inform the board of visitors of the state audit. While the record here is relatively clean, the board of visitors must insist that policies and procedures be followed to ensure that there is not even the suggestion of impropriety."
by CNB