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Thursday, August 1, 2013
A udit
Continued from Page 1 However, the audit found that the CSU sometimes reimbursed the employee for questionable, illogical and inefficient costs, some of which the employee may not have been entitled to claim. It also found that the employee sometimes failed to provide adequate documentation for reimbursement. Uhlenkamp said that of the $158,994 in expenditures, the CSU could not determine how much was used inappropriately. “Some of the travel is on legitimate CSU business … There’s a little bit of deviation,” he said. “A portion of [the expenditures] was inappropriate, but unfortunately we don’t have an exact number.” He also said that the expenditures were not the audit’s primary focus, as Quillian had originally requested an audit of the department’s practices and policies. Solomon said he was appalled by the extra findings of the audit.
“What I’m more appalled about is how [the CSU] handled the situation and not being more forthcoming with the information,” he said, “[and that there were] no stopgaps in place to stop this before this audit was done.” According to a CSU statement, the employee has reimbursed many of the questionable expenses and the system is determining further appropriate action. “The CSU places great importance on funding provided by the state and our students and it is critical that we use each and every dollar in the most appropriate way to serve students and fulfill our mission,” CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White said in the statement. “We will review our travel policies and practices to minimize any possibility of recurrence.” The statement also said that the CSU will continue to implement the report’s recommendations, which include determining the business necessity for frequent travel and improving post-review of travelrelated expenditures.
A wareness Continued from Page 1
to Aware, Awake, Alive Communications Director David Wyatt. “It’s kind of this strange thing; culturally, people just aren’t all that aware of it, and when you do hear about it, it seems like such an anomaly, but it’s really pretty common,” Wyatt said. “The shame is that it’s not like it happens to bad kids who willfully don’t take their friends in. They just think like we all do. He’ll sleep it off or puke and wake up in the morning.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in three college students binge drink, which the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines as drinking that consists of five or more alcoholic beverages for men and four or more for women in one occasion. CSU Spokesman Erik Fallis said the difference between this program and others is that Aware, Awake, Alive incorpo-
Courtesy
of
Aware, Awake, Alive
SLO freshman Carson Starkey died of alcohol poisoning in 2008 at the age of 18.
rates a peer-to-peer tool. “It’s designed to empower students to make the call of whether or not there is an alcohol poisoning, medical-related emergency going on,” Fallis said. Wyatt said there are already some alcohol awareness programs at California
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Other questionable expenses listed in the audit report: • The SRM employee spent and was reimbursed for an $80 visit to Sheldric Farm, a giraffe center, in Nairobi, Kenya, and Kazuri bead shop in August 2012. The employee also spent $180 on a trip to Nairobi National Park in the same month. • The employee claimed and was reimbursed for two hotel room upgrades in San Francisco, which totaled to $86 in additional cost, without justification. • The employee frequently used valet parking, electing to spend $19.95 for valet parking rather than spend less for self-parking. The employee also stayed in hotels that only provided valet parking. • During all four trips the employee made to London during the period reviewed, the employee exceeded the maximum rates — set by the CSU for international travel — for hotel expenses by more than $200 per night. • In October 2011, the employee and a colleague traveled to Israel and Ghana, a trip for which the employee claimed $10,433 in total expenses while the colleague claimed $5,125 total. The differences resulted from the colleague’s staying in less expensive hotels and lodging offered by local universities, as well as claiming fewer meals because many of the meals had been provided. Source: CSU audit report
colleges but that there wasn’t much of an on-campus presence, something the organization seeks to change. Aware, Awake, Alive plans to train people in the CSU system to do presentations on each of the campuses, according to Fallis. He said the right people are already in place; it’s just a matter of getting them together and making it happen. The program has grown via word of mouth within the CSU system and is already available to students on eight of the 23 campuses, including SLO and Cal State Long Beach, according to Fallis. Fallis said the CSU doesn’t have a planned timeline for implementing the program system-wide but that the program will be available on all campuses as quickly as possible. Wyatt said the organization would like to see it fully operating by Week of Welcome, which is held the second week of fall semester. Aware, Awake, Alive’s resource toolbox can be accessed online at www. awareawakealive.org/toolbox.
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