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THE

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

M I S S O U R I

S T A T E

U N I V E R S I T Y More than 100 years in print

Volume 107, Issue 26 | the-standard.org The Standard/The Standard Sports

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One year after Brixey’s confession Following admission of million-dollar theft, university tightened policies to avoid repeat

By Trevor Mitchell The Standard

It’s been a little over a year since former bookstore director Mark Brixey pleaded guilty to embezzling over $1 million from Missouri State University over the course of 10 years.

In that short time span, there have been significant changes to many policies within the university, and considerable progress has been made toward regaining the money that was stolen Brixey was able to perpetrate this fraud for so long due to what Donna Christian, director of internal audit and compliance, called a “breakdown of controls,” such as segregation of duties and oversight — things that the new policies in place specifically address. New contracts have been made

with book vendors that specify that money is directly deposited into the university’s bank account. One of the ways Brixey was able to fraudulently obtain money was by cashing checks for the university directly in the bursar’s office, a practice that is no longer allowed. Sonda Reinartz, the new bookstore director, said that a course materials manager position has also been created, a position Brixey previously filled himself. This divestment of power ensures that two people witness all financial

Brixey

deposits and that a paper trail is created with multiple signatures for each of the transactions. Reinartz said that this was not excessive regulation in response to Brixey’s crimes, but simply coming into line with industry practices. “I’ve been in the college bookstore for 30 years, and I have never worked anywhere where I could cash a check,” Reinartz said. Additionally, Christian noted that u See BRIXEY, page 2

3’s company

Athletics complexes nearing completion By Briana Simmons The Standard

Erin Snider/THE STANDARD

Left to right: Jordan McGee, Addison Reed, Kirby Williams, Matt Hinken, David Leehy and McKayla Baker

Three tickets looking to represent the student body discuss platforms and more in debate By Trevor Mitchell The Standard

The three tickets running for student body president and vice president came together on April 1 for an open forum, where they outlined their platforms and answered prepared questions, as well as some from students on Twitter. Presidential candidate Jordan McGee and VP

candidate Addison Reed said their platform involved looking at academic probation and ensuring students had the tools they need to succeed. They’ve also spoken with the bookstore director about a textbook rental program. Presidential candidate Kirby Williams and VP candidate Matt Hinken discussed promoting new traditions in some way, with the example of a central place where students could leave a handprint or footprint. Also in their platform is the concept of expanding Boomer Meals to non-campus restaurants. Presidential candidate David Leehy and VP candidate McKayla Baker said they wanted to work transparently with students, using a resolution tracker to keep an eye on changes, and have a comment box with a guaranteed 48-hour response time. The moderator, Communications Instructor Nora

Cox, then posed seven questions to each ticket. The members had 90 seconds to answer. Questions included, “What’s one of the first things you’d do if elected?” McGee and Reed hope to meet with administrators over the summer and improve SGA surveys; Williams and Hinken said they’d like to create an SGA summer internship; and Leehy and Baker want to get SOAR attendees discounts at the bookstore so they can have BearWear as soon as possible. The full range of questions, and the answers from each campaign, can be found in the record of The Standard’s livetweet of the event at https://storify.com/Trevorisamazing/msu-studentbody-president-candidate-debate. Voting for student body president and VP will take place online at http://t.co/IGyW7681Gv from April 9 to April 11.

MSU accreditation town hall meeting showcases university’s preparations By Sadie Welhoff The Standard

The Higher Learning Commission is gearing up to evaluate MSU for accreditation, and administration members are working to make sure the university is prepared. Provost Frank Einhellig said being accredited is an important responsibility for MSU. Without accreditation, MSU couldn’t qualify for certain federal programs, wouldn’t be eligible for Title IV funding — the federal student aid programs “that provide grants, loans and work-study funds from the federal government,” according to Trevor Mitchell/THE STANDARD http://studentaid.ed.gov/eligibility MSU President Clif Smart speaks at the — and would miss out on financial HLC committe meeting.

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resources. MSU was last accredited in 2005 and signed up for a 10-year cycle; the school will be up for accreditation in the fall of 2015. “We are coming up on what we now call a reaffirmation of our accreditation,” Einhellig said. For reaccreditation, MSU must demonstrate five criterion to the HLC: mission; integrity; teaching and learning with a focus on quality and resources; teaching and learning with a focus on evaluation and improvement; and resources, planning and institutional effectiveness. Einhellig said MSU has leeway on what is chosen for presentation to meet the criteria. Meeting the mission criteria, for

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example, means making sure the university’s mission statement is broadly understood in the school and guides school operations. In preparation for the HLC site visit in 2015, Missouri State formed a steering committee, which is headed by Tamera Jahnke, dean of the College of Natural and Applied Sciences. It also includes administration, faculty and staff members from a variety of areas, from the registrar to the History Department. A town hall meeting was held on Friday, where university President Clif Smart, Einhellig and Jahnke all asked for feedback and questions about the steering com-

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u See HLC, page 14

Small but noticeable changes are popping up all around campus as construction and design continues for the university’s four new athletic centers. J.D. Anthony, one of the superintendents of Dewitt & Associates, oversees two of the four venues, including the track and soccer field and the field hockey complex. He said the work of these projects comes in three stages: foundations, utilities and cosmetics. The first piece to go up is a precast concrete panel of the student section bleachers of Plaster Student Complex. Next, the team will work underneath the structures on mechanical, electrical and plumbing utilities. Around June 1, the field will be torn out and replaced with a new field that will shift toward the other stands. Brian Hauff, project manager from the Office of Planning, Design and Construction, said the team of construction workers and designers is doing its best so construction does not interfere with athletic teams and their practices. Although the entire field can be accessed, the north 50 yards of the football field are open to provide space for the football team’s spring practices. There’s an underground tunnel that connects different parts of campus, and one part runs right underneath the football field. “For almost any project on campus, we always have utility things we have to oversee and make sure that we don’t disconnect power to a building or something like that if we’re doing work adjacent to those sorts of things … So that’s part of what we do is to try and help streamline things,” Hauff said. u See COMPLEX, page 2

SPORTS | 6 Changes may come to MSU home game tailigating rules


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