Whoever is responsible for the quick shutdown of a legislative hearing last week did the University of Arkansas no favors.
What was already a confusing mess of information surrounding a multi-million-dollar deficit in a fundraising oftce on the Fayetteville campus got a little more so when lawmakers chose not to hear testimony from witnesses with something to say.
Responsibility lies with the legislators who decided they didn’t need to hear any more and with anyone who whispered in their ears that they shouldn’t listen.
The unheard testimony might or might not have made any diff erence to the lawmakers’ ultimate decision to accept a state audit of the matter. Nor might the testimony have swayed public opinion of how the UA has handled this situation.
However, not allowing witnesses to speak suggests a cover-up of relevant information. Even if there is no cover-up, slamming a lid on testimony nevertheless suggests one.
That is unfortunate. The UA has been under intense scrutiny over this defi cit and will remain under a cloud.
Had lawmakers let the whole story play out publicly, the conclusionmight have been diff erent.
The Legislative Joint Auditing Committee, which met Friday in Little Rock, had been scheduled to hear testimony from two former UA employees. Both were fired in connection with a $4.2 million deficit in the UA Fayetteville’s Division of University Advancement. One of them headed the division and the other was its budget director while the division overspent its budget.
After hearing from just one witness, a member of the UA board of trustees, the committee voted 21-13 to accept an audit report.
The move cut off further discussion.
The decision has triggered some outrage against the lawmakers and others who might have encouraged the quick resolution. Some ire is directed, too, at UA administrators, who have been on the hot seat throughout the inquiries.
The shame is a full legislative hearing at thispoint might have been a logical conclusion of this drama, which has included not only audits but also a prosecutor’s investigation of what happened.
David Bercaw, a deputy prosecuting attorney for the 4th Judicial District, led the three-month investigation.
He reported last week the prosecutors found no evidence of criminal activity in the matter.
“We do not believe that there was any criminal intent to commit fraud by any one person or group of persons … All expenditures which constitute the defi cit were valid expenditures and there were no missing funds,” the prosecutor concluded.
“This is a very unfortunate situation of a breakdown of internal control within the Advancement Division,” Bercaw wrote, recommending the UA implement all of the recommendations of Legislative Audit.
That arm of the state government issued its financial review in September, referring findings to the prosecutor collected by state auditors and by internal auditors at the UA. It was that audit lawmakers voted on Friday to accept.
Apparently, UA oft cials have since been implementing the recommendations, trying to make sure the sameproblems that developed in the Advancement Division can’t happen again.
That’s what should have happened. Find the problem. Acknowledge the problem. Fix the problem.
And do it all in a way that builds public trust.
It is that last element that has gotten short shrift from some of the problem-solvers at the UA.
It is also the part of this overall problem that most people can understand.
Many in the public just don’t get - or don’t care to learn about - the intricacies of university governance, the financial controls exercised within a campus or many of the other details that are part of this particular controversy.
All a lot of people understand is that there was a deficit of $4.2 million on campus and that someone must be accountable.
While they willingly leave it to others to sort all that out, they reasonably expect the findings to be reported fully to them.
While the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has admirably provided most of the reporting, the public expects its representatives in the Legislature to fl esh out the full story, too.
The Legislature’s audit committee didn’t get the job done last week.
BRENDA BLAGG IS A FREELANCE COLUMNIST AND LONGTIME JOURNALIST IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 12/18/2013