COMMENTARY: Money Or People: Definitions Matter

UNIVERSITY CHANCELLOR, CRITICS SPLIT ON WHETHER DOCUMENT IS PERSONNEL REVIEW, FINANCIAL RECORD

I’m having a hard time working up a righteous lather about supposed stonewalling by the University of Arkansas’ chancellor.

Chancellor David Gearhart won’t release what he calls a personnel review. His critics call the document he won’t release a financial record.

Definitions matter. A financial record is a public document. A personnel record - commentary or judgment on somebody’s job performance - isn’t.

The issue here is a cash fl ow problem at the university’s fundraising office. The error left that division $3.37 million short at the end of the last fiscal year. The division has a budget of $10 million, so it exceeded that by a third.

The chancellor ordered a review when the situation came to light in July. The document that review produced has been called an audit or a financial record in news accounts. The chancellor characterizes it as a written account, not a financial document, describing the performance or lack of performance by two employees.

Now the chancellor has requested audits of the Advancement Division, the formal name of the UA’s fundraising arm. He asked both the University of Arkansas System and state legislative auditors for independent audits. We can reasonably assume those audit results will be made public.

Suppose the document Gearhart already holds is a financial one, just a bunch of figures. Why would the chancellor drag this controversy out for weeks and even months?

New audits would reveal the same finance-only information. Two plus two will still equal four a couple of months from now.

Either Gearhart’s telling the truth or making a big - and confusing - mistake.

The assumption he’s stonewalling doesn’t fit past history. In fact, it would be a pretty jarring contradiction to that history.

A mere 10 months ago, this same chancellor displayed a very clear understanding of the first rule of scandal management: Get it over with. Lance the boil and move on. He fired the most famous university staff member there was. This was, of course, head football coach Bobby Petrino, who crashed his motorcycle. Then we found out a sweet young thing who wasn’t his wife had been riding on the back of that motorcycle.

Then we all found out the sweet young thing had been put on the payroll by the coach. Gearhart showed Petrino the door in a straightforward, no-nonsense manner.

Why the change?

Somebody either leak the blasted “review” or whatever it is, come up with a better explanation or go to the local or Pulaski County prosecutor and file a criminal complaint to get the records. (State Freedom of Information Act complaints can be filed in either the county where the complaint originated or in Pulaski County, the seat of state government.) Until then, I can only assume the chancellor’s decision is dictated by either the fact or his belief the document in question really is a personnel review and not a purely financial report.

What really gripes me is - once again - a prominent public employee is being pushed out and the records saying why are kept secret because he isn’t being “fired” or “suspended.”

Public employers can’t release personnel records unless the record shows why an employee was fired or suspended. Vice Chancellor for Advancement Brad Choate was relieved of his administrative responsibilities and his contract won’t be renewed after the end of the fiscal year June 30, the chancellor has announced. But he’s not been “fired” or “suspended.”

Oh, come on.

Suppose I had a $348,175-a-year job. Suppose I found out I wasn’t going to lose it right away, but would involuntarily give it up after June 30. I don’t picture myself going home and telling my wife: “Good news, sweetheart. I wasn’t fired.”

Then there’s the unfortunate assistant to Choate who wasn’t “fired”or “suspended” either.

She was just transferred to another job that pays $22,000 less a year.

So, let’s recap here: If either one of those people had been suspended for a day, we could see the document that all the fuss is about. Instead, one’s been relieved of his administrative role while drawing pay until his contract expires, and the other lost 25 percent of her salary. And their records are closed.

DOUG THOMPSON IS A POLITICAL REPORTER AND COLUMNIST FOR NWA MEDIA.

Opinion, Pages 12 on 02/10/2013

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