Selected quotes from those who testified Tuesday about the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville Advancement Division deficit before the legislative Joint Performance Review Committee.
From Brad Choate, former vice chancellor of advancement, whom the university blamed, along with the division's former budget officer Joy Sharp, for lax financial oversight that led to the deficit.
"This is not a university Advancement failure ... This is a failure of the university's Finance and Administration Division."
"If this were simply a matter of Joy Sharp misrepresenting and overspending Advancement resources, the logical and prudent response would have been to remove her from budget responsibility, investigate the matter and remedy the matter in a transparent and accountable manner.
"But that didn't happen. Instead, we got months of convoluted attempts to blame two individuals and conceal information that auditors and the public could have used to draw their own conclusions. That's what happens when people have something to hide. That's what happens when leaders panic."
"A more thorough and expansive investigation must take place. I know everyone wants to put this behind us, as do I, but there are a lot of us counting on you to bring out the truth."
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From John Diamond, former associate vice chancellor for university relations and the university's chief spokesman, who was fired, his boss said, for insubordination. Diamond says he was fired because he objected to the university's inadequate responses to public records requests from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
"I will explain to you why I believe citizens of Arkansas deserve further investigation into the possibility of perjury and of efforts to subvert the state's Freedom of Information Act, which as you know is a criminal offense in this state."
[When he sought to respond to media requests for Advancement Division budget documents]: "In several instances I was told updated budget information had not yet been assembled. And I believed it, because my fellow associate vice chancellors and I were not receiving the budget information ourselves. ... It wasn't until July 22, during a tense meeting of our Advancement leadership team, that we all discovered that monthly budget documents -- public documents -- had indeed been prepared."
"A credibility gap exists, and it's damaging to the university and the state. Just 20 months ago the U of A was receiving widespread national praise for the integrity with which it handled the Petrino situation. The only way to restore that kind of public trust and the university's accountability is for some entity -- a district or special prosecutor, with or without the help of a grand jury -- to put all relevant witnesses under oath to get to the truth."
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Chancellor G. David Gearhart on Choate.
"It's devastating to me, as his friend, as someone who hired him twice. I don't know what caused that, but somehow he wasn't paying attention to the budget. But the bottom line is that it did happen. ... He did not have a handle on the finances."
Gearhart, asked why no one higher up was monitoring the Advancement Division.
"I can't say nobody was, sir. I would say the responsibility for monitoring it is in the executive that is in charge of that area. We do give them wide latitude to use their funding as long as it's done for appropriate things. And we do hold them responsible for that."
Gearhart on Diamond:
"We lost faith in Mr. Diamond. His argumentative nature. His inability to take direction. His failure to respond to requests from deans and others. His failure to answer telephone calls."
Gearhart on his role and the impact of the deficit controversy.
"This has been a humbling experience for me and the university staff. I am not here to make excuses, but to say I'm sorry it happened. I take full responsibility for everything that happens at the university."
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From Rep. Mark Lowery, R-Maumelle.
"I hope to God we are not teaching accounting at the University of Arkansas like this."
"I was surprised by the chancellor's response, in that he admitted Choate was told to destroy a document -- a document that could have been used to show his only work product during that time period, something that could have justified the expense -- because no one had FOI'ed it yet. That is ... it stretches the imagination. It shows a total lack of willingness to be transparent."
Information for this article was contributed by Lisa Hammersly and Claudia Lauer of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
A Section on 01/08/2014