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State investigating finances at S.C. State University
By Scott Miller
Staff Writer
South Carolina State University recognized a potential misuse of public funds more than a year ago and quickly rectified the situation by firing one of its employees, said Maurice Washington, chairman of the university’s board of trustees.
In the eyes of the state, however, the issue isn’t over, as First Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe takes a closer look.
“I’m trying to determine whether any past acts where criminal in nature. We may decide that no crimes were committed,” said Pascoe, who began investing in early June and intends to interview several members of the university staff.
He wouldn’t be specific about the case but said the university’s board of trustees is not implicated.
The investigation stems from an internal audit S.C. State conducted in the spring of 2007.
That report identified an alleged problem in university spending and led to the dismissal of an unidentified university employee, Washington said.
The Charleston Regional Business Journal requested the audit under the Freedom of Information Act but has yet to receive a response.
Washington, however, said the document won’t be released.
“I can’t think of any higher education institution that would conduct an internal audit and would turn around and make it public,” he said. “That’s just not the norm.”
But that would be the norm, Bill Rogers, executive director of the S.C. Press Association, wrote in an e-mail to the Business Journal.
“The audit is clearly open,” he said. “Withholding audits is not common practice, and even if it were, common practice does not supersede state law.”
The S.C. Ethics Commission began investigating the university in January after anonymously receiving that internal audit. The commission has since turned over its findings to Pascoe.
A lawyer for the commission would not discuss details of the investigation.
The commission received the report shortly after trustees decided to fire former President Andrew Hugine last December.
Hugine’s dismissal was a controversial move, sparking angst and confusion from some alumni and leading to the resignation of two outraged trustees, including the board’s longest serving member Charles Williams. Williams could not be reached for comment.
Hugine would not comment on the investigation, but he recently told the Times and Democrat in Orangeburg that he hadn’t met with the S.C. Ethics Commission.
Other members of the university have met with the commission, including Washington.
“We did not oppose them coming in. We gave them a little cubicle to do whatever they needed to do,” he said. “We will fully cooperate with the solicitor’s office as well. We all have common goals here and that is to ensure that the taxpayers’ dollars are being managed appropriately.”
The university requested the internal audit two years ago “to ensure that every division, every department of the university was operating appropriately and correctly,” Washington said.
“Through that (audit) process, it was determined that an employee may have done some allegedly inappropriate things.”
He would not be specific but did say an employee was fired in response to the audit.
“The board takes very seriously the safeguarding of the taxpayers’ money,” Washington said.
Jonathan Pinson, vice chairman of the board, referred all questions to Washington.
S.C. State Senior Vice President of Fiscal Affairs John Smalls and Interim Audit Director Kelvin Washington did not return calls from the Business Journal.
Pascoe, meanwhile, said the investigation involved more than one employee at S.C. State. He wouldn’t put a timetable on the investigation.
Scott Miller is a staff writer at the Business Journal. E-mail him at smiller@scbiznews.com.
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