The State Auditor’s office issued a scathing report Thursday of fraud and mismanagement at N.C. A&T State University, where interim Fayetteville State University Chancellor Vic Hackley served until June 30.

Hackley said he spent his year in Greensboro uncovering and addressing the problems at N.C. Agricultural & Technical State University, which were left behind by former Chancellor James Renick. Renick spent almost seven years at N.C. A&T. He quit to take a job in Washington.

At FSU, Hackley has been asked to deal with troubles left behind by former Chancellor T.J. Bryan. Bryan was forced out in July.

Fayetteville State’s troubles mostly stem from poor management, ineffective leadership, poor training and poor accountability, Hackley said. At N.C. A&T, there was corruption that has led to several arrests.

“I think probably the things at A&T went on a lot longer and went on a lot deeper into the organization,” he said.

Some of the findings by the Office of the State Auditor:

• A woman who administered a research grant misused about $500,000. Some of the money was paid to her husband and inappropriately spent on her daughters — a daughter and her husband were students.

• An administrative assistant misspent about $101,000 and has since pleaded guilty to criminal charges.

• A vice chancellor misappropriated and misspent about $87,000. He also helped a vendor — a relative of his assistant — win a $93,100 university contract over two better qualified vendors and then overpaid her by $1,000. The vice chancellor was fired and faces criminal charges.

• Poor management kept poor track of about $784,000 in about 500 accounts.

• About $380,000 from a beverage contract was wrongly put into a discretionary fund controlled by Renick and then falsely described as a gift from the beverage company. Much of the money was spent inappropriately on things such as commissioned artwork and travel for the chancellor’s wife. Also, $150,000 was given to a faculty member to buy an annuity without approval from N.C. A&T’s board of trustees.

Hackley said he learned of the problems at N.C. A&T shortly after he got there.

“I began to smell smoke, then I discovered lots of things that needed a lot more closer scrutiny,” he said. He called in auditors and conducted 58 ethics workshops to show employees what was expected and to remind them that they would be held accountable for their actions.

The investigation and workshops made whistleblowers feel free to report wrongdoing. “The ethics hotline sort of heated up,” he said.

At Fayetteville State, Hackley is dealing with an undergraduate nursing program, which many students were failing, and bookkeeping problems which have gone unresolved for years.

Hackley thinks Fayetteville State’s issues are far less severe than N.C. A&T’s. “I don’t believe that we’re going to find criminal activity, misappropriation of funds and that kind of thing,” he said.

http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=270535