University of Ca "secret fund".....

[tonymom]

http://m.smdailyjournal.com/page.php?id=1776425179302

Fully understand that the budget challenges keep rising for the UC system but I still can’t help but see this whole situation in a cynical light.
As a California native and graduate of the UC system I find the whole situation disheartening. Where do we go from here? We have failed the students of our great state.

[Gator88NE]

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/04/26/state-auditor-u-california-officials-quarrel

The battle between the state auditors and the UC system will be epic.

The draft audit:
https://www.auditor.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2016-130.pdf

Specific concerns we discuss in the audit report include the following:

• The Office of the President has accumulated more than $175 million in undisclosed restricted and discretionary reserves; as of fiscal year 2015–16, it had $83 million in its restricted reserve and $92 million in its discretionary reserve.

• More than one-third of its discretionary reserve, or $32 million, came from unspent funds from the campus assessment— an annual charge that the Office of the President levies on campuses to fund the majority of its discretionary operations.

• In certain years, the Office of the President requested and received approval from the Board of Regents (regents) to increase the campus assessment even though it had not spent all of the funds it received from campuses in prior years.

• The Office of the President did not disclose the reserves it had accumulated, nor did it inform the regents of the annual undisclosed budget that it created to spend some of those funds. The undisclosed budget ranged from $77 million to $114 million during the four years we reviewed.

• The Office of the President was unable to provide a complete listing of the system wide initiatives, their costs, or an assessment of their continued benefit to the university.

• While it appears that the Office of the President’s administrative spending increased by 28 percent, or $80 million, from fiscal years 2012–13 through 2015–16, the Office of the President continues to lack consistent definitions of and methods for tracking the university’s administrative expenses.

[Zinhead]

Only $175 million? UW Madison had nearly a billion in slush funds.

http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/article/2013/apr/23/examining-university-wisconsin-system-slush-fund-i/

These scandals are no surprise. Given power and lack of accountability, bureaucrats will bend laws to their best interest. They don’t care about the welfare of the students, professors and certainly not the taxpayers.

[CTTC]

The University of Virginia had over 2 billion!

[barrons]

The article Zinhead linked debunks most of that $1 Billion down to a necessary $250 M or so which is minimal for any large operation. The state has agreed that that level is needed and proper

[exlibris97]

Spare a thought for Wisconsin. They are in even worse shape.

[barrons]

Actually UW has worked past most of the issues with state and governor and is moving on. Very little UW bashing this budget cycle. Much more supportive talk. Pols know they went too far.