3/2/2020: Here’s hoping our bond raters aren’t paying too much attention. 7/30/2019: Internal Auditor Trisha Burnett leaving in 3 weeks From Around the O, here. If she has another job lined up they don’t mention it. When UO left OUS, it became exempt from oversight by the Secretary of State’s…
Posts tagged as “audits”
From June 8, just getting around to posting. Video here: I’m posting this in part because of today’s Op-Ed in the Oregonian from Oregon Association of Scholars President (and PSU PoliSci prof) Bruce Gilley, which inaccurately characterizes the UO Senate’s resolution in support of the free-speech rights of our students as…
Wow – this has the appearance of a big step forward in UO transparency. From Around the O: American horror writer H.P. Lovecraft famously observed that “the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” The University…
That’s the report from the state auditor, below. UO is now exempt from state audits, and its internal audit functions have been crippled since Brenda Muirhead and one (two?) of her staff left suddenly last November, after a series of disputes with VPFA Jamie Moffitt’s office. Their website doesn’t even…
2/15/2016: In Around the O, here.
11/2/2015: UO’s Chief Auditor Brenda Muirhead leaves UO after 18 months
This is really bad news for trust and transparency at UO. Muirhead was a professional with an impeccable record. Her job was to set up procedures to enhance UO’s minimal internal controls and conduct internal audits. For example, her office confirmed that UO had never done an open affirmative action compatible search for $130K VP for Collaboration Chuck Triplett. They are currently conducting a regularly scheduled audit of the athletics department, etc.
11/28/2015: From what I can tell $130K VP for Collaboration Chuck Triplett is actually going to bring his UO ethics policy to the Senate for debate and vote.
You must “make decisions based upon the greater good” and act in “wise, ethical, and prudent manner”, while not “shifting blame or taking improper credit”. And the administration thinks the *Senate* is wasting faculty time with pointless discussions?
I’ve already seen some pretty good suggestions for amendments, including the admirably brief
“University of Oregon Code of Ethics: All employees must follow the University of Oregon Policy on Freedom of Speech and Inquiry“.
If that fails, I’ll bring up my proposal for a Senate Unethical Activities Committee, with the power to investigate and blacklist offenders:
Meanwhile, rumor down at the Faculty Club Chapel (Episcopalian) is that there will also be questions from the faculty on how we can behave ethically without dedicating ourselves before God to our chosen profession, as VPFA Jamie Moffitt has been requiring the UO Police to do, ever since that unfortunate Bowl of Dicks incident:
Good thing our Johnson Hall bowl game junketeers aren’t sworn officers. That part about “never accepting gratuities” would be a problem.
As for the God business, sorry, but a higher authority disagrees: “… no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
11/13/2015: UO ethics policy requires “civil, respectful, and nurturing environment”
And if you fail to “make decisions based upon the greater good” or don’t act in “a wise, ethical, and prudent manner” or if you engage in “shifting blame or taking improper credit”, you have violated UO policy, and you are subject to university discipline.
That’s according to UO’s newly revised “Code of Ethics” policy, posted on VP for Collaboration Chuck Triplett’s website, and open for comment here.
9/17/2015: Move it along professor, nothing to see here. Really?
From: “Thornton, Lisa” <[email protected]> Subject: Public Records Request 2016-PRR-078
Date: September 17, 2015 at 11:04:14 AM PDT
To: [email protected]
Reply-To: [email protected]
09/17/2015
Dear Mr. Harbaugh-
Records responsive to your request made 9/15/2015 [for a copy of the instructions to the auditor showing what he will examine, etc.] are exempt from disclosure under ORS 192.501 (37). However, the university has chosen to provide you with the preliminary objectives of the upcoming athletics risk assessmentt, which you can find below.
The Objectives
• To gain an understanding of the athletics program in order to identify inherent risks.
• Identify systems and processes along with related controls that are intended to mitigate these risks.
• The results of this work will be used to develop a multiple year, risk based audit plan.
The office considers this to be fully responsive to your request, and will now close your matter. Thank you for contacting the office with your request.
Sincerely, Lisa Thornton, Office of Public Records
The DOJ’s Public Records Manual says, regarding ORS 192.501 (37):
Enacted in 2011, this exemption allows, but does not require, public bodies to decline to disclose documents and information related to audits of the public body (or audits the public body is conducting with respect to other public bodies) while the audit is ongoing. In order to qualify for this exemption, the auditor or audit organization must be operating under “nationally recognized government auditing standards,” and the audit must still be ongoing. An audit is ongoing when it has not been abandoned, and the final audit report in accordance with nationally recognized government auditing standards has not been issued. Note that this exemption expressly states that it “does not prohibit disclosure of a draft audit report that is provided to the audited entity for the entity’s response to the audit findings.”
9/10/2015: Page down for latest email from UO auditor Brenda Muirhead.
5/20/2015: Audit of athletic dept risks due this fall – and another cut to Duck subsidies?
The last audit cut the subsidy for the Ducks by $555,227, recurring. How much will this one save?
Whistleblowing is all the rage these days. If you’ve got some hot muck it’s a seller’s market. Investigative reporter Les Zaitz has the story on the Oregonian’s new secure drop site, here: Want to secretly submit a tip? Try our new SecureDrop …. We understand there are those with information they want…