their fellow mooers or quackers.
The activity was part of a program that the on-campus group GROW started this year. Erica Bennett, a junior from Emporia and co-coordinator of GROW, said the club is an initiative to promote healthy habits.
To better promote this initiative, the group designed a year-long program with monthly themes to teach third- and fourth-graders at the school how to become healthier, both mentally and physically. This month's theme is teamwork. The children played games where they
SEE GROUP ON PAGE 3A
ADMINISTRATION
Monica Powers, left, and Erica Bennett, are co-coordinators of GROW, an on-campus group that promotes healthy habits for children.
Audit finds School of Business to be mostly consistent in course fee usage
BY GARTH SEARS
gsears@kansan.com
Of the $30 million the School of Business has raised since 2004 from course fees, a third-party accounting firm reported that the school spent 99.8 percent appropriately.
The report "confirms that we have used those funds for the benefit of our students and the advancement of the programs in our school," said William Fuerst, dean of the School of Business.
The report addresses concerns from several MBA students who lodged complaints with the Kansas Board of Regents this summer. The findings are from an audit by BKD LLC, the same accounting firm that investigated the Athletics Department ticket scandal.
Some of the MBA students also called for Fuerst to be fired. He announced Sept. 22 that he would step down after the academic year, but a school spokesperson told The University Daily Kansan that his
resignation wasn't related to those demands.
BKD LLC's audit found that 0.2 percent, or about $60,000, of the $30 million in spending was inconsistent with the original fee proposal. BKD reported that almost $28,000 in payroll to some professors over the summer of 2005 was inconsistent with the fee proposal. The audit also found that the school used more than $24,000 of course fees inappropriately to pay for fees related to accreditation and membership in the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.
The school instituted the course fees in 2004, and the tuition proposal for it specified where the money could be used.
The proposal established a student advisory committee, responsible for overseeing how the course fees were spent. But the committee was disbanded by 2006, perhaps the students' biggest complaint.
Provost Jeffrey Vitter called dis-
banding the committee "an oversight," and said that keeping the committee might have prevented conflict.
Course fees, also called differential tuition rates, represent about 40 percent of the school's budget. On top of normal tuition, business students paid an extra $102 per credit hour in course fees this semester, and master's business students paid an extra $187 per hour.
The committee was re-established Oct. 21 and agreed to meet again to discuss the findings of this review.
"Could we have avoided the controversy by having a mechanism in place?" Vitter said. "I think the answer is yes."
BKDS report, released Thursday,
includes an appendix accounting
for just under $30 million, listed
by year and broken down into 17
categories of spending.
Vitter said the committee will receive reports on expenditures and planned expenditures in the future.
"If this doesn't answer the issues of critics, then that's their issue," Vitter said. "I don't think anything
Although BKD found that the school spent nearly all of the fee money appropriately, the report also said the fee proposal was wague in places and that "there could be differences of opinion" about whether an expenditure conflicted with the fee proposal.
will ever answer their issue."
In a response letter at the end of the report, Fuerst said the school will review what BKD identified as inappropriate spending with the student advisory committee.
The provost's office contracted BKD to perform the audit, which cost an estimated $50,000 and was overseen by a committee of students, faculty and staff. The provost's office paid for the audit with private donations.
Edited by Alex Tretbar
sustainability, but is perfect
Columnist Kate Larrabee explains how the University scored a higher grade this year, but still needs more student involvement and leadership in sustainability. Kansas received a 'B,' just behind Texas and Colorado.
CLUBS|6A
The University's new paintball club is starting practices for competitive and recreational players alike. The members hope to compete against other schools later in the year as well.
Resurrected club lets the paint fly in growing sport
INDEX
Classifieds...2B
Crossword...4A
Cryptoquips...4A
Opinion...5A
Sports...1B
Sudoku...4A
WEATHER
Rain/Thunder
Partly Cloudy
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