Oregon daily emerald., July 14, 1983, Page 2, Image 2

Food-Op’s ‘scam’
threatens work-study
The Food-Op’s apparent abuse of federal work-study
funds could lead to criminal convictions for those involved,
and may ultimately jeopardize all of the University’s work
study programs.
An internal audit conducted by the University has reveal
ed work-study time cards which show an "overlapping” of
class and work hours. Gerald Moseley, associate provost for
student affairs, notes the Food-Op's records show individual
conflicts on hours.
The reason for the overlap, according to Kevin Kouns,
ASUO vice president, is that work-study time cards don't
allow for segmenting work hours during the day. Students
would put their hours into a block when actually they should
have been divided up by classes and other activities.
Kouns’ smoke screen of innocent error disguises the
true facts behind the Food-Op's work-study “scam.”
Further charges were made that the Food-Op falsified
payroll records for work-study students not employed there.
It’s also charged that the Food-Op paid non-work-study
students from unused funds allocated to work-study
employees.
As if to plaster a spreading crack on a shaking dam, the
ASUO is now changing the format of work-study time cards
to reflect an accurate accounting of hours. The ASUO is also
considering a sheet explaining to students their responsibili
ty for correctly recording their work-study hours.
This step seems to be a late move to lessen ASUO pro
gram director's liability for any misuse of work-study funds
that may occur. It seems the wrong people are being held ac
countable to plaster the cracks in the dam.
It was a student who blew the whistle on the Food-Op.
The student, who applied for a job as an accountant, was ask
ed during a job interview if she was willing to falsify time
cards. The Food-Op students conducting the interview claim
they were just “testing” the applicant.
We wonder about the purpose of such a self
incriminating test. Was it to determine if the applicant would
falsify hers and others’ time cards or that she would not
report any falsification?
The student refused to falsify work-study time cards and
— ironically — wasn’t hired Perhaps her honesty failed their
test.
bhortly after this the Food-Op hired an accountant. We
wonder what was that applicant's response to any interview
questions testing his character?
Pat McGurk, the former director of the Food-Op, has
been less than forthright throughout the auditors investiga
tion McGurk has been saying one thing to one person, then
saying the opposite to someone else. Fie offered to open the
Food-Op records to University auditors at a May 26 hearing.
When auditors went to examine the records at the Food-Op,
McGurk told them the Food-Op didn’t keep records.
There must be records despite McGurk’s inept attempt
to stall the auditors. If McGurk has the records, no one else
seems to be able to locate them, he should hand them over
The consensus opinion among those involved in
auditing the Food-Op seems to be that there was criminal in
tent in the signing of the time cards. The audit shows 16 dif
ferent students accumulating 361 overlapping work-study
hours (when they were actually in class) between July '82 and
April '83.
We resent the intimation that the people at the Food-Op
were just — aw shucks — sloppy bookkeepers. Flow long
have the records (what scraps must exist) at the Food-Op
been in such disarray? Why have funds — student, University
and federal — been consistently provided for a program with
such a shoddy record of accounting?
The time card hours may be the least rotten aspect of
this situation. The work-study “scam” presents a definite
possibility the federal government will become involved
because their money is an integral part of the work-study pro
gram. If federal money was fraudulently used by the Food-Op
the University may be required to pay it back.
What comes of this “scam" is that some students may
face criminal charges, but the rest of us will end up paying
for their abuses
r
I your turn
Hotchkiss clarifies ASUO role
The July 5 closure of the Food-Op store
seems to have generated some misunderstan
dings between the Emerald and the ASUO. We
hope the following information will clarify the
situation.
The Emerald’s July 7 story and editorial
left the readers with the impression that the
ASUO closed the Food-Op. This is not the case.
The decision to close the Food-Op store was
made by the Food-Op Collective because of
financial difficulties which began with a stu
dent complaint concerning the store’s use of
work-study funds.
This complaint led the business office to
initiate a preliminary investigation into the ac
curacy of the store employee time sheets. Pen
ding the outcome of this audit, Gerry Moseley,
associate provost for student affairs, and Ed
Vignoul, director of financial aid, suspended
the Food-Op's access to work-study funds. As
of July 5, the Food-Op had no work-study funds
to pay its employees and was forced to close.
The Emerald’s editorial also expressed con
cern that the ASUO had become involved in the
activities of a non-profit corporation that does
not receive IFC funding In fact, the relation
ship between the ASUO and the Food-Op is am
biguous. The store was IFC-funded from its in
ception in 1975 until 1979, when the IFC limited
its financial support to the outreach program
The outreach program has annually requested
that the ASUO Comptroller’s office create a
special account into which the store has
deposited money to pay its work study
employees.
This leaves the relationship between the
ASUO and the Food-Op store unclear. Are the
store and the outreach program one entity
which receives IFC funding for only a portion of
its activities? Or are the store and outreach pro
gram separate organizations with the ASUO
having no responsibility for or relationship with
the store? Legalities aside, the fact that the
Food-Op's work-study funds had been run
through an ASUO account left us with no op
tion but to consider ourselves involved in thi»^
At this time the Food-Op situation involve^^
legal and financial issues beyond our control.
We do not know what the results of the audit
will be; nor do we know if the ASUO could be
held responsible should any errors be found.
We do not know if the Food-Op will reopen
under new management. From the state of the
store’s financial records, it is unclear whether
the store will have enough assets to cover its
outside debts, much less allow it to reopen.^
We regret that our attitude has appeared
‘‘tight-lipped.” That certainly has not been our
intention We felt that it would be irresponsible
to speculate too much at a time when the situa
tion remains cloudy and confused.
As we receive more information, we will
pass it along to the Emerald and the students.
We share students' concerns about the loss of
the Food-Op, and hope that a similar servic^^
will be available on this campus in the future^H
Mary Hotchkis?^^
Mary Hotchkiss is the ASUO president
J
letters
Audacity
State Senator Margie Hen
driksen displayed remarkable
audacity recently .'or opposing
the sale of Coor's beer in
Oregon because of the com
pany supports “right wing
causes.” So much for liberal
fair play
I have never heard a conser
vative Oregon legislator ever
propose such treatment
against any corporation sup
porting "left wing causes."
;r, »(;
emerald
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Conti or tar
Debbie Hewlett
Sandy Johnstone
Con Fernaid
Mar* Pynea
Joan Herman
Jim Moore
Brooks Darett
Michele Mataasa
Con Fernaid
Oartene Gore
Sally Ol|ar
Vic tone Koch
Jean Ownbey
But then again, I guess many
liberals support the old double
standard of only defending a
person's ability to exercise
their constitutional rights as
American citizens if they
agree with their standards.
Hendriksen may feel she
has won a victory for
liberalism through her actions.
Instead she has made many
people wonder if there is
much of a distinction between
modern liberalism and old
style fascism
Michael Cross
senior, political science
Money's worth
The Oregon Student Lobby
was a nice idea, but its time
has come and gone The ASUO
should withdraw from OSL
and use the $20,000 savings to
hire its own researcher and
lobbyist as part of a restructur
ing of the Office of Student
Advocacy. University students
are simply not getting their
money’s worth by continuing
to buy in to a fragmented and
lackluster program like OSL.
The theory behind OSL is
that students should present a
united front on issues of com
mon concern. The ASUO
should think first of the in
terests of University students,
which sometimes differ from
those at other schools. For ex
ample, one bill in the 1983 ses
sion dealt primarily with help
ing students get the right to
appeal to the Oregon State
Board of Higher Education if
they don't like their institu
tion's fee allocation recom
mendations. University
students already have that
right through an agreement of
many years standing with the
administration here.
It is true that students at
some schools are less capable
of looking after their own af
fairs than are University
students, but why should we
pay 30 percent of the OSL
budget for the same voting
power on it boards as a school
that pays 5 percent, then
watch the board spend our
money on their issues? Let’s
support our own student’s
needs first.
Alan Contreras
second-year, law