mmmmm
Work study abuses force closure of University Food Op
By |im Moore
Of the Emerald
A man and woman get out of
their VW bug and start for the
building. She adjusts her sandals
and checks her blue jean pocket
to be sure she brought the
grocery money. He smiles at the
familiar log framework, not only
because the couple will save
money shopping there, but
because he knows the students
working inside will be warm and
friendly, perhaps he'll even see an
old friend or two.
Intent on stocking the
refrigerator of the apartment they
just rented for another three
terms at the University, they
prepare to enter the Food-Op
store.
But they stop short.
On a post at the entrance is a
large closed sign. Behind the post,
on the door to the store, a note
dated 7-1-83 reads: "Hello, Due to
ongoing financial circumstances
we have been forced to close.
Thanks for all your support over
the years. The Food-Op Gang."
Rather than being the end of an
era, as the note implies, the
closure began a revelation of facts
that had begun on April 25 and
continues today.
As reported by the Emerald on
July 14, an internal audit of the
Food-Op by the University — an
audit which has not yet concluded
— revealed that from July 1982 to
April 1983, at least 16 different
University students accumulated
361 hours of "overlap" time.
"Overlap" time means hours
recorded on time sheets as hours
worked were actually hours the
students spent in class. Atten
dance records and exam results
show students were in class dur
ing recorded work hours, accor
ding to a June 7 memo from Tom
Larson, an internal auditor for the
University.
After the audit began, the
University froze all work-study
monies intended for the Food-Op.
"We appear to have one or
more examples of a student
deliberately reporting hours they
did not work," said Gerald
Moseley, associate provost for stu
dent affairs, at the time. "I do see
misconduct and fraudulent
behavior."
The audit has been expanded to
cover a four year period of the
Food-Op, as well as looking at
other University programs, accor
ding to Gary Powell of the internal
audit division of the Chancellor’s
office.
The audit began because of a
complaint filed April 25 by Univer
sity student Cass Muir, who had
applied for a job as an accountant
with the Food-Op.
In her complaint, Muir charged
that a Food-Op hiring committee
asked her to falsify payroll records
so that work-study eligible
students would appear as Food
Op employees without those peo
ple ever having worked for the
Food-Op.
She also alleged she was asked
if she would be willing to claim
more hours than she actually
worked in order to recover her
unused work-study funds from
the prior school term.
That money was to be used to
pay non-work-study eligible
students, Muir charged.
At a May 26 meeting between
University business office
auditors and representatives from
the Food-Op, ASUO, EMU and the
University's financial aid office,
Pat McGurk of the Food-Op
acknowledged that he asked Muir
to falsify her time card "as a
screening practice to test her
honesty."
Lotsa gifts &
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at your
Bookstore.
Lickerman and Mary Rowe,
another Food-Op spokesperson,
later said they were misled by
members of the University's ad
ministration about the cir
cumstances surrounding the
Food-Op store’s closure.
They said they attended a June
27 meeting with administrators
with the intent of renewing the
Food-Op store's lease. It was not
until that meeting that they were
informed that the audit report,
finished weeks earlier, was ready,
said Rowe and Lickerman.
At that meeting administrators
implied no one should discuss the
issue, say the students.
The oniy comments made at the
meeting were that the University
did not want to comment on the
report until everything was final,
said W.N. McLaughlin, the Univer
sity's director of business affairs.
Rowe and Lickerman were upset
because, after refusing to discuss
details of the closure and being
referred to as 'tight-lipped' on the
subject, they read comments
made by University administrators
concerning the closure.
They also said they did not
receive notification that the Food
Op's work-study money would be
stopped until June 28, the day
after the meeting, about the lease.
Consequently, faced with a loss
of funds, an unfavorable audit
report, an about-to-expire lease
and only a few days to solve these
problems, Lickerman and Rowe
decided the best alternative was
to close the store.
Muir's complaint was not her
only correspondence with the
auditors.
In a July 15 memo, after the
preliminary report was released,
she challenged the assertion of
McGurk and Food-Op accountant
Mitch Mathews that the Food-Op
had no records of any type con
cerning the time worked by
employees.
McGurk had given the auditor's
his approval at the May 26
meeting to examine the Food
Op's records.
Muir later met with auditors and
said the books the auditors had
are the same as she saw in April,
but contain changes. She also said
one book was missing.
The Food-Op store was a
private, non-profit cooperative
that offered low cost, natural
foods to the University
community.
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