Regents weigh CCSN oversight

Jennifer Knight

Monday, July 30, 2001 | 11:05 a.m.

The university and college Board of Regents is exploring ways to control how the Community College of Southern Nevada student government spends its money.

After learning about questionable spending habits by CCSN student governments for two years, regents put the issue on the Aug. 16 agenda.

"It is a serious issue in my opinion," Regent Doug Seastrand said. "We have no other choice but to take action on this."

Over the past two fiscal years student government, with little faculty supervision, spent almost $200,000 on parties, gift certificates at area restaurants, out-of-state trips for student senators and an untold amount on dinners and lunches, according to a college audit and financial records.

Board of Regent bylaws give CCSN student government leeway on how it spends tuition- and fee-generated student money. They require only that the fees be spent according to "generally accepted accounting principles for colleges and universities." The student government gets $1.30 for every credit hour taken by students, which amounts to about $500,000 a year.

The Board of Regents has the authority, however, to revise policies that govern how students government operate and handle finances. During its next meeting the board will most likely discuss student government spending and mull reforms to prevent inappropriate spending.

"The money should go back to whatever is necessary for the campus as a whole, not the student government," Regent Chairwoman Thalia Dondero said.

"The board will have to decide if there is sufficient oversight," said Jane Nichols, University and Community College System of Nevada chancellor. "There may be an annual report required of them. It seems to me the logical outcome of this."

As recently as the fiscal year ending June 30, student government spent more than $94,000 on student-body parties that weren't always well attended.

An audit in February 2000 looked at how money was spent from January to December the previous year. CCSN's Business and Financial Services Department conducted the audit after it learned that student government adviser Larry Braxton was facing federal charges that related to the misuse of funds at another institution, said Joe Carter, CCSN's director of auxiliary services. Braxton left the CCSN advising position June 30 when his contract ended.

The audit found that no one tracked the distribution of $20,000 in gift certificates to area restaurants. Another $64,000 in student government money was spent on parties, and $20,000 was spent on an out-of-state junket for student senators to Santa Barbara, Calif.

No rules in the student government's bylaws prohibit such expenses.

The audit also found that expensive dinners -- in some cases more than $400 -- were charged to student government accounts by Braxton and Dave Abramson, then-student government president, with little documentation.

"If they're going to keep spending money this way, I think we should just go ahead and cut off their money," Regent Mark Alden said.

Regents have traveled this road before.

In 1997 similar allegations prompted an audit of CCSN's student government accounts. That audit found that student fees went to pay for golf outings for members of the student government.

The 1997 audit led to stricter requirements on student government finances, which barred anyone from accepting gifts. It also required that the student government publicize how student money was spent. "If this means that we need to restrict or limit the amount of money we're giving them or have tighter guidelines, then that's what we'll have to do," Regent Steve Sisolak said.

Student leaders complied with the requirement to publicize their expenses by posting a list on a bulletin board in their office, Carter said.

However, the list drew no feedback from students, and officials don't know how many even knew it was there. An audit of student government expenses would address spending more thoroughly than just a publicized note, Nichols said.

Part of the problem with student spending, however, stems from poor advice, Calvin Hooks, the current student government president, said.

"Our student government is in shambles," Hooks said. "The information we've been given has been lacking and has in many cases been inaccurate. If this is the kind of example that the previous administration was under, then there's a problem."

The worry by student leaders is that more control will be taken away from them because of past problems, Hooks said. But even institutions in California known for their democratic student governments have stricter control than CCSN over financial matters.

Bylaws at both the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Los Angeles, do not allow for spending on food or drinks.

"We have very tight control," said Jan Crowder, director of student affairs at UC Berkeley. "A finance committee reviews every dollar of any type of financial bill."

"Students won't pay attention to their bylaws," said Debora Simmons, UCLA's student government accounting manager. "They won't read them and when they turn in expenses, many times I'm left having to reject them."

At both schools, for example, student money is budgeted in a way that allows student-run clubs and organizations to receive some funding.

That doesn't happen at CCSN. Last year student club funding dropped significantly from the previous year after a series of votes by the student senate reduced the amount that clubs received.

Aside from wide latitude in the way student money is spent there also are differences in the way that CCSN's student adviser structure is organized.

"It's different at every school; some allow tighter control of spending and some allow little oversight," says Billye Potts, head of the National Association for Campus Activities, an organization that supports student governments.

At UCLA and UC Berkeley, financial advisers familiar with accounting procedures and student government bylaws help students use money.

CCSN's structure differs even from UNLV. At CCSN, a faculty adviser is appointed to student government to help with issues such as budgeting and following bylaws. Most advisers in the past have had no connection with business services, which is the arm of the college that approves all student government expenses.

At UNLV, however, the business manager advises elected senators and the student executive board. The business manager also audits expenses.

This doesn't tie the hands of UNLV student officials, said Jim Moore, UNLV's business manager for the student association.

"They do have discretion and a lot of autonomy on what to spend their money on," he said. "They are required, however, to spend the money within the scope of what the university considers to be a legitimate expense."