CU athletic spending makes strides, needs work

Kevin Vaughan, Rocky Mountain News

Monday, August 20, 2007

The University of Colorado has implemented significant reforms to clean up spending problems in the athletic department but still has work to do, members of the Legislative Audit Committee were told this morning.

The assessment came in the form of a follow-up examinination of athletic spending at CU, which a 2005 audit found was rife with problems. Of 15 recommendations made then, CU has fully implemented eight and has another 6 in progress.

Up in the air is a recommendation that the university conduct criminal background checks for all of those who help put on summer sports camps at CU.

University President Hank Brown pledged today that a new policy would be in place by March — well before next summer's sports camps begin in June.

"If we don't have it in place, we'll cancel the camps," Brown said.

The 2005 audit was undertaken in the wake of numerous questions raised about CU's spending and recruiting practices that grew out of a Dec. 7, 2001, party held at an off-campus apartment.

Three women later alleged they were sexually assaulted either at the party or afterward by football players or recruits. The women sued in federal court, sparking a series of investigations. One lawsuit was dropped and the other, which involved the allegations of two of the women, was dismissed. Those women have appealed.

But the allegations also sparked a series of other examinations, including a detailed look at spending in the athletic department that concluded with the 2005 audit.

That audit found numerous problems, particularly in the records for former football coach Gary Barnett's summer camps, which were in such disarray that nobody could account for hundreds of thousands of dollars in income and expenses.

Auditors also found no records explaining what approximately $6,000 in checks written from the football camps were used for. They also found expenditures that violated state spending rules, including money spent to fly five baby sitters to bowl games to care for the children of CU employees.

Today, the audit committee was told that follow-up examinations found that CU had taken significant steps to control spending in the athletic department.

New policies govern spending and cash advances in the athletic department, and CU has taken significant steps to change the way sports camps are administered.

In addition, CU has done a better job of requiring regents to file financial disclosure forms, has significanly improved control of cell phone use and is in the process of changing its procurement system, the audit committee was told.