A 1983 audit that has just been...

A 1983 audit that has just been released shows that Clemson University athletic officials provided a $10,000 personal loan to an athletic-department assistant for unspecified purposes, $500 bonuses to four football graduate assistants and an $800 advance to an employee for a trip to Hawaii, all from a students’ club fund.

The audit of the Block C Club, which includes athletes who have lettered at Clemson and paid a $15 initiation fee, was released after The Greenville News requested it under South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act. The audit had been kept confidential for two years.

Clemson internal auditor Michael P. Hughey reviewed the club’s finances from July, 1981, through December, 1982, and found the status of the club as a student organization was being abused by the use of some funds. He also said the club’s record keeping was poor. The club is a private organization not subject to state laws covering the use of public funds.

Walter Cox, interim Clemson president, said that most of the problems revealed in the audit have been corrected. Cox said he is ordering the removal of the club treasury from the athletic department and placing it under the club’s faculty adviser.