Deficiencies Revealed by College Audit

A long-awaited state auditor general’s report released Tuesday reveals “deficiencies” over the last two years in the fiscal management of California State University, Long Beach, and its supporting foundation but no direct evidence that university officials have broken any laws.

“The foundation made disbursements . . . that were excessive, improperly authorized or inadequately documented,” the report concludes. In addition, the report said that “because the university did not adequately document its use of funds budgeted for instructional faculty positions, it had no assurance that these funds were used only for instructional purposes.”

Illegal Use Suspected

It is against state law to use budgeted instructional positions for administrative purposes, and faculty members at the college have charged that just such illegal use may have taken place.

Those allegations led to the request for the state audit more than four months ago by former Assemblyman Richard Robinson (D-Garden Grove). The request came after a shortfall in the university’s budget last summer that necessitated a $900,000 loan from the state chancellor’s office and resulted in the temporary suspension of Cal State Long Beach President Stephen Horn’s budgetary authority.

But Tuesday’s finding that there was no direct evidence of illegality prompted Horn to term the report a vindication. “The myriad of unsubstantiated allegations . . . produced very few findings,” the president said in a prepared statement.