UCSD Co-Op Records Handed to University

Financial records needed to perform an internal audit of a UC San Diego student-run store have been turned over to the administration, a key point in a dispute between university officials and students.

The records of the General Store, one of several student-run cooperatives on campus, were at the root of a chaotic series of events that began Wednesday when college officials twice tried to close the store to seize the documents.

Between Wednesday morning and Thursday night, students reopened the store, held a demonstration, staged a sit-in and held a large rally. In addition, students affiliated with the co-op filed a request Thursday for a temporary restraining order against the university to allow the store to continue to operate.

Superior Court Judge James R. Milliken granted the order on the condition the store’s financial records were turned over to university officials. The records were delivered Thursday night.

The order ended the immediate confrontation, though the larger dispute continues.

A UCSD spokesman said an audit of the records is expected to take two months.

An internal audit of the store was ordered last fall by university officials after they received a routine financial report from the store that allegedly contained questionable cash register mistakes and three loans to employees. Officials also said students failed to turn over the store’s records on several occasions.

But an attorney for the co-op denied the latter allegation, saying her clients had agreed on at least two occasions to hand over the records.