Audit Clears UCSD Stores of Misdeeds : Finance: But report suggests that the university take control of the three student-run co-ops.

A UC San Diego auditor found no evidence of financial wrongdoing at the controversial student-run stores but recommended that the university take over control because of sloppy bookkeeping, according to a report released Thursday.

A San Diego Superior Court judge in January had ordered the audit of three student-run cooperatives in an attempt to settle a heated dispute over financial control of the stores.

At one point, university officials had changed the locks at the General Store, one of the largest co-ops, in an effort to seize its financial records for an audit. Students retaliated by breaking into the store, restoring the locks and staging a sit-in.

It did not appear that the audit’s results will settle the longstanding dispute between the students and administration.

The audit chastised the student-run organizations for “serious internal control weaknesses,” including not balancing their checkbook and inadequate documentation of expenditures.

“In terms of their records-keeping, it just was not adequate both in terms of meeting university policy or in terms of good business practices,” said Miles Bowler, director of internal audit.

Bowler said that the audit found no evidence of fraud, but that there was no documentation to disprove fraud, either.

The audit recommended that the university take control of the transactions of the co-ops, allowing it to cancel any purchase. Each co-op now has its own private, external checking account and handles all purchases and sales with no university supervision.

The report suggested that the co-ops become independent of the university and be treated as other for-profit vendors on campus. That would mean increases in rent and insurance.

The audit’s recommendations are identical to proposals by university administrators, and some students charged that the audit was biased.

“The actual reporting and observations are pretty much what we expected, but we have problems with the way it was conducted,” said Daniel Fink, a representative of the student-run Che Cafe coffeehouse.

Administrators familiar with the co-op audit could not be reached for comment, but a university representative said there are no immediate plans to change policy regarding the stores.