Report Clears Cal Poly Chief of Wrongdoing in Hiring of Friends : Education: But numerous policy violations are found at the Pomona campus. Cal State officials recommend auditing of a fund-raising unit and an academic department.

A report released Thursday by the California State University chancellor’s office exonerated the president of Cal Poly Pomona of any wrongdoing in the hiring of his friends, but found numerous policy violations related to the $239,569 in salary and benefits paid over 17 months to Henry and Jennifer Whang.

The report recommended an in-depth, independent audit to examine financial and personnel issues at the university’s foundation, which raises money and operates some campus services, and at its department of continuing education. Those two entities paid the Whangs’ salaries and expenses.

The Whangs took 12 trips to Asia from between late 1991 and late 1992 to promote Cal Poly in the Far East and to recruit students into the university’s lucrative program in English as a second language, the report found. Henry Whang also visited England and Greece.

“I am pleased the report confirms that my actions were proper and within my authority as president,” Cal Poly President Bob Suzuki said at a news conference to announce the findings of the two-month probe.

Instead, the report laid much of the blame for policy and procedural violations on Van Garner, the dean of continuing education, who supervised the Whangs on a daily basis. It listed numerous improprieties by Garner regarding the employment, commissions and travel expenses paid to the Whangs, including:

* Hiring Henry Whang as an academic lecturer for $60,960 annually, although he worked as an administrator and never entered a classroom.

* Allowing Jennifer Whang to serve as a de facto employee before she was hired and agreeing to commission payments without the required approval of University officers.

* Generating false bills claiming that Jennifer Whang taught a nonexistent class in English as a second language so she could collect a $6,885 commission.

* Allowing Jennifer Whang to claim $1,400 in air-fare reimbursement for expenses incurred by the Suzukis and Garner during a trip to South Korea.

Garner is on vacation and could not be reached for comment, a Cal Poly spokesman said. The chancellor’s office said any decision on whether to take action against him would be reached after the independent audit is finished.

The report also found that Suzuki was not involved in the hiring of Jennifer Whang, who worked under Suzuki when he was vice president for academic affairs at Cal State Northridge.

During their employment, the Whangs recruited students who brought in $215,424 in tuition to Cal Poly’s new English language program, called the California Polytechnic English Language Institute, according to the report. They also recruited students who came after they left and who brought in an additional $258,125, the report said.

But Randall Burger, acting director of the new program, said in May that the international recruitment done by the Whangs brought in “a few students, but that figure began to dwindle, and we began to concentrate again on local recruitment.”

And in an interview with The Times last May, Henry Whang said he and his wife brought 15 to 20 students into the program. Cal State officials on Thursday were unable to say how they arrived at their much higher figure.

The report also cleared Suzuki of allegations that he had improperly accepted a temporary housing allowance for months after he moved into his on-campus house.

A resolution by the Cal State Board of Trustees in the fall of 1991 approved a $1,000 monthly housing allowance that would be provided to the president until repairs were finished on his on-campus house.

At the time, Cal State officials estimated that the house would be ready by June, 1992, but Suzuki accepted the allowance through July of this year.

But investigators found that Suzuki wrote Cal State Chancellor Barry Munitz a letter in October, 1991, explaining that he planned to accept the allowance for two years and use the money to buy things for the university house.

A spokesman for the chancellor said the arrangement was above-board because Munitz can act on behalf of the board of trustees.