A leaked memo has created a storm of controversy for N.C. Central University’s administration.
The draft, obtained by the News and Observer, alleges that three University employees mishandled funds appropriated for closing the state’s achievement gap for minorities.
According to the News and Observer, the draft alleges more than $200,000 was diverted away from the University’s Historically Minority Colleges and Consortium, an umbrella initiative that includes more than a dozen programs at 12 public and private colleges and universities.
The issue began after a consortium leader, Nan Coleman, was fired last fall and Chancellor Charlie Nelms ordered an internal audit of the consortium.
According to a review of the draft audit obtained by the News and Observer, funds were directed to a company Coleman had registered with the N. C. Secretary of State.
In that News and Observer review the auditor is quoted as saying that fictitious payments were made “to increase the compensation of Ms. Coleman.”
Nelms has since fired the unnamed individual who conducted the audit saying that it was “sloppy” and that he had little confidence in it.
Nelms told the News and Observer that he wanted to see field notes from the audit “…because some of the allegations are just mind boggling.”
Nelms has asked Jeff Henderson, the assistant vice president for audit and financial reporting in the UNC General Administration, to come to NCCU to lead an internal review.
“We will leave no stone unturned in our effort to get to the bottom of these allegations,” wrote Chancellor Charlie Nelms in a e-mail to the Campus Echo.
In the same e-mail, Nelms expressed his confidence that the consortium, which operates with federal, state and private grants, “delivers much needed assistance to under-achieving students in the public schools of North Carolina.”
According to Nelms’ e-mail, the audit should be completed within the next three weeks.
“We will not allow speed to get in the way of accuracy nor thoroughness,” he wrote.
The achievement gap between black and white students during the 2007-08 academic year, according to the Department of Public Instruction website, increased from the year before to 34.9 percentage points with 64.4 percent of elementary and middle grade white students scoring at grade level compared to 29.5 percent of black students.
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