The N&R believes everything’s going to be OK at A&T:

The latest audit of N.C. A&T State University is another bitter pill, particularly for James Renick’s reputation. But he’s not chancellor anymore, and A&T’s positive response shows it’s regaining its health.

…..For their part, university officials responded forthrightly to the audit, conceding past problems and noting steps already completed or under way to implement safeguards. Chancellor Stanley Battle is assembling a new leadership team, cited by system officials as a positive step. In some instances, A&T is pursuing legal avenues to recover misspent money from the people responsible.

The N&R also follows up on the follow-up, reporting there was a “misinterpretation” of the vending contract that resulted in deposits to the Chancellor’s Discretionary Fund:

“A misinterpretation of the vending policy resulted in the transferring of the funds to the foundation,” said Mable Scott, the university’s spokeswoman.

Mark Kiel, A&T’s vice chancellor for development and university relations, said the beverage vending contract was complicated.

“One could, when you review the details of the transaction, you could see that one could misinterpret and make that mistake,” Kiel said Monday.

I’m confused by this paragraph:

Kiel declined to name the beverage company and the faculty member who received the annuity. He said he didn’t know if the commissioned artwork was one of the works on campus.

Maybe I’m not reading it right, but it says clearly in A&T’s internal audit that the vending contract was with Pepsi. Why Kiel thinks he can hide the identity of the vendor at this point baffles me.

That said, the numbers between the two audits are confusing. The state audit clearly says during “2003 through 2005, $380,000 of the vending receipts were transferred to the discretionary fund at the Foundation.”

But the internal audit says “all revenues received from Pepsi were deposited with the University. On December 8, 2003, $140,000 was transferred to the (N.C. A&T State University) Foundation and on November 30, 2004, $100,00 was transferred to the Foundation. The Foundation deposited these funds in the Chancellor’s Discretionary Fund where they were subsequently used for scholarships, travel, salaries and other university related functions. On October 19, 2006, $140,000 was deposited with the University in the Vending Operations Fund and has not been transferred to the Foundation.”

That adds up to the $380,000 figure, but supposedly $140,000 of that went where it was supposed to go, right? Since 2005 isn’t mentioned in the internal audit, we’re left to assume yet another $140,000 went into the discretionary fund. Odd that it was left out, isn’t it?

If I’m missing something here, somebody help me out. But, based on what I’m reading, A&T’s internal audit missed a couple of key points. My only guess is it was a clumsy effort to protect what was left of Renick’s reputation.