Case in Point:
Lessons for the proactive manager

In this month's Case in Point: Lessons for the Proactive Manager, we continue our review of the events of 2017 with a focus on the Fraud & Ethics category. I speak on this topic regularly and also teach ''Fraud Examination'' in the Masters of Accountancy Program here at Auburn University's Raymond J. Harbert College of Business. Therefore, this is a category I pay particular attention to both within higher education and across other industries. Fraud (or a major ethical lapse) can have a devistating impact on virtually any organization so this topic is one we should consider carefully.

Here is the breakdown of stories in the Fraud & Ethics category in 2017:

• Occupational Fraud 39%
• Use of Funds 27%
• Non-occupational Fraud 18%
• Academic Fraud 10%
• Research Fraud 6%

Many people are surprised to learn that education as an industry is actually a frequent victim of fraud. The most common type of fraud we see in education can be termed ''occupational fraud,'' which simply means an employee steals or misappropriates from their employer. The best way to prevent occupational fraud is by having good internal controls. In my view the two most important components of internal control are: (1) ensuring one person doesn't have complete control of a process and (2) management adequately fulfilling their oversight role. Too often, the lack of simple oversight allows occupational fraud to occur. If you manage money, people, contracts, accounts, or just about anything else, paying attention to what is going on is part of the oversight deal. Certainly tehre are more to internal controls than these two items I list; however, in my view these two are the two most frequent items that allow fraud to be perpetuated against an organization.

The category we termed ''use of funds'' refers to stories in which institutions were questioned over how funds were spent rather than fraud per se. We are stewards of funds from a variety of sources-including taxpayers. With stewardship comes the responsibility to ensure we are making wise decisions in how we use institutional funds. With increased transparency in today's social media world, if anything, this category will only grow in importance.

The non-occupational frauds were those committed by individuals outside the institution. We saw numerous institutions across higher education get hit by vendor imposter frauds over the past year. In these schemes the fraudster poses as a legitimate vendor and asks for a change to the vendor bank account. If this scheme works, the next payment to the vendor is received by the fraudster rather than the legitimate vendor. Essentially, this scheme is a targeted form of phishing.

Ensuring we maintain vigilance in protecting institutional resources is very important. It is also just one of the many things we must think about when we consider the wide variety of risks we face in higher education. We again invite you to review the events occurring across our industry over the prior month, and, as always, we welcome your comments and feedback.

M. Kevin Robinson, CIA, CFE
Associate Vice President
Office of Audit, Compliance & Privacy

Information Security & Technology Events

Mar 23, 2018: Nine Iranians were charged Friday by the Justice Department in a wide-ranging scheme to hack and steal electronic data from universities, private corporations and U.S. government entities to benefit the government of Iran. The nine allegedly accessed the computer systems of U.S. universities through duplicitous electronic contacts, a scheme known as phishing. They targeted more than 100,000 professor email accounts at 144 American universities through the spearphishing campaign, the indictment said. The activity, which had allegedly been conducted since 2013, could cost universities $3.4 billion. (link)

Mar 13, 2018: A breach in privacy of some advance class registration lists has prompted the University to launch an investigation and to notify the students of the incident whose personal information was accessed during this incident. The class lists contained information on class enrollment and included students' name and the last four digits of their social security numbers, according to the email sent out this afternoon by Chief University Privacy Officer Scott Schafer. The email indicates that advance class registration lists for this past spring semester were downloaded by an unauthorized user, who accessed the lists through a "course registration application." That server has since been taken offline. (link)

Mar 12, 2018: A data security breach resulted in the disclosure of the names and Social Security numbers of Columbia employees and their family members on IRIS, the college's internal website. The college learned Feb. 15 that SharePoint, the search portal application used to apply for the Tuition Exchange Program, a college employee benefit, displayed the personal information, according to a March 2 email sent out to those affected by Senior Vice President of Business Affairs and CFO Jerry Tarrer. (link)

Mar 06, 2018: The theft of an external hard drive at Fresno State could expose the personal data of at least 15,000 people. The hard drive was reported missing Jan. 12 and Fresno State officials said some of the files may have contained personal information, including names, addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, credit card numbers, driver's license numbers and full or last four digits of Social Security numbers. Officials said the data could affect former student athletes, sports-camp attendees and Athletic Corporation employees. The vast majority of data files were from 2003 to 2014. (link)

Mar 05, 2018: On Jan. 25, 50 students and 35 faculty and staff members within the Department of Health Services received an email with a spreadsheet that contained personally identifiable information (PII) of more than 9,000 people. Amy Hagopian, associate professor in Health Services at the UW, unintentionally sent the email containing the spreadsheet to students in the Community Oriented Public Health Practices (COPHP) program. It contained data from graduate student applications to the Department of Health Services in the School of Public Health over a seventeen-year period, from 2000 to 2017. (link)

Mar 01, 2018: St. Louis Community College said it is investigating a possible breach of student information. The school says an email attachment containing personally identifiable information for 362 students was sent to a small number of other students. The attachment has names, email, ID numbers and home addresses of the 362 students. The school says it did not contain Social Security numbers or dates of birth. (link)

Mar 01, 2018: On Monday, Feb. 26, the University of North Georgia's Office of University Relations emailed all students regarding improper access of Banner information in January. The email cautioned students that a former student employee inappropriately accessed information protected by FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), though it said there is no evidence the data has been misused. The improper access was discovered during routine system maintenance performed by the Office of Information Technology. The information accessed was primarily directory-level data, specifically name, ID number, gender, major, concentration, dorm or commuter status, class, address, phone number, adviser name, email and campus. (link)

Fraud & Ethics Related Events

Mar 28, 2018: Hobart and William Smith Colleges is looking into allegations that its president, Gregory J. Vincent, plagiarized portions of the dissertation that earned him a doctorate in education. The allegations surfaced recently in an anonymous email to The Chronicle and other news media, as well as to officials at Hobart and William Smith, in Geneva, N.Y., where Vincent was named president last year, and at the University of Pennsylvania, which awarded Vincent an Ed.D. in 2004. (link)

Mar 28, 2018: Six employees of Howard University were fired for "gross misconduct and neglect of duties" after school officials discovered that financial aid money had been misappropriated, school leaders confirmed Wednesday. A university investigation discovered that for nine years -- from 2007 to 2016 -- some employees who received tuition benefits to cover the cost of taking classes were also receiving university grants. That double dipping exceeded the actual cost of attendance, signaling that the workers appeared to be embezzling. (link)

Mar 23, 2018: Two employees at the Georgia State University bookstore face criminal charges after police said they stole more than $40,000-worth of merchandise from the business. Both Jordan Billingslea, 20, and Zacchaeus Tillman, 21, are face theft charge related to the incidents that happened between August 2017 until March 7, 2018. According to a police report from police, the GSU bookstore's manage discovered significant amounts of inventory was missing from the bookstore. Authorities launched an investigation and found video evidence of thefts. Tillman also allegedly confessed to taking nearly $40,000 in merchandise during the timeframe, while Billingslea said he took almost $700. (link)

Mar 16, 2018: Nine days after UNLV President Len Jessup received an evaluation that detailed "several weaknesses" in his job performance, he secured a donation for $14 million that required him to remain in his position through 2022. The pledge toward the construction of UNLV's new medical school building included a provision that medical school Dean Barbara Atkinson also keep her job through 2022, according to a memo obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. But the philanthropic commitment --a memorandum of understanding between the Engelstad Family Foundation and the UNLV Foundation -- raised ethical concerns, and Thom Reilly, chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education, sought an outside legal opinion. (link)

Mar 16, 2018: A fake university in Irvine, Calif. has stolen the University of Alberta's identity. The now-inactive website for California South University claimed the institution's campus "consists of 150 buildings covering 50 city blocks." Similar wording is used on Wikipedia to describe the U of A's North Campus in Edmonton. William Grover, an assistant professor in bioengineering at the University of California, Riverside, alerted the U of A to the fictitious university in December. He said he first heard of California South University when the institution emailed him, asking for money to have his research published. (link)

Mar 12, 2018: The former director of a Webster University institute who embezzled $375,000 was sentenced in U.S. District Court on Monday to probation and ordered to fill out a 65-page journal. Deborah Pierce, 62, of St. Louis, will also have to repay the money. U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey blasted Deborah Pierce's "reprehensible" theft and said there was no rational basis for a woman from a good background, with no history of daily abuse or drug problems and ample income to have committed this crime. (link)

Compliance/Regulatory & Legal Events

Mar 27, 2018: A Michigan State University official who oversaw a clinic where former sports doctor Larry Nassar worked is facing criminal charges for allegedly inappropriately touching a student and storing nude photos of female students on his work computer. William Strampel, who was dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine until late last year, was charged Tuesday with a felony, a high court misdemeanor and two misdemeanors. He is due to be arraigned in the afternoon. (link)

Mar 26, 2018: California colleges can be held liable if they fail to protect students from foreseeable acts of violence, the state Supreme Court ruled on Thursday in a lawsuit filed by a UCLA student who was stabbed by a classmate. Student Katherine Rosen filed a lawsuit against the University of California regents and several UCLA employees after she was slashed across the throat and stabbed multiple times by classmate Damon Thompson on October 8, 2009. Rosen says school officials failed to warn students that Thompson was potentially violent following months of reports about his paranoia and threatening behavior. After Rosen filed her lawsuit in 2010, an appeals court panel ruled in October 2015 that a public university has no duty to protect its students from the criminal acts of other students. Rosen appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court, which unanimously overturned the lower-court decision, allowing Rosen's lawsuit to move forward. (link)

Mar 24, 2018: An assistant equipment manager at Georgia is facing four felony charges and one misdemeanor for, among other charges, allegedly placing a hidden camera in the Bulldogs' locker room shower. Kevin Purvis, 37, was arrested and booked into Athens-Clarke County jail on Friday night and charged with three counts of felony eavesdropping or surveillance, one felony possession of a controlled substance and a misdemeanor charge of possession of less that 1 ounce of marijuana, according to records. (link)

Mar 22, 2018: A University of Oklahoma instructor has been charged in a statutory rape case involving a high school student. The Norman Transcript reports that Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn filed two felony second-degree rape charges against 27-year-old Kyle Trent Podrecca on Friday. He's accused of allegedly having sex with a former student that he tutored. The university says that Podrecca "has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation." (link)

Mar 22, 2018: Four days before a Kansas State University graduate was due in court on charges that he sexually assaulted an unconscious man at a campus fraternity last fall, he sexually assaulted a University of Missouri-St. Louis student at gunpoint in an on-campus apartment, prosecutors allege. Devonta Bagley, 23, of Belton, Missouri, is jailed on $500,000 bond on charges of sodomy, armed criminal action and burglary in the Missouri case, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. (link)

Mar 21, 2018: A University of Iowa student has been charged in a reported sexual assault in the Burge Hall dormitory. Cannon Allen, 19, performed a non-consensual sex act on a victim in Burge Hall dormitory either Nov. 12 or Nov. 13 of last year, University of Iowa police say. He continued to perform the act on the victim after the person had verbally withdrawn consent, police say. Allen was arrested Tuesday and has been charged with 3rd degree sexual abuse. (link)

Mar 21, 2018: Federal agents arrested a Tuskegee University assistant football coach Wednesday on drug distribution and gun charges. Ramone Nickerson, 33, is charged with possession with the intent to distribute marijuana, possession with the intent to distribute cocaine and possession of a firearm during a drug trafficking offense. He's accused of selling cocaine and marijuana in the Tuskegee area. (link)

Mar 20, 2018: A woman suing Cerritos College's administration is accusing college leaders of negligence and other misdeeds by failing to warn her that a college football player -- recently convicted of raping the plaintiff -- had pleaded guilty to a prior rape before enrolling at the college. A Los Angeles County jury convicted the football player, 22-year-old Kishawn Holmes of Hemet, of forcible rape on Thursday. Facts of the case provided by a Los Angeles County District Attorney's office statement match events described in the complaint filed against Cerritos College leadership, and attorney Allegra Rineer said the criminal and civil cases involve the same victim, identified in the civil complaint only as Jane W.J. Doe. The case names Holmes as well as the Cerritos Community College District and Cerritos College Dean of Student Services Elizabeth Miller as defendants. (link)

Mar 20, 2018: Former Central Florida kicker Donald De La Haye is suing the school. Before embarking on its undefeated season, UCF had a bit of preseason drama with De La Haye. The kicker has a popular YouTube channel that documented life as a student-athlete. De La Haye made money from some of the videos, which caught the attention of the school's compliance department. Over the course of two months, the saga ended with De La Haye ineligible, off the team and without a scholarship. Now, per the Orlando Sentinel, he has filed a federal lawsuit that argues his rights were violated. (link)

Mar 16, 2018: A former Wheaton College football player is suing the school and seven ex-teammates, alleging campus officials knew about the team's hazing tradition and did nothing to prevent an attack in which the player said he was kidnapped, beaten and left half-naked on a baseball field. The lawsuit, filed early Friday in DuPage County, has been expected since September, when five football players were charged criminally in connection with the March 19, 2016, incident at the small Christian liberal arts college. (link)

Mar 15, 2018: A San Jose State student suspected of sexually assaulting two men in his on-campus housing unit was arrested earlier this month, the university announced. The university issued a campuswide release Wednesday regarding the arrest. SJSU officials said that Luis Venegas, 21, a fourth-year student at the university, was arrested March 5 on suspicion of sexual assault, assault with the intent to commit sex crimes, false imprisonment and sexual battery, according to university officials. The sexual assaults reportedly occurred in Campus Village A, a university housing complex where Venegas had been living, according to university police. (link)

Mar 14, 2018: The director of performance for the University of Michigan athletic department resisted police, grabbed a security guard's throat and bit a lab technician after his arrest March 5 on suspicion of drunken driving, a police report states. Fergus Connolly, 40, also told an officer he would "put him in a wheelchair," according to the police report. An Ann Arbor police report obtained through the Freedom of Information Act details the allegations against Connolly: that he crashed an SUV - one that may have been a university vehicle - while drunk driving, was combative, shouted profanities, refused a preliminary breath test and denied he was drunk. (link)

Mar 14, 2018: A former student of a Southern California college, who's facing felony charges for allegedly carving swastikas and racial slurs into the hoods of two campus security vehicles, is now suing the college, claiming it discriminated against him because of a mental disability. The Orange Coast College student, identified as Robert McDougal, 22, allegedly vandalized the vehicles after being suspended by the college for two years for causing a disturbance in a classroom and shouting a racial slur at a security guard, the Orange County Register reported. (link)

Mar 14, 2018: A former University of Missouri-St. Louis student has been arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a current student inside his on-campus apartment at gunpoint early Sunday. St. Louis County police arrested Devonta Bagley of the Kansas City area on Tuesday. He has been charged with one count of sodomy or attempted sodomy, burglary and two counts of armed criminal action. He is being held on $500,000 bail. (link)

Mar 12, 2018: A professor accused of sexual assault in 2013 has lost his employment, said UCLA officials in a statement Monday. The Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion released a statement on its website stating history professor Gabriel Piterberg has also been denied emeritus status and future employment with the University of California. The office added Piterberg will no longer have access to office space on campus. Two of Piterberg's graduate students accused him of making unwelcome sexual advances and forcing his tongue into their mouths in 2013. (link)

Mar 08, 2018: A former student at Concordia University Chicago filed an updated civil lawsuit against the former head baseball coach and the school Thursday, a move that comes two months after the coach was convicted of criminal sexual assault. The new complaint accuses the university of negligence and failing to protect its student-athletes. Former Concordia head baseball coach Spiro Lempesis was found guilty at a December bench trial of sexually assaulting a teen who later became one of his players at the River Forest university. That player is the plaintiff in the civil case. (link)

Mar 07, 2018: A Texas appellate court on Tuesday said a trio of high-ranking Texas Tech University officials can't avoid a professor's lawsuit alleging he was demoted and faced other retaliation after giving a speech about academic tenure.Reversing a trial court's determination that it lacked jurisdiction over the retaliation claims brought by Texas Tech professor James C. Wetherbe, a Seventh Court of Appeals panel held that Wetherbe's speech involved a matter of public concern. Because Wetherbe alleged he faced retaliation in response to constitutionally protected speech. (link)

Mar 07, 2018: A second former female dean at the University of Arizona has joined a federal lawsuit that claims the women were underpaid by tens of thousands of dollars compared to their male colleagues. Janice Cervelli, former dean of the College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture, alleges the university refused to give her a single pay raise while she served as dean from 2008 to 2016. During the last two years of her employment, she claims she earned $80,000 less per year on average than males who performed similar work. (link)

Mar 07, 2018: For two years, professors at PSU's Graduate School of Education conducted a research project using unwitting K-12 students as subjects. The university has since acknowledged it failed to inform parents of the research and did not get their permission to access the student data. University officials say they are still examining whether any laws were broken. (link)

Mar 07, 2018: A Yale student who had been suspended by the university was found not guilty on Wednesday of sexually assaulting a fellow student, in a rare college rape accusation to be tried in the courts. The verdict laid bare seemingly gaping divides in the national reckoning around sexual consent and assault. But unfolding as it did in the wake of the #MeToo movement and the fierce, unresolved debate over whether campus rape cases are best handled by universities or law enforcement, Mr. Khan's trial also took on political significance, with defense lawyers accusing Yale of making Mr. Khan a scapegoat for its own poor handling of previous sexual assault claims. (link)

Mar 07, 2018: University of San Diego men's basketball coach Lamont Smith has had all potential charges of domestic violence against him dropped after a review from the District Attorney in San Francisco. Smith was arrested at Oakland International Airport on Feb. 25 after a woman, whose identity has not been disclosed, alleged Smith abused her the night prior. San Diego was in town for its regular-season finale against the University of San Francisco. (link)

Mar 06, 2018: The Florida Legislature has passed sweeping higher education changes. The measures would permanently increase funding to the Bright Futures Scholarship, eliminate free speech zones and address university performance-based funding. A controversial provision added by the House would remove public university and college campus free speech zones. The measure would instead make all outdoor public areas available for free speech. It would also allow state universities and colleges to be sued if students or others intentionally try to disrupt or hinder a campus speaker. (link)

Mar 06, 2018: The donation to the University of Chicago in 2015 was as generous as it was ambitious: the Pearson Family Members Foundation pledged an eye-popping $100 million to establish a center devoted to finding new ways to resolve global conflicts. Nearly three years later, that donation is in disarray. The foundation, led by Thomas Pearson and his brother Timothy Pearson, is suing the university to recoup the $22.9 million it has already handed over, saying the university's leaders have failed to demonstrate they are using the landmark gift for its intended purpose. (link)

Mar 05, 2018: The University of Delaware is not liable for the death of a drunk student who attended an off-campus party and was later hit by a truck and killed, a judge has ruled. The parents of Ethan P. Connolly, a 19-year-old sophomore, sued in August 2014, claiming the university, the sorority that planned the party and other groups were liable for Connolly's death. Superior Court Judge Ferris Wharton ruled in favor of the defendants last week, ending the lawsuit. (link)

Mar 02, 2018: The Marian University police chief has been arrested for an OWI. Chief Scott Ralph, 48, was arrested after Brownsburg officers were dispatched to a White Castle. Police said the caller noticed what looked like an off-duty police officer intoxicated in the drive-thru lane. Ralph is charged with Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated and operating a vehicle while endangering others. Authorities said more charges could come. Marian University has placed Ralph on leave effective immediately. (link)

Mar 01, 2018: A former medical resident is accusing a prominent University of Rochester Medical Center faculty member of raping her repeatedly and attempting to involve her boyfriend in murdering his ex-wife, part of an explosive lawsuit in state Supreme Court. The accuser, Katia Kaplan-List, was a medical resident doing a rotation in pediatric radiology at Strong Memorial Hospital, where she encountered Johan Blickman, vice chair of URMC's department of imaging sciences and a professor in pediatrics. The lawsuit does not allege that URMC ignored any complaints, but states that it "had a duty to protect (Kaplan-List) from injury" while she was a student there. It requests $30 million in damages. (link)

Mar 01, 2018: A new Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) fiduciary breach lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia names as defendants Georgetown University and several officials tasked with overseeing the university's defined contribution (DC) retirement plans. Matching almost verbatim the charges filed previously against many large universities' 403(b) retirement plans, plaintiffs here suggest that instead of leveraging the Georgetown plans' substantial bargaining power to benefit participants and beneficiaries, defendants failed to adequately evaluate and monitor the plans' expenses and caused the plans to pay unreasonable and excessive fees for investment and administrative services. (link)

Campus Life & Safety Events

Mar 26, 2018: Virginia Tech women's lacrosse coach John Sung considers it ''a teachable moment.'' On a 13-second video that was posted and re-posted on Twitter over the weekend, some white members of Sung's squad can be heard singing along on a team bus to the lyrics of white rapper Lil Dicky's song "Freaky Friday." Players can be heard repeatedly singing along to a version of the n-word. Sung said he became aware of the video Sunday and has met with the team. (link)

Mar 22, 2018: Jacksonville State University will delay opening its tornado-ravaged campus until April 2 to better prepare for students' eventual return, the university's president said Wednesday. JSU President John Beehler said university officials need the extra week to find new places to hold some classes and house certain students because of the extensive damage to several campus buildings. Whatever plan is made, JSU expects that students will get to finish the spring semester, Beehler said. (link)

Mar 20, 2018: The University of North Carolina at Charlotte student who wrote about why he wanted to commit a school shooting has been released from the hospital and was arrested, according to the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office website. Matthew Saavedra, 20, has been charged with making a false report concerning mass violence on educational property. He will be arrested for trespassing if he comes onto UNCC's campus, university police have said. Police found blueprints of campus buildings and evacuation plans this month in Saavedra's off-campus apartment, according to search warrants. (link)

Mar 16, 2018: A University of Oregon student who was robbed at gunpoint on campus says fear has spread among the student body, and many fear walking home at night. The student is one of three individuals who have been robbed at gunpoint this month on campus, between E 13th and 16th avenues at Hilyard Street. The robberies were reported on March 3, March 8 and March 11. "It's making the entire university unsafe," the student said. "Everyone is scared to walk home at night, everyone is scared to go out." (link)

Mar 16, 2018: As federal officials began investigating the catastrophic collapse of a pedestrian bridge at Florida International University, authorities here made a grim announcement: The death toll has climbed to six -- and more victims may be buried in the rubble. The pedestrian bridge was designed to connect the city of Sweetwater with the sprawling campus of Florida International University, and Sweetwater Mayor Orlando Lopez said Friday that one of the victims in the accident was an FIU student. (link)

Mar 13, 2018: Authorities say there's a confirmed case of mumps at Virginia Commonwealth University. News outlets reported Tuesday that the university sent out an alert to community members disclosing that the Richmond City Health Department is investigating that confirmed case and another suspected case. Mumps is a virus transmitted by respiratory droplets that can cause fever, headache, swelling and tenderness. It takes around 12 to 25 days to develop symptoms. (link)

Mar 13, 2018: At the University of Arizona, school officials know when students are going to drop out before they do. The public college in Tucson has been quietly collecting data on its first-year students' ID card swipes around campus for the last few years. The ID cards are given to every enrolled student and can be used at nearly 700 campus locations including vending machines, libraries, labs, residence halls, the student union center, and movie theaters. They also have an embedded sensor that can be used to track geographic history whenever the card is swiped. These data are fed into an analytics system that finds "highly accurate indicators" of potential dropouts, according to a press release last week from the university. (link)

Mar 13, 2018: An ongoing investigation by local and federal law enforcement into racist graffiti found at a Kettering University residence hall has led to classes being canceled on Tuesday, March 13. Letters sent out to Kettering staff, faculty, and students note at least two incidents of racist and profane graffiti have been reported in less than one week at Thompson Hall, a four-story, on-campus facility. The graffiti -- including writings on a bathroom wall at the residence hall -- were reported Thursday, March 8, and Sunday, March 11, to university officials and immediately removed. (link)

Mar 12, 2018: Bad behavior among some Greek groups at the University of Kansas has led to a halt on social activities for most fraternities at the Lawrence campus. The Interfraternity Council at KU on Monday announced a self-imposed temporary freeze on all activities for the 24 fraternities that it governs. Less than two months into the spring semester, three KU fraternities -- Delta Upsilon, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Sigma Phi Epsilon -- have been suspended by their national headquarters while the university investigates allegations that they each violated some fraternity policy. (link)

Mar 12, 2018: A Pennsylvania university has kicked a sorority off campus due to what officials are calling a "reprehensible" scavenger hunt that involved drugs, alcohol and sexual activity. Alpha Chi Omega's Theta Chi chapter lost its recognition by Lehigh University for two years and will be banned from campus through May 2020. The Lehigh Greek Community blog published by the university says the sorority hosted a December scavenger hunt in which participants were given a list of tasks that involved "the use of drugs and alcohol, sexual activity and other activities" that violate the Bethlehem school's policy. (link)

Mar 09, 2018: Brown University has announced that it has found its men's swimming and diving team responsible for incidents of hazing and other conduct code violations. As a result, the university said in a statement, it is suspending the team as a student organization through May 27. The suspension prohibits any team activity. (link)

Mar 08, 2018: A University of Cincinnati professor is no longer teaching after making anti-Islamic comments toward a Muslim student. One of his comments on her assignment read: "Muslim females are safer in America than in any Middle Eastern country. How dare you complain while enjoying our protection!" The university investigated College-Conservatory of Music Assistant Professor Clifford Adams' comments after The Enquirer reported them in October. Another UC student had posted a photo of the exchange on Facebook. (link)

Mar 05, 2018: Multiple people were arrested and fights broke out ahead of white nationalist Richard Spencer's speech Monday at Michigan State University. Hours before the speech, several hundred protesters -- some wearing masks -- marched toward the venue where the event was being held amid a heavy police presence, with officers wearing riot gear. (link)

Mar 05, 2018: Officers arrested a man early Monday on the campus of Clark Atlanta University after he reportedly opened doors to several dorm rooms, according to a school spokesperson. Some students on campus said the man walked into rooms inside Brawley Hall and stood over female students as they slept. One of the students, who wanted to remain anonymous, told FOX 5's Marissa Mitchell she saw the man standing over her bed around 4 a.m. Once she noticed him, she screamed "get out" and he took off running. Dorm residents told Mitchell a key card is necessary to gain entry inside Brawley Hall. A spokesperson for Clark Atlanta University said a CAU student invited the man inside the building before he opened approximately six unlocked doors. (link)

Mar 05, 2018: A South Dakota State University student has been arrested after students told police he made threats to shoot up the school. Alexander Benjamin Peterson, 19, was arrested Feb. 28 on six counts of simple assault and a terrorist threat charge. Police were notified by South Dakota State's residential housing director that Peterson had access to guns and told students he was "going to shoot up the school," according to court documents. (link)

Mar 05, 2018: A Hanover man is charged with intimidation after allegedly making threats against an area hospital. Hanover College Professor James Stark is out on bond for threats authorities say he made last year. Stark's erratic behavior had been brought up before. A former teacher at Hanover College says she's reported it multiple times before to campus leadership starting in 2016, describing his behavior as erratic and concerning. (link)

Mar 03, 2018: A day before a Central Michigan University sophomore from southwest suburban Plainfield fatally shot his parents inside his dorm, he acted erratically, telling a campus police officer that someone was out to kill him, authorities said Saturday, hours before he was formally charged with murder. James Eric Davis Jr., 19, was arrested without incident shortly after midnight Saturday following an intensive daylong manhunt that included more than 100 police officers scouring the campus area, authorities said. Officers found him after someone aboard a train spotted a person along railroad tracks in Mount Pleasant, and called police. (link)

Mar 02, 2018: A judge has issued a temporary restraining order against a Florida SouthWestern State College student who is suspected of harassing and stalking her former professor. The injunction against Sofia Diaz, 19, was issued Wednesday, the same day that Matthew Vivyan, 39, asked the court for an order. Vivyan first made allegations against Diaz in January to FSW and its police department. Vivyan filed a complaint against Diaz, accusing her of making the comments and sending him emails that made him feel unsafe at work. (link)

Mar 01, 2018: The Oconee County Sheriff's Office has arrested a Clemson University student who investigators say was untruthful when she said she was sexually assaulted at an off-campus fraternity house in January. In the early hours of Saturday, Jan. 27, the Clemson University Police Department notified the Oconee County Sheriff's Office about a reported sexual assault at the Delta Chi fraternity house on D Morris Way in Seneca. Investigators determined the sexual encounter between Campbell and the accused individual were consensual, and that "Campbell had not been truthful in the information that she provided," Watt said in the release. (link)

Mar 01, 2018: Texas Wesleyan has fired head baseball coach Mike Jeffcoat, John M. Veilleux, TWU's vice president for enrollment, marketing and communications, told the Star-Telegram on Thursday. The announcement comes less than 24 hours after the former Rangers pitcher made controversial remarks about Colorado politicians and the state's marijuana laws. Jeffcoat stated that he and the program would not recruit in Colorado because players from there might fail a drug test. (link)

Other News & Events

If you have any suggestions, questions or feedback, please e-mail me at robinmk@auburn.edu. We hope you find this information useful and would appreciate hearing your thoughts. Feel free to forward this email to your direct reports, colleagues, employees or others who might find it of value. Back issues of this newsletter are available on our web site at https://www.auburn.edu/administration/oacp.

If you have any suggestions for items to include in future newsletters, please e-mail Robert Gottesman at gotterw@auburn.edu.

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