Case In Point: Lessons for the proactive manager

Volume 14 Number 08 | August 2022

Quotable .....

“It's a dangerous world, man. You've gotta keep your eyes and ears peeled and be on the alert all the time.”

-- Vinnie Paul

Fall 2022 is now in full swing, and there is much optimism for the new academic year. For now, most students have good grades, and most sports teams are undefeated. Fall on college campuses is an exciting time. Along with this excitement is more activity, and this means more risks that we must pay attention to and proactively manage.

Back in March we reviewed our Fraud & Ethics Category for events from 2021. In that column we noted our concerns that fraud risks are likely to increase in the next few years due to two significant factors we are experiencing: increased financial pressures and internal controls that may have been lost during the pandemic because of operational changes.

In this month's CIP, a 2018 vendor imposter fraud against VCU is back in the news as the perpetrators are being extradited to face charges after being caught trying to replicate their success on other institutions. This type of fraud involves bad actors posing as a legitimate vendor in hopes of changing the payment account to one they own, and as soon as the funds are paid to the imposter, they are quickly moved offshore. Multiple institutions across the country were victimized by this fraud. Frequently, imposter frauds involve organized crime syndicates.

Back in 2017, our institution was victimized by a vendor imposter fraud, but fortunately, we learned of the scheme before the money could leave the country and were able to recover the funds with the help of federal authorities. In our case, there was a slight internal control breakdown that almost resulted in a loss. In virtually all imposter fraud—and most any other fraud—an internal control is either missing or overridden that enables the scheme to work. And because every employee impacts the internal control system of their institution, it is important to understand the concept of controls.

Next month we will delve deeper into what internal controls are, why they are important, and how you can help improve them. In the meantime, be on alert for vendor imposter frauds in addition to the other risks and potential problems that can occur so that you can work to prevent them in your sphere of influence. To help you in this, we again invite you to review the events that occurred across higher education over the past month. As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions.

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

Aug 23: Cyberattack: Days before classes started, Sierra College's systems were hacked, school officials told FOX40 News Tuesday. According to campus officials, the cyberattack on Saturday gave the school ''limited access to technology and data resources'' throughout the Sierra Joint Community College District. ''After we learned of the incident, we took immediate actions to protect data and recover systems as quickly as possible,'' the officials said in a statement. ''A professional third-party forensic firm has engaged to investigate and determine the scope of the incident.'' (link)

Aug 17: Ransomware: A ransomware attack has crippled Whitworth University's computer network and left students scrambling to make plans and find information for the coming school year. On July 29, the school's website went down. So did the entire campus network. Two weeks later, with the website still on the fritz, the school directed students to a barebones, temporary website for contact details and other essential information. On Aug. 10, LockBit, a prominent ransomware group, claimed responsibility for the cyberattack. (link)

Aug 15: Cyberattack: A local university was hit with a cyberattack that has left it with embarrassing and inappropriate pictures on their social media account that they can't take down. Thomas Moore University's Facebook account was hacked, and all of their account managers are locked out. ''About three weeks ago we got a notice that told us all of the university administrators, who are admins on the page, have been removed,'' said vice president of institutional advancement at Thomas More, Kevin Reynolds. (link)

Fraud & Ethics Related Events

Aug 30: Extra Fee Scheme: The complaint came in 2018 from a whistleblower about UCLA's School of Dentistry. Three professors had allegedly solicited international postgraduate students for unauthorized fees on top of the already hefty tuition. The design of the alleged profit-sharing scheme was bold: Certain orthodontics residents were required to pay extra fees and the professors received incentive and bonus compensation based on the payments. (link)

Aug 17: Credential Fraud: The University of St. Thomas' business school dean has resigned after allegations that he falsified his education credentials, according to ABC13 partners at the Houston Chronicle. The former dean is accused of landing his job at the private Catholic university by allegedly lying on his resume about several degrees that apparently don't exist. According to the Houston Chronicle, the Italian university where he said he received a doctorate does not offer Ph.D.'s, and the institution where he said he got a bachelor's degree is actually a high school. (link)

Aug 15: Health Care Fraud: A Dimondale man has been sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison for a health care fraud conspiracy charge. The man's conviction came from an agreement to have expensive and medically unnecessary compounded pain creams and patches prescribed to Michigan State University (MSU) employees that were filled by pharmacies in Mississippi. The Lansing pharmaceutical sales representative admitted to soliciting a local physician to sign the prescriptions and splitting commission payments that the Mississippi pharmacies paid Brown for directing the prescription to their pharmacies. The pharmacies charged MSU's health plan between $2,000 to $3,000 for each prescription. (link)

Aug 11: Fake University: An online university website with a similar-sounding name to the University of Houston is using an address that doesn't exist and posting faculty who are fake, KHOU 11 Investigates has discovered. A day after the KHOU 11 Investigates report, the website was no longer working. At first glance, Houston University of Science and Technology looks like a great place to learn, with a website full of smiling students all giving a thumbs up for this ''remarkable center of excellence'' and ''high-quality education that brings you ultimate success.'' (link)

Aug 10: Cyber Fraud Scam: Three Nigerian citizens were extradited from the United Kingdom to the United States in connection to a multi-million dollar cyber scheme involving multiple institutions, including Virginia Commonwealth University. According to a press release by the FBI Wednesday, Texas, North Carolina and Virginia were among the states implicated in the fraud scheme. This type of crime is known as ''cyber-enabled financial fraud.'' The documents detail that VCU transferred nearly half a million dollars from their bank account to Bank of Hope for a group of Nigerian scammers posing as an employee of the real construction company Kjellstrom and Lee, with whom VCU had an ongoing contract. (link)

Aug 10: Fraud: California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced the arrest of a man in connection with an alleged years-long scheme to defraud families with relatives who served in the military, as well as the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) systems. The man is alleged to have duped more than 40 families with a grandparent or other family member who served in the armed forces into paying at least $500 each for counterfeit California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet) College Fee Waiver letters and instructing those families to submit the letters to universities to have their children's tuition waived when in fact they were not eligible for such a waiver. He was arrested on charges of grand theft, identity theft, and forgery, among others. (link)

Aug 09: Research Misconduct: A major controversy in marine biology took a new twist last week when the University of Delaware (UD) found one of its star scientists guilty of research misconduct. The university has confirmed to Science that it has accepted an investigative panel's conclusion that a marine ecologist committed fabrication and falsification in work on fish behavior and coral reefs. The university is seeking the retraction of three of the ecologist's papers and ''has notified the appropriate federal agencies,'' a spokesperson says. (link)

Aug 04: Research Misconduct: The University of Northern Iowa is defending its decision to discipline a professor who had previously been sanctioned for plagiarism. An associate professor and public relations instructor at UNI is seeking judicial review of the school's decision last year to discipline her for allegedly violating school policies on research. According to newly filed court records, in 2012 UNI professor Christopher Martin identified six pieces that the instructor had published and which he believed contained examples of plagiarized content. (link)

Aug 01: Occupational Fraud: A former employee of Saint Anselm College is expected to plead guilty Monday to stealing more than $66,000 from the school. The woman is the college's former assistant vice president of finance. According to court documents, in January 2019 she created a fake company called NH DESIGNZ. She allegedly submitted fraudulent invoices to the school for services that were never provided. Court paperwork shows the woman received $44,297 in checks from the college that were made out to NH DESIGNZ. The employee is also accused of using a credit card, meant for college-related expenses, to make personal purchases, including family vacations and theme park tickets. (link)

Compliance/Regulatory & Legal Events

Aug 25: Breach of Contract Lawsuit: A federal appeals court has reversed a decision by U.S. District Judge Alan Albright of Waco to dismiss a lawsuit against Baylor University filed by a student seeking refunds and other compensation as a result of pandemic-related shutdowns by the university. In a 42-page opinion issued earlier this week, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a portion of Albright's March 2021 order, affirmed part of it and sent the case back to Albright's court for further action consistent with the appellate court's directions. Allison King, a Baylor student from McAllen, alleges breach of contract and unjust enrichment by Baylor. (link)

Aug 24: Drug/Pornography: A former University of Iowa music professor is facing federal charges of possession of child pornography and distribution of meth, resulting in death. The professor is accused of buying meth, as much as an ounce or more at a time, from a supplier in California, and having multiple electronic devices containing thousands of pornographic media files. (link)

Aug 23: Title IX Lawsuit: A former Troy University football player has filed a federal lawsuit against the university, a former teammate and three coaches, alleging harassment and bullying. Plaintiff John Haynes is seeking a jury trial against a former teammate and suitemate as well as three coaches. Haynes claims his teammate sexually and verbally harassed him which led to molestation and violence. Haynes' lawsuit claims that the three coaches took no action when they were told the details. (link)

Aug 22: Wildlife Trafficking: A former West Texas A&M professor has plead guilty to Count One of superseding information, that violated the Endangered Species Act, according to court documents. Court documents say the professor pleaded guilty to knowingly transporting, receiving, acquiring and possessed the wildlife knowing that it had been imported in violation of any law, regulation, or treaty of the United States. He bought wildlife items from online sellers around the world, including Bulgaria, Canada, China, South Africa, Spain, United Kingdom, Russia, Norway, Latvia, Indonesia, Czech Republic and Uruguay. (link)

Aug 22: 4th Amendment Lawsuit: A U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio ruled in the favor of a student from Cleveland State University on Aug. 22 after the school used the student's webcam to search his room before a class test. The ruling appears to be the first in the nation to state the Fourth Amendment protects students from ‘unreasonable video searches of their homes before taking a remote test', according to a press release from civil rights attorney Matthew Besser. Cleveland State student Aaron Ogletree was subjected to a ‘warrantless room scan' prior to a chemistry exam in February 2021, which prompted Ogletree to sue the university, the release said. (link)

Aug 18: Bid Law Compliance: A whistleblower investigation report released Thursday by the Office of the Washington State Auditor found that Clark College staff failed to comply with state law in their procurement of project funding on two recent occasions. The report found that, according to an anonymous whistleblower complaint the office received on Aug. 23, 2021, Clark's director of facilities services ''grossly mismanaged his responsibilities by instructing staff to procure projects in ways that violated state law.'' The report, which was shared with college officials Thursday, also revealed that the employee in question reportedly resigned from their position on Aug. 12. (link)

Aug 18: NCAA Compliance: NCAA officials sent a letter to its membership Thursday noting its enforcement staff's pursuit of "potential violations" of the name, image and likeness compensation policy and emphasizing the need for schools to help investigations. The email came from Stan Wilcox, NCAA executive vice president of regulatory Affairs, and Jon Duncan, VP of enforcement. It said NCAA enforcement staff is "actively investigating potential abuses of NIL transactions and we'll allege any substantiated concerns as soon as possible." (link)

Aug 18: Labor Practices Lawsuit: The union representing nurses at the University of Michigan filed a lawsuit and unfair labor practice charge alleging the university is refusing to bargain over nurses' workloads in contract negotiations, affecting not only the nurses but also patients. The Michigan Nurses Association and its local bargaining unit, the University of Michigan Professional Nurse Council, filed the lawsuit this week in the Court of Claims. They are asking for an injunction to bargain workload ratios immediately pending a ruling by the Michigan Employment Relations Commission, where the unfair labor practice charge was filed. (link)

Aug 14: Sexual Assault/Kidnapping: A Georgia State University Campus Police officer was arrested and charged with rape and kidnapping after a woman reported the alleged incident. Police said the victim and the officer met several months ago and agreed to go out on a date on Aug. 5. The woman said she remembered meeting him at a restaurant in Buford for drinks but has no memory of what happened between then and when she woke up to the attack. Detectives said the alleged rape occurred at a hotel across the street from the restaurant. The woman's story is consistent with the use of a date rape drug, according to police, but they are still waiting on toxicology reports. (link)

Aug 11: Records Lawsuit: A Franklin Circuit Court judge sided with The State Journal in a lawsuit brought by the Kentucky State University Foundation (KSUF), which claimed it was not a public agency and therefore not required to release several records requested by the newspaper. The KSU Foundation, which is a nonprofit agency that accepts donations from any source for the purpose of benefiting the university, denied those requests on the argument that it is not subject to state open records law because it is not a public agency. (link)

Aug 09: Wrongful Termination Lawsuit: Former Washington State football coach Nick Rolovich, fired last year because he refused the COVID-19 vaccine, has filed a claim against the university seeking $25 million for wrongful termination. Rolovich was denied a religious exemption from Gov. Jay Inslee's mandate requiring state employees to get the vaccine. The university fired Rolovich ''for cause'' in October 2021 after he had coached just 11 games with the Cougars. (link)

Aug 09: Abortion Laws: The recent Dobbs decision by the Supreme Court, which overturned half a century of abortion rights, will affect wide areas of society, and higher education will be no exception. The impacts on higher education will fall into (at least) five areas: reduced college enrollment, particularly for Black women; disruption of training in medical schools; changes in on-campus student health services; reductions in out-of-state enrollment in anti-abortion states; and shifts in faculty location decisions away from anti-abortion states. For some of these issues, existing research provides a useful guide to likely outcomes. Other outcomes will take time to unfold and depend on how anti-abortion restrictions and enforcement evolve in individual states, but informed guesses are possible. (link)

Aug 09: Title IX Judgment: A U.S. District Court judge ruled Michigan State's decision to discontinue its men's and women's swimming and diving teams in October 2020 violates Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sexual discrimination in education. Eleven Spartan swimmers and divers filed a lawsuit against the university in January 2021 claiming MSU's decision provides poor athletic participation opportunities for women athletes. The court's decision does not suggest MSU, which said it ended the swimming and diving programs due to budget reasons, needs to bring back its swimming and diving teams. (link)

Aug 08: Clery Act Expansion: A bipartisan House bill introduced last month would make it mandatory for higher education institutions to report any campus accidents resulting in major student injuries or fatalities. The College Operational Reporting of Emergencies Involving Teens and Young Adults Safety Act of 2022, also known as the COREY Safety Act, is named in honor of Corey Hausman, a college freshman who passed away on September 12, 2018 after falling off his skateboard on campus. The COREY Act seeks to expand on the CLERY Act, which requires colleges to submit information on substance abuse, sexual assault, and hate crimes. (link)

Aug 04: Title IX Investigation: The U.S. Department of Justice is conducting a civil rights investigation into the University of Maryland, Baltimore County's compliance with federal Title IX rules barring gender discrimination. University officials confirmed the investigation this week and said the school was notified about it in November 2020. The probe is ''still underway,'' UMBC's general counsel said in an emailed statement to The Baltimore Sun, though no timeline for findings has been provided. While the scope of the investigation is unclear, UMBC has faced scrutiny over its handling of sexual assaults in recent years. (link)

Aug 03: Sexual Misconduct Settlement: A federal judge on Wednesday approved a settlement between the University of Michigan and a student that includes establishing a 30-member team to address and prevent sexual misconduct, university officials said Wednesday. The settlement, approved from the bench by U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts, is part of a federal class-action lawsuit filed by UM student Josephine Graham, who alleged the university does not maintain or properly enforce sufficient policies and procedures for preventing and responding to sexual misconduct on campus. (link)

Aug 03: Title IX Lawsuit: A student from the University of Alabama at Birmingham is suing the school after she was allegedly raped, writing that the university was negligent and violated Title IX duties following her report of the incident. Jane Doe, who has since withdrawn from the university and is attempting to transfer, alleged that she was raped by a football player while living in Blazer Hall. The 29-page lawsuit, which was initially filed in Jefferson County circuit court on May 29, lists four counts: Violation of Title IX, gender discrimination, negligence and breach of contract. The lawsuit has since moved to federal court. (link)

Aug 02: Misconduct: An investigation by Washington, D.C.-based law firm WilmerHale has determined the University of Michigan should take action regarding misconduct from the hockey head coach. The coach has been under fire since fall 2021 after a complaint was filed against him and the former director of hockey operations about multiple allegations into the hockey program, including discrimination and retaliation. WilmerHale investigators determined the ''issues facing the hockey program require attention'' and ''despite prior efforts to assess and respond to allegations regarding the culture of the program, additional work remains to be done,'' according to the report. (link)

Aug 01: NCAA Violations: The NCAA has issued new allegations against current Iona coach Rick Pitino in the Brian Bowen recruitment case, charging that the former Louisville coach was complicit in the bribery scheme involving Bowen and Adidas. (The news was first reported on Monday by The Courier-Journal, which obtained the information through an open records request). The NCAA's Complex Case Unit (CCU) lodged the additional allegations of infractions based on charges in a book by former Adidas consultant Merl Code titled "Black Market," in which he alleges in an account of his conversations with Adidas executives that Pitino was aware of and authorized a $100,000 offer to Bowen's father. The CCU submitted its original Amended Notice of Allegations on Sept. 30, 2021. (link)

Aug 01: Discrimination Lawsuit: Another former employee has sued Collin College, alleging multiple college leaders discriminated against her based on her race and gender, created a hostile work environment, and retaliated against her. The lawsuit, filed by Swee Lian ''Linda'' Wee on July 13, is the fourth brought against the community college over the past year. Wee, who worked as the school's director of continuing education starting in 2016 after serving as a professor for four years, applied in 2019 for a newly created position called executive dean of continuing education. (link)

Aug 01: Sexual Assault: She was 17 on the night that upended her life, the night she alleges several San Diego State University football players took turns raping her at a Halloween party just blocks from campus. The bruises healed, but the trauma didn't. Now 18, the young woman at the center of a sexual assault scandal at the university spoke publicly for the first time this week, recalling details of what happened at the Oct. 16, 2021, party as well as her frustrations with the ongoing police inquiry and the lack of action by the university. In response to a Times investigation detailing the alleged rape, university officials last month defended their decision not to launch their own investigation, saying they did so at the request of the San Diego Police Department. (link)

Campus Life & Safety Events

Aug 26: Sexual Assault: A Cleary University golfer has been charged with sexual assault in connection with a February incident on the college's campus. The 20 year-old, from Commerce Township, was charged July 26 with two counts of third degree criminal sexual conduct — force or coercion. The reported assault took place in a dorm room on campus on Feb. 7, sheriff's office Det. Jason Davis testified at a hearing that led to charges. (link)

Aug 26: Campus Threat: A University of Utah student was arrested Friday and accused of making a bomb threat directed at the Spencer Fox Eccles Business Building. The 19-year-old was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of making a terroristic threat and having a fake ID. The student used the Yik Yak app to make a bomb threat "in a public forum or chat room," according to a police booking affidavit. (link)

Aug 26: Campus Threats: On Tuesday and early this morning, Howard University received bomb threats, leading students to evacuate and prompting an investigation. Howard, along with other historically Black colleges and universities around the country, has been subjected to targeted threats since the beginning of the year. These latest two incidents bring the university's total number of bomb threats this year to eight, and three just this month. (link)

Aug 26: Homicide: A charge of first-degree murder has been filed against a 23-year-old Memphis, Tennessee, man held in the shooting death of Central Methodist University football player Torrance Evans. Another student reportedly admitted to shooting Evans two times on the evening of August 25 at a home on Linn Street, about a block from the university campus in Fayette. He then left the scene but later returned and turned himself in to Fayette police officer John Schell. (link)

Aug 19: Campus Police: A University of Akron Police Lieutenant faces discipline for his actions during an arrest on July 13 that have since been deemed excessive. University police were called to a location near campus where there was a complaint about a domestic disturbance. After an initial investigation, the responding officers started to leave the scene when their reports say they were flagged down by the same woman with whom they had just spoken. (link)

Aug 18: Athletic Climate: First it was women's basketball. Then it was softball. The latest, women's tennis. For the third time in less than two years, the head coach of a women's sport at Texas Tech has left the school under the cloud of an investigation and allegations of mistreatment of athletes. ''It's a disturbing pattern,'' said Jonathan Katz, a sports psychologist who has worked with professional and college athletes and has served as a sports psychology consultant for the University of Texas men's and women's tennis teams. ''That's clear. I don't think somebody could ignore that.'' (link)

Aug 16: Free Speech Lawsuit: A college professor is suing the University of Oregon (UO) for allegedly violating his First Amendment rights after the university's Division of Equity and Inclusion Twitter account blocked him. Portland State University Professor Bruce Giley alleges Tova Stabin, communications manager for UO's Division of Equity and Inclusion, blocked Giley because ''she and her employer disagree with the viewpoint that ‘all men are created equal.''' Giley had quote-tweeted the phrase alongside a tweet from UO's Division of Equity and Inclusion, which stated, ''You can interrupt racism,'' and asked users to respond to the following prompt: ''It sounded like you just said _____. Is that really what you meant?'' (link)

Aug 16: Arson: A student from the University of Houston has been arrested for arson after intentionally starting a fire, prompting evacuations from university lofts Monday night, Captain Bret Collier with the UH Police Department said. A spokesperson from the university told KPRC 2′s Brittany Jeffers there was a fire reported at the University Lofts. According to Collier, the fire was quickly extinguished by the building's fire suppression system. As a result of the incident, the lofts can't be occupied by students at this time, authorities said. (link)

Aug 15: Threat: A man from Las Cruces was charged for threatening to burn New Mexico State University, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office District of New Mexico. According to the complaint, on July 27, the man allegedly made multiple calls to the Office of Institutional Equality at NMSU and repeatedly threatened to burn the school in Las Cruces. Under federal law, it is illegal to willfully make any threat by telephone to destroy any building by means of fire or an explosive. (link)

Aug 12: Free Speech: A federal civil rights lawsuit filed this week alleges that Clovis Community College leaders violated the First Amendment rights of a conservative student club and its members last fall by ordering the removal of posted flyers that had previously been approved. The Young Americans for Freedom chapter at the Clovis college, and three of its student leaders, filed the lawsuit Thursday with the U.S. District Court in Fresno over what its attorneys describe as the unconstitutional removal of flyers promoting Freedom Week in November 2021. (link)

Aug 12: Greek Life: In a mutiny against strict party rules imposed last year following allegations of frat house sexual assaults, six USC fraternities formally disaffiliated from the university Friday — prompting warnings of ''serious ramifications'' from campus administrators. USC officials had given fraternities a Friday deadline to convey their decision, as students prepare to return to campus next week. Monique S. Allard, interim vice president for student affairs, told The Times on Friday that officials are still actively engaged in conversations to persuade other fraternity leaders to stay affiliated and benefit from the vast health and safety resources offered by campus professionals. (link)

Aug 11: Free Speech: Earlier this year, the Claremont McKenna Dean of the Faculty's Office informed members of the government department that Chris Nadon, a tenured professor of government, needed to be removed from teaching a required introductory course as a result of student complaints about his speech, according to reports from within the department. Some of Nadon's students describe his teaching style as ''Socratic,'' meaning that he engages students in back-and-forth dialogues. Nadon is also known for his use of provocative and sometimes controversial examples. (link)

Aug 11: Animals in Research: An estimated 21,000 fish died at the UC Davis Center for Aquatic Biology and Aquaculture in what the university described as a ''catastrophic failure.'' The loss appears to be a result of chlorine exposure, to which fish are uniquely sensitive, according to a Thursday news release from UC Davis. UC Davis has initiated an independent external review to determine where their systems failed and potential risks at similar facilities. (link)

Aug 06: Infectious Disease: Ahead of the new school year, colleges across the country are repurposing the tools they developed during the pandemic to address the monkeypox outbreak, which the White House recently declared a public health emergency. It's a different virus, with different risks, and colleges are having to adapt, says Dr. Lindsey Mortenson of the American College Health Association (ACHA). "Many colleges and universities are thinking about 'how do we turn the page institutionally?" Mortenson says. " 'How do we take all of these public health informed practices and apply them in a different context?' " (link)

Aug 04: Construction Protests: Police arrested seven protestors during the melee that occurred over a UC Berkeley housing project at People's Park in Berkeley Wednesday, according to university officials. In a statement released by the university Thursday after the confrontation between police in riot gear and activists, Cal officials noted that the seven arrests were for charges of trespassing, resisting arrest and battery on a peace officer. It also noted that two officers were injured. The confrontation, which began in the early morning hours, began when police officers and work crews descended upon the park to clear out debris, homeless and housing advocates. (link)

Aug 01: Murder: A University of West Georgia professor was fired after being arrested and charged with murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime for killing a student on Saturday morning, Carrollton Police Department officials confirmed to CBS46 News. Police said on July 30, just before 12:30 a.m., officers responded to Tanner Medical Center after a teen they identified as 18-year-old Anna Jones showed up with a gunshot wound. According to police, the incident happened off Adamson Square in the courthouse parking deck. (link)

Aug 01: Robbery: Multiple rooms in one dorm at Rutgers University were burglarized this week. Students tell News 12 the Livingston Campus was targeted Tuesday. Incoming freshmen were staying there as a part of orientation. Each student was given a key card to get inside the building and keys to access rooms. ''Rooms were vacant and unsecured, items of value were removed,'' the university said in a statement. "I think because there are so many new faces that people are just holding the door for people,'' said Momar Ndieye, of West New York. ''So it's like you don't know who is who." (link)

If you have any suggestions, questions or feedback, please e-mail Kevin Robinson at robinmk@auburn.edu or Robert Gottesman at gotterw@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.