The University of Colorado’s fund-raising foundation footed the $680 bill when football coach Gary Barnett chartered a plane to fly 25 miles across the Denver area, officials said today – one of a series of revelations that prompted CU officials to promise changes.
In a report released to lawmakers, state auditors criticized more than $700,000 in foundation spending, including $606,600 for food and catering, $94,000 for flowers and gifts, about $15,200 for alcohol and $1,600 for limousine services.
University President Hank Brown said none of the expenditures were illegal, but he called them unacceptable.
Brown and foundation President Michael Byram accepted each of the 21 changes auditors recommended, from bringing the organization under state spending guidelines to re-evaluating the relationship between the university and the foundation.
“Our intention is to implement every single one of them in their entirety. What the state auditor has done is give us a roadmap,” Brown told members of the Legislative Audit Committee.
Brown said CU and other universities established fund-raising arms like the CU Foundation because they could pay for things that their parent schools could not. He said that practice will change at CU.
The audit criticized the chartered flight from suburban Englewood to suburban Broomfield but did not identify the coach.
Byram said it was Barnett.
A university spokeswoman did not immediately respond to request for comment from Barnett.
Auditors said there was little accountability for donations. In one case, a Learjet donated to the foundation had a listed value of $830,000, and two years later sold for $100,000.
In the fiscal year that ended June 30, the CU Foundation raised $83 million, transferred about $70 million to the university and managed total assets of about $771 million, spokesman Steve Caulk said.
The audit was one of several probes launched as the university and foundation responded to a scandal over allegations that the CU athletic department used sex and alcohol to recruit football players.
A grand jury issued only one indictment, leading to a guilty plea from a former recruiting aide who admitted soliciting a prostitute and misusing a university cell phone.
A grand jury report, which was leaked to some news organizations, included questions about numerous unexplained transactions involving CU, the foundation and two football camps run by Barnett.
The state auditor’s office said a separate audit of those camps is scheduled to be released Dec. 13. The Internal Revenue Service also is reportedly looking into the camps’ finances.
Barnett has denied wrongdoing.
