by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
An October audit of the Anderson Schools of Management revealed that at least three faculty members spent too much time doing outside work.
A redacted version of the report was released Friday.
One faculty member performed about 120 days of work that was not part of his or her normal work, according to the audit.
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That included outside work and extra compensation, which means the faculty member was paid for doing extra work for the University.
According to the Faculty Handbook, faculty members are allowed to perform 39 days of outside work per academic year.
A letter from the Faculty Senate Operations Committee to the audit committee states that the faculty members' actions did break University policy, but it might not have been their fault.
"This situation may be symptomatic of a more pervasive systemic problem across many (if not most) UNM departments," the letter states.
Placing limits on how much outside work faculty can do might hurt UNM's involvement with the community, the letter states.
The operations committee recommended that a task force be created to examine the policies on outside employment.
Jamie Koch, president of the Board of Regents, said the letter made some good points.
"I think the faculty wrote an excellent letter," he said. "It does seem that there were some problems in the Anderson Schools, but the audit raised a lot of questions that need to be answered."
The regents will discuss the audit and the letter at their 9 a.m. meeting today in the SUB Ballroom.
UNM's Internal Audit Department reviewed every faculty member who reported performing outside work during the 2005-06 school year.
University President David Harris, who requested the audit, said he is happy with the results.
"I think the audit is significant for its thoroughness and its objectivity," he said. "I don't know of any audits we've done that have been more comprehensive than that."
The audit was not an attempt to punish the faculty members who were violating the policy, he said.
"It was really an effort to see if policies were being administered correctly," he said. "This is something that can really help the University rather than just get to the bottom of an individual
allegation."
At least one of the faculty members was paid with a special administrative component, which is money paid to faculty members who perform extra administrative work.
Administrators approve the payment, and there are no clear guidelines for when to pay with the component, according to the audit.
One of the faculty members who broke the policy told the auditors that he or she didn't know faculty members weren't allowed to perform more than 39 days of outside work.
Faculty members are not
required to read the handbook or confirm that they understand the policies, according to the audit.
The audit department made several recommendations in its report, including the creation of a better process for reporting outside employment.
The department also recommended that the faculty members who broke the rules be disciplined.
Harris said that is unlikely.
"The faculty members had full approval of the administrators," he said. "I think disciplining them now would be unnecessary."
