Interim President speaks out

By Solé Scott 

Editor-in-Chief

Interim President Dwayne Smith breaks his silence to students about his name being involved in the state’s Comptroller report to the governor late last fall. 

On March 4, Interim President Smith agreed to a sit-down interview to discuss the recent suspension of the purchasing card system. 

“As of February 28, we went to U.S. Bank and it was done in a kind of rapid pace, so I think we’re having a kind of transitional page,” Smith said. 

Originally, the university was with J.P. Morgan before the current transition. 

“As part of the new p-card policy, you have to go through training,” Smith said. “The do’s and the don’ts of it if you will.” 

When the university did their own review of their p-card system, they found out just how much cards were being used and not used. 

“We found that there are inactive p-cards, and some people had five p-cards for five different accounts, so what we are doing is we are streamlining that,” Smith said. 

Once faculty members finish their training, they will get approved by their respective dean and or vice president of their department. 

When the Comptroller’s report came out, Smith sent out an email only to his colleagues. 

When I asked why students were not included as well, this is what he had to say. 

“What I did was sent out a campus wide message and probably the reason why the students didn’t receive it is because it was the 19 of December so students were not here,” Smith said.  

“So, the goal is to unpack it, allow people to understand all the nuances of the audit findings and then answer any questions.”  

Students will have the opportunity to speak to Smith  in a forum on March 24. 

Smith had an explanation for some of the data collected on his misuse of the p-card as well. 

“In the audit there was a discussion about dry cleaning and the dry cleaning was actually not personal,” Smith said. 

He offered even more clarification on the expenses not being used personally. 

“We used my p-card as the president’s office charge account,” Smith said. “So, things such as name badges, supplies were used and we won’t do that any longer.” 

Smith discussed more categories that were present in the investigation report. 

“The other items that were cited such as dry cleaning wasn’t personal dry cleaning, it was me pressing and cleaning the previous president’s regalia,” Smith said. “I did not buy a new regalia because I did not think it was necessary being the Interim President.” 

Also, he touched upon the car washes that were mentioned in the report. 

“Those were car washes for the university owned vehicle,” Smith said. 

He stressed again that the p-card was used for necessities for the office only. 

“None of the charges on my p-card account was personal,” Smith said. 

By the end of the interview, he wanted to leave with this comment. 

“I am proud of what I do here, and my efforts and the payoff is great,” Smith said.