Sacramento State received an A+ from a California Public Records Act compliance audit by upholding the public records law for fulfilling requested documents regarding university spending.

Californians Aware tested 32 public university campuses on how well they responded to the requests of public information. According to Californians Aware, the results were satisfactory when dealing with the CSUs, especially comparedwith the UC system. While the UC system failed to comply, 12 CSUs received a high score, including Sac State.

Californians Aware is a nonprofit organization created to keep Californians informed of public records to hold government and other powerful institutions responsible for their actions.

Sac State’s audit resulted in a high grade because the universityreleased contracts of the president, minutes of meetings where hiring decisions were made, requests for reimbursements and recent credit card statement, said Emily Francke, Sac State alumna and executive director for Californians Aware.

“Sac State’s fulfillment to be compliant to the accessibility of public records prominently has been promising to its community,” Francke said. “It is important for the public to see what kind of financial spending is taking place by chief executive officials in order to be our own watchdog.”

The information requested in the audit required specifics on the total compensation, expense reimbursement claims, credit card use and other outside financial interests of Sac State President Alexander Gonzalez, comparing his relative income levels and spending habits during his tenure as president of Sac State.

This is not the first audit Sac State has been asked to comply with. Francke said it is necessary to keep up on the university’s spending to watch for unnecessary expenditures, and by doing so, audits should be taken on a regular basis, Francke said.

According to a previous audit by then-Attorney GeneralJerry Brown’s office, renovations made to Gonzalez’s kitchen, which were paid for by the university’s auxiliary organization, University Enterprises Inc., personally benefited Gonzalez and appeared to be unseemly expenses.

Gloria Moraga, associate vice president of public affairs, described the renovation of Gonzalez’s kitchen as a health and safety code decision made to benefit the university and after complying with the audit, UEI later deemed the matter closed.

Francke said from the first response she received from Sac State in December through the completed fulfillment of her request, the Office of University Counsel was very professional and helped to clarify several points promptly and courteously. However, the material provided, such as credit card statements and reimbursement forms, not only required a fee of 20 cents, but also brought up unseemly expenditures by Gonzalez.

“The bad news is that based on the records produced, it is clear that both CSUS students and faculty need to keep a much closer eye on these records going forward, demanding explanations for unlawful redactions on mileage reimbursement forms that are in my opinion, redundant to his $1,000 per month car allowance,” Francke said.

Francke said she believes students should be aware of how their tuition is being spent, and while newsrooms are experiencing cutbacks with less ability to cover these details than before, it is up to the community &- particularly the students and faculty of the campus -to keep track of how administration is spending our money.

As the audit results showed a high grade in compliance, Francke said the public records law affords the community the right to do this, but the question remains how compliant each campus is with these laws. The “good news” is that for at least our request in this audit, “campus administration seems to have performed their basic duties flawlessly,” Francke said

“I am a taxpayer and alumna of Sac State,” Francke said. “At this time, students’ fees are ever increasing and it’s harder and harder to get into classes because of faculty layoffs and departmental cuts. Students should know how their tuition is being spent. It is dependent on the community to be their own watchdog.”

Yvette Villasenor can be reached at [email protected]