news-record.com

The misuse of funds at N.C. A&T may have been inappropriate, unseemly and in some cases just plain wrong, but it wasn't illegal.

That's the gist of an investigation by the office of Guilford County District Attorney Doug Henderson, who said in a news release Tuesday that he will not prosecute.

Now that the school has learned some painful lessons in accountability and oversight -- and presumably fixed what was broken -- it can move on.

The investigation stemmed from a 2007 state audit that uncovered the misuse of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Among those findings:

* Nearly $400,000 in a Pepsi vending contract had been improperly transferred into former Chancellor James Renick's discretionary fund.

* Grant money in the Office of Naval Research had been spent on a stipend for the husband of the manager of that office.

* Money from that same office was spent as well on travel expenses for the manager's daughter, who was a student employee there.

But Henderson concluded that, while the parties may have used poor judgment, they did not act willfully and did not themselves benefit financially from the spending. For instance, Renick improperly used money from the Pepsi contracts, Henderson said, because he was not aware that such use was prohibited. The district attorney said Renick "did not act in bad faith or with criminal intent."

The case of the Office of Naval Research raised obvious questions about nepotism. It seems more than a peculiar coincidence that former manager Anna Anita Huff's husband would be a student in the program who received a stipend and that her daughter would be a paid student employee in the same office.

Yet, Henderson said in a news release that Huff's husband was selected for the stipend by a committee that was not aware he was married to Huff. Henderson also said Huff's hiring of her daughter broke no laws.

But that doesn't make it right. A&T officials apparently agreed, firing Huff in 2006.

The university has, in fact, uncovered a number of financial problems in recent years and addressed them with systemic changes. That's encouraging. The Triad economy sorely needs a healthy and prosperous A&T.

What is not so encouraging is the manner in which A&T has communicated about these issues to the public. When it communicates at all.

An A&T spokeswoman offered no comment in response to Henderson's decision and instead launched into a cheery recitation of A&T's rankings in research funds and in engineering, psychology and accounting graduates.

In fact, the university appears less open and forthcoming now than before. That's neither useful nor acceptable. As a state institution, A&T ultimately is answerable to the taxpayers, who have every right to know what's going on there, in a timely and straightforward manner.