Generations of Pima Community College athletes were put at risk for identity theft when their player eligibility records were stored, unsecured, in a campus gymnasium, a recent internal audit found.
It also found “significant” fault with how PCC athletics handles cash deposits and donation checks, and it criticized the department for not making good on pledges to fix its problems promptly.
The athletics audit undertaken in late 2016 is the third since 2012 to detect problems that were said to put the college at unnecessary financial risk.
The findings were troubling to a committee of local experts that advises PCC’s Governing Board on financial practices. The committee send a letter of concern to Chancellor Lee Lambert.
“We wish to express our considerable concern about the length of time that has elapsed from the initial audit, and the apparent failure to implement necessary changes in a timely manner,” the Jan. 20 missive said. Lambert wrote back on Feb. 8 saying all the remaining problems are fixed.
Edgar Soto, the longtime head of PCC athletics, would not answer questions about the audit findings. Libby Howell, the college’s public relations chief, also wouldn’t answer questions.
Howell did provide a brief statement that praised the athletic department’s progress to date. It noted the 2015 audit was done at Soto’s request and stressed that none of the audits have “found any misuse or diversion of public or donor funds.”
Athletics, which received a $500,000 infusion from taxpayers this year to keep sports programs running as enrollment shrinks, lacks a “strong culture of compliance” with the rules that govern its operation, the latest audit found.
The mishandled player eligibility records, stored in 21 boxes and nine large filing drawers in the West Campus gym, are “historic records (that) go back for decades”, the audit said.
The set-up left the records “accessible to unauthorized individuals, placing former students at risk for identity theft,” the audit said.
Only former athletes’ files were mishandled, the audit said. Those of current PCC athletes are properly stored in the college registrar’s office, it said.
Athletics also didn’t always follow rules for handling cash and donor checks, the audit said. Cash from game receipts, for example, is required to be deposited within three business days but sometimes took two or three times that long to reach the bank.
Donation checks often weren’t cashed for weeks or months. A $100 check from early 2014 was found uncashed in an office safe during the most recent audit in late 2016.
A 2015 audit identified 12 problem areas, seven of which were fixed or nearly fixed a year later when a follow-up audit took place. “Significant internal control weaknesses continue to exist,” the recent follow-up audit concluded.
Lambert’s letter to financial advisers said the athletics department’s previous reform efforts were delayed by organizational changes at the college.
