Benjamin Woodard // THE WESTERN FRONT

Bruce Shepard disagrees with the state auditors.

Their whistleblower investigation, released Sept. 13, found that Doug Nord was wasteful in his actions as the Executive Director for the Center for International Studies.

Nord resigned on his own will Sept. 1, but is still employed under the Provost’s Office to submit applications for external funding. Read the full story here.

Shepard said the report found “sloppy record keeping” but no malfeasance or fraud.

“It’s certainly not malfeasance,” Shepard said, “and it’s questionable to me whether it was wasteful or not.”

Shepard noted that what the state auditor found over the last year is old news because Western’s internal auditor found similar things in 2008, outlined in a 10-page audit report, released on Jan. 8, 2009. He said the administration since has put in systems for proper record keeping.

“The [state auditor] came in later, found the same things we had found — nothing new — and that’s what led to all the attention,” Shepard said. “It’s interesting to watch the degree of attention it has gotten.”

Listen to an excerpt of Shepard’s comments:

Bruce Shepard