Story updated on May 5
An audit conducted by the California State University found that San Jose State Athletics did not always honor donors’ intentions on where the money should be used when processing donations.
SJSU requested the audit following the Spartan Daily’s reporting in “Millions Misused: SJSU allegedly mishandled $6.3 million per documents.” Based on sources and confirmed by documents, in May 2019 the Daily reported that less than 5% of Spartan Foundation money intended for athletic scholarships was distributed to SJSU athletes from 2013-2016.
The Spartan Foundation was an independent fund for SJSU athletics that primarily raised money for student-athlete scholarships until it changed its bylaws in 2012 to broaden its scope.
Out of the 178 donation instances reviewed, auditors “found that [SJSU] Athletics designated the donations to accounts that did not match donors’ intent for 29 donations totaling $83,341.”
“I thank the audit team for their thorough investigation,” SJSU President Mary Papazian stated in an email to the Daily. “Based on the audit report, the 29 donations where donor intent was not met totaled $83,341 — and when added with the instances when intent could not be identified — was a stark contrast from the more than $6.3 million that was alleged. I am already taking steps to fulfill my promise to use other resources to honor donor intent or return the gift.”
Auditors found that funds designated for student-athlete scholarships ended up in accounts allocated for different purposes.
The President’s Cup golf tournaments in 2013-14 and 2014-15, advertised that proceeds would go toward student-athlete scholarships, but donations were instead deposited into the “Athletics special events account,” according to the audit.
The majority of the money in the special events account went into a general fund controlled by the athletic director who could determine how the money was spent. But auditors “concluded that the proceeds should have been deposited in the scholarship account.”
“I care deeply about ensuring our donors can trust SJSU Athletics to appropriately steward their generous gifts that benefit our outstanding student-athletes,” Athletics Director Marie Tuite stated in an email to the Daily. “Because of this, I made it a point of emphasis early in my tenure to rebrand our marketing materials to provide clearer language to donors regarding how their donations might be used.”
In a response to the Spartan Daily’s reporting last year, SJSU wrote in a June 2019 statement, “Every donation designated by the donor for athletics scholarship was used for that purpose.”
Auditors said they could not determine the intent in 46 other donation instances totalling $288,577 because SJSU Athletics didn’t obtain the proper documentation.
According to the audit, former Athletics Director Gene Bleymaier instituted a policy in which coaches would raise money for their sport. At least a portion of that money was then transferred into a general fundraising account for the Athletics Department.
Auditors wrote that the policy “did not honor donor intent.” Tuite ended the policy in 2017.
The audit found that “in general, student-athletes received the athletic scholarships they were promised” by examining scholarships received by 10% of athletes from 2017-18 and 2018-19.
Some athletes told the Spartan Daily in 2019 that their scholarships had been canceled, an allegation auditors investigated too.
After reviewing 12 out of the 53 scholarships that were canceled between 2016-17 and 2018-19, auditors found that all the coaches followed policy and no scholarships were revoked without cause. Each of the athletes was provided the appropriate opportunity to appeal the decision.
CSU auditors described everyone they contacted as “very cooperative,” Michael Uhlenkamp, CSU senior director of public affairs, said in an email. He declined to answer some specific questions from the Spartan Daily, explaining, “We will not further expound on the information from the report or respond to questions related to the methodology beyond what is outlined in the report.”
The report concluded with eight different recommendations for SJSU to implement. The university agreed with every single one and anticipates to have them all instituted by Sept. 30 but noted that the COVID-19 pandemic may affect the timeline.
“We will continue to work with campus leadership to address the recommendations made in the audit report,” Tuite stated.
It is now on SJSU to implement the audit’s recommendations. “Campuses are responsible for following up and submitting supporting documents prior to any suggested completion dates,” Uhlenkamp said.
“I am committed to instituting the audit’s recommendations by September 30, notwithstanding any delays caused by COVID-19,” Papazian stated.
The Spartan Daily is continuing to review the audit report and will update this story as more information becomes available.
