According to Union Communications Director Marci Surkes '03 and Union Treasurer Josh Brandfon '05, at least $2,400 of Union funds that were unaccounted for during a check of bank records may have been taken by a former Union Treasurer who no longer attends the University. In addition, another $1,900 has been discovered missing, following a just-completed financial audit.Last April, Union President Ben Brandzel '03 learned that $2,400 was missing from a Senate account and questioned the person he thought was responsible. "The confession was immediate; she wired back the $2,400 in a matter of days and we thought the issue had been resolved internally," Surkes said. "We were very relieved that we recovered the money."

While the Executive Board (E-board) has been aware of these discoveries since last September, the Senate learned about them in an executive session at Sunday's Union Senate meeting.

Surkes said the E-board would have preferred to inform the Senate and all other students of the fiscal mismanagement in September, but "we were put in a very tough position by the administration."

"The administration was concerned that individual members (of the E-board) could be held personally liable, not just the University," Brandfon added.

Surkes said the E-board consulted several outside attorneys and asked Ron Goldstein, the independent reviewer who assisted in conducting the recent Union financial audit for advice. Goldstein, however, noted that "neither the University nor student leaders (formally) engaged (me) to provide legal counsel."

Once the audit was complete, Brandzel said, the administration let the E-board publicly disclose their knowledge of the formerly-missing funds. Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer confirmed that he was aware of financial mismanagement of Union funds.

Surkes said she is pleased that the E-board is now able to disclose this information. "As people who believe in democracy, and as public servants, we all felt (keeping silent) was a betrayal (to the students). It wasn't something we entered into lightly," she said.

"The students have a right to know this, and I am glad we can now be forthcoming," Brandzel added.

According to Surkes, the former treasurer was "having a lot of difficulty in school" and "was going through very difficult times personally." "It was obvious that she was having trouble paying the bills and probably got desperate ... but she never explained herself," Surkes said.

Following the audit, $1,900 of Union funds remains unaccounted for. But, Surkes said the E-board cannot confirm that the same person was responsible for the missing $1,900. "We don't know that the $1,900 was stolen," she said. "That individual confessed very readily and didn't mention anything else. Now, that could have been that person saying, 'That's all (the E-board) knows of,' ... or it may be that she didn't take anything else."

Goldstein also said that 'stealing' is perhaps not the most accurate term to use, even with regards to the $2,400 returned by the former treasurer. "Forgive me, but here I must get lawyer-like," he said. "When you accuse someone of stealing, you make a very specific charge. I am not sure that what happened here is 'stealing' in the legal sense. Mismanagement? Sure. But 'stealing'? I do not know."

E-board members added that Union accounting practices are being heavily revamped following the audit. "Unfortunately, in the past there were a lot of shoddy practices going on around here ... That's why we closed down that system to start a new one," Surkes said.

According to Brandfon, a proposed amendment to the Union Charter will make the necessary accounting changes. "The whole constitutional amendment we are presenting to put in place ... will reduce the chances of this happening again to almost nothing," he said. "There are so many safeguards in place to prevent this ... as we've been writing this (amendment) with the knowledge that it has happened."

In addition to the proposed amendment, Brandfon and Sawyer have been working to hire a professional bookkeeper to track Union finances.