Top officials in the State College and University System have racked up thousands of dollars in charges for expensive meals, room service, dry cleaning, car services and other expenses, according to a report released Wednesday by the comptroller’s office.
Comptroller Sean Scanlon said audit results showed a “lax attitude towards the use of taxpayer dollars” and “poor judgment” by university leaders.
“What we found were inappropriate spending, disregard for financial practices and procedures, inadequate reporting, misuse of state property — and above all, poor judgment — that was exhibited by the chancellor, by executive leaders from the CSCU system and by staff members of the CSCU system,” Scanlon said at a Wednesday news conference.
The audit was ordered by Gov. Ned Lamont after reporting in CT Insider questioned CSCU Chancellor Terrence Cheng’s use of a university credit card, or purchasing card, on expensive meals and chauffeured rides.
The comptroller’s office examined 1,000 transactions that took place between July 1, 2022, and October 2024 — the period of Cheng’s tenure. Although the audit was initiated in response to Cheng’s behavior, Scanlon said, the report revealed that the misuse of university dollars was a systemic problem.
According to Scanlon, every university president, with the exception of the new head of Eastern Connecticut State University, had used purchase cards in ways that violated state policies.
Regarding Cheng’s conduct, the report found 70% of the chancellor’s expenses on his purchase card were meals recorded as business meetings, equalling $19,000. The report found that Cheng had paid more than the $50 meal limit on multiple occasions, purchased alcohol and excessively tipped. Additionally, 43% of the transactions had missing receipts.
The report also found that Cheng used a car service for three separate trips despite being provided a state vehicle, costing $490, $783 and $1,263, respectively.
The report notes that while Cheng did not technically violate any university policies, his purchases showed bad judgment that “were especially troubling given the financial stress on the CSCU system.”
In a statement, Cheng expressed appreciation for the comptroller’s work, said he was reviewing the recommendations and was “committed to implementing stronger controls, policies, and comprehensive training.”
“These recommendations will support the goal of accountability and transparency across the system and protect taxpayer dollars and student funds. The system has begun to take steps in this direction and over the next 100 days, I’ve instructed my team to implement recommendations to improve compliance and reporting,” he said.
The report additionally found significant violations in university spending by Southern Connecticut State Interim President Dwayne Smith, who often failed to supply receipts for his purchases. This included a ticket to a Yale football game that included no evidence of being a business event.
Scanlon said Smith spent twice what Cheng had in a shorter period of time on services like dry cleaning and car washes for himself and his family.
“All of these things again display, in some cases, a shocking and tone deaf display of poor judgment at a time that we need to be held to a higher standard from my perspective,” Scanlon said.
The report flagged spending by Charter Oak President Ed Klonoski, who multiple times went over the spending limits on purchase cards in order to pay for marketing expenses.
Scanlon said none of the actions the audit listed were considered criminal charges, but recommended that the Office of State Ethics review the report further.
Scanlon’s report listed 10 recommendations to improve the colleges and universities’ fiscal practice, one being to reinstitute the system’s internal audit unit, which was eliminated as a result of budget cuts. Another would require meals and entertainment costs to come out of CSCU’s foundations rather than taxpayer dollars. A third would require the creation of a single centralized policy on using purchasing cards.
“They absolutely need a uniform policy across the university system, and that policy should also address training and expectations for cardholders. For example, the chancellor said in public reporting that he wasn’t aware of the meals policy,” Scanlon said. “He then, of course, was exempt from that because of his own discretionary ability to exempt himself, but he said he was unaware. And part of that, as was the case with other staff members, is because they too were unaware.”
He also recommended that university executives be required to live in Connecticut — Cheng currently resides in New York, although he has an apartment in Hartford — and that there be consequences for violating purchasing policies, including revoking an executive’s card.
Scanlon emphasized that the spending violations were particularly troubling given the ongoing budget challenges faced by the CSCU system.
In November, the colleges and universities were asked to cut support services for students in an effort to mitigate a projected deficit after the schools could no longer rely on federal coronavirus money.
Scanlon urged state legislators not to penalize students by using the audit results as a reason to refuse increases in funding to the CSCU system.
“What happens when we experience things like this? I think it makes it harder for that system to come before the legislature and say we need more funding for the things we need to do. But I do not believe the students of the system should be punished for the mistakes of the executives,” he said.
Republican legislative leaders called the report a “black eye for the state of Connecticut” and called for terminating Cheng’s employment.
“His continued leadership over a system in clear disarray undermines efforts to restore stability and confidence among students, parents, staff, and taxpayers alike,” State Sen. Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, and State Rep. Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, said in a statement.
They also called for an extended audit process into the CSCU system. Top Republicans on the state’s budget committee additionally asked that executives be required to pay back the money they had charged on their purchase cards.
State Rep. Gregg Haddad, D-Mansfield, and State Sen. Derek Slap, D-West Hartford, chairs of the legislature’s committee on higher education, expressed concern about the “potential misjudgement by leaders who are entrusted to always use state resources responsibly,” adding that they planned to bring forward proposals for greater accountability during January’s legislative session.
“We take seriously any processes or actions that take resources away from the classroom and undermine public confidence in our institutions of higher education,” they said in a statement.