After Gov. Katie Hobbs blasted the handling of the University of Arizona’s financial crisis, immediate reactions included the regents’ chairman saying an outside auditor will be hired — as Hobbs wants — and the Faculty Senate chair saying a “no confidence” vote in UA’s president is off the table “for now.”
Hobbs, in a letter released late Thursday, said: “I no longer trust the process that is in place.”
“This is no longer just about finances. This is about a lack of accountability, transparency, and at the end of the day, leadership,” Hobbs wrote to Regents Chair Fred DuVal and Regents Executive Director John Arnold.
“It is now apparent that we can no longer continue on the same course,” the governor said.
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“There is no coherent vision, let alone even an agreement on the severity of the problems, on how to lead the university moving forward,” Hobbs wrote in the letter, which she also posted on her X (formerly Twitter) account.
ABOR is the oversight board, of which the governor is a member, for the state’s three public universities. Arnold, its director, is also interim chief financial officer and vice president of business affairs for the UA — a situation Hobbs likened to a potential case of “the fox guarding the henhouse.”
Hobbs said she is concerned there is a “real or perceived conflict of interest” in having ABOR’s Arnold serving as interim CFO at the UA since Dec. 13, when UA President Robert C. Robbins announced he had “accepted the resignation” of Lisa Rulney as CFO in the midst of a budget deficit and a $240 million miscalculation of cash reserves.
“As Governor, and as a member of the Arizona Board of Regents, I have a responsibility to ensure accountability in order to restore faith and trust in the university,” Hobbs wrote. “… In order to avoid this from becoming a case of the ‘fox guarding the henhouse,’ it is time to bring in an independent, third-party consultant.”
She said an independent consultant is needed, and quickly, to plan proposed solutions, conduct an external audit, and provide monthly reporting to her and to ABOR.
And she warned that if she doesn’t see adequate progress, she will work “to identify further changes to leadership.”
Outside auditors to be hired
DuVal, the regents chair, told the Arizona Daily Star Thursday night that ABOR found the problem and is capable of fixing it, though he added that the governing board will retain an outside auditor.
“The governor has made useful suggestions that track with our plans,” DuVal said. “We will be announcing the details of our plan on Monday. In addition, we will be retaining outside third party auditors to bring extra credibility to the work.”
Regents Chair Fred DuVal
Hobbs also told ABOR, whose members are gubernatorial appointees, to submit a plan to her by Feb. 9 “that includes the major strategies and tactics that will be used to resolve the financial issues at the university. The plan should include key metrics and benchmarks that will be used to measure the progress and success of the implementation of the plan.”
“As this financial crisis has already damaged ABOR’s credibility in their oversight functions, there must be greater separation between the Board and the university to restore the trust of my office and the public. … I recommend Executive Director Arnold transition out of the CFO role at the University of Arizona as quickly as possible,” wrote Hobbs, who has the fiscal power of negotiating with legislators the budget that determines state funding for the universities.
“Ensuring stability”
Faculty Senate Chair Leila Hudson echoed Hobbs’ concerns — the Faculty Senate had called in December for an independent…
Read More: Gov. Hobbs blasts ‘lack of leadership’ in U of A crisis