By Kimiko L. Martinez
Assistant News Editor
It could have slipped right by.
In fact, it may have been slipping by for a few years now.
But thanks to a little detective work by outgoing Student Government Assoc- iation Treasurer Ben Veenendaal, some unusually large SGA phone bills are currently under review.
According to Veenendaal, several students allegedly misused SGA phone codes racking up a significant amount of bills charged on those accounts. One SGA member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said at least four people were involved in the review and they were not all SGA members, but may include others who had access to the SGA phone codes.
Another student involved in SGA, who commented anonymously, said that no members of the current e-board were involved. Other students close to the investigation were also unable to comment on students recently elected to SGA positions, office workers or others who had access to the codes.
“I sat down and spent countless hours going over phone records and tracking down calls,” Veenendaal said. “Where they were going, where they were coming from … I kind of felt like a private eye.”
Veenendaal first suspected in congruencies in the amount of the phone bills and the amount of phone time used by SGA officials in January. He immediately began investigating and discovered seven phone codes were in use at the time. Veenendaal quickly had them all canceled and established a new code to be released only to a select number of people.
Although SGA and Campus Life officials have declined to release exactly how many students were involved and how much money was allegedly misused, Veenendaal said that it was a “significant amount.”
Until he began investigating he hadn’t realized just how much the phone codes were being used. “I expected a few calls here and there,” Veenendaal said, “but the same room number kept coming up and I started tallying it up, and I was like, ‘Whoa!’ I thought, ‘This person would never do that.’ I didn’t want to believe it.”
But regardless of personal emotion, Veenendaal and the e-board reviewed the evidence and circumstances of each alleged misuse and conducted their own internal investigation and hearing.
According to Veenendaal, no one has yet been referred to the Judicial Review Committee — the campus disciplinary committee composed of students, staff and faculty — as the matter is still being handled internally. But he expects a decision soon and the matter to be resolved by the end of the semester.
Students, however, may never know who allegedly misused their funds as disciplinary proceedings are confidential.
“We’re still working through the process,” Veenendaal said, “but we’re in contact with the appropriate administrators who will handle it once we’ve made a decision.”
As treasurer, Veenendaal oversees the budget and tracks and pays SGA bills. Unlike many of the bills that come across his desk, however, charges for the phone codes are automatically transferred monthly from the SGA account to Pepperdine accounts, much like an automatic bill-pay feature.
According to Veenendaal, since the transfer is automatic, it’s likely that past treasurers probably did not pay too much attention to phone bills. However, with this year’s e-board commitment to increase accountability in all areas of SGA, and especially in regards to how student funds are spent, Veenendaal has “kept closer tabs” on groups and “wanting to cut costs and keeping everything legitimate.”
This incident is not the first of its kind. Because of close tracking and audits by Veenendaal, the e-board discovered significant overspending by last semester’s Programming Board.
“(The e-board) has really tried to convey to every class president and other parties to be responsible so we can get the most out of every dollar,” Veenendaal said, “not spending on frivolous events and programs and giveaways. We wanted them to be accountable for every dollar spent.”
SGA president-elect Ben Elliott said that level of accountability is something he hopes to carry into next term.
“SGA this year has increased accountability within every committee and within every office,” Elliott said. “We wanted to make sure that the students’ money was being used wisely and that’s something SGA will strive to do next year as well.”
Although the alleged phone misuse involved a significant amount of student money, Veenendaal said it was within budget, although approaching its limits. And despite this incident, and the Programming Board going over budget last semester by more than $10,000, he said the SGA budget for the year will end up being balanced.
“The Programming Board did an exceptional job this semester keeping track of their finances,” the treasurer said, adding that their overall budget for the year will also end up balanced due to modifications in this semester’s budget.
“SGA has accomplished a lot of the goals we set out to accomplish this year,” Veenendaal continued. “E-board and the senate have faced some really tough challenges that will shape the future of SGA.”
According to Elliott, aside from the significant improvement in accountability, SGA may actually end up with a small contingency in the budget this year, instead of a deficit as in several years past. “Ben Veenendaal has done a remarkable job with SGA finances this year,” Elliott said.
April 04, 2002