NEWS 

Utah Tech-College President is Placed on Leave After Audit

Deseret Morning News - August 9, 2007

The president of Utah College of Applied Technology was put on administrative leave after a state audit revealed significant problems at one of the institution's locations.

A statement from the state Board of Regents says that President and Chief Operating Officer Robert O. Brems is mentioned specifically in the audit, which pertains to the Orem campus of Mountainland ATC. The regents expect to do additional research to determine what role Brems played in what the state auditor is calling "very serious problems with controls."

Without being specific, state auditor Auston Johnson said these controls were being handled incorrectly and said he wouldn't call it "stealing." He added that four specific instances were reported in the audit.

An internal complaint was directed to the office of the auditor earlier this year, which Johnson said concerned "how some things were going down there and we went to look at it and found that there was substance to the complaint.

Regent Chairman Jed H. Pitcher said that in order "to ensure the complete objectivity and fairness of such inquiries," Brems will be on leave "until the matters pertaining to him are fully resolved." Jared Haines, current vice president of UCAT, will serve as the acting president during the interim period.

He said the nature of the problems could be more widespread and the possibility of additional audits will be looked into as the other eight UCAT campuses "react to these findings."