UC President Napolitano Apologizes For Handling Of Audit

SACRAMENTO (CBS SF/AP) — University of California President Janet Napolitano is apologizing for the way her office handled an audit that found UC administrators hid $175 million from the public while tuition increased.

State lawmakers who questioned Napolitano at a hearing on Tuesday said they were deeply troubled by the auditor's finding that the UC president's office tried to interfere with the investigation.

State auditor Elaine Howle told lawmakers that Napolitano's office sought to edit responses to audit questions from individual UC campuses.

Napolitano told lawmakers that she coordinated responses to ensure they were accurate. She says she's sorry for the decision because it's become a distraction.

Napolitano says her office has only $38 million in reserves, not $175 million, but she agrees her office should keep clearer budget records.

"The auditor made 33 recommendations to UCOP and we have agreed to implement all of them," Napolitano said.

San Francisco Assemblyman Phil Ting was one of the assembly members who asked for the audit. He's still skeptical.

"What we've heard is that the university plans to implement the recommendations. What we also want to make sure is that it actually happens. We've heard that before. The auditor mentioned she had a previous audit in 2006 that the recommendations were supposed the be implemented, I don't think any of them were, maybe there's one or two that were. So we want to make sure there's actual, real follow-though, not just words, there's actual action."

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