The Daily Cougar reports that the first audit conducted by UH Internal Auditor Don Guyton will find no wrongdoing in the diversion of funds used to construct UH’s TDECU Stadium.  This comes as no surprise since Guyton rarely finds any problems with anything that UH Administration wants to do.   

An audit initiated by UH President and Chancellor Renu Khator into UH’s allocation of $5 million in Higher Education Assistance Funds found no “irregularities or violations of University policy or state laws,” according to a UH spokesman. The audit, the results of which will be made public on Feb. 19 during the Board of Regents meeting, was conducted following accusations that UH misallocated state funding approved to fund the construction of classrooms in TDECU Stadium for the Spirit of Houston marching band. HEAF funds must be used for academic purposes.

This isn’t the only audit that UH is undergoing. During Thursday’s meeting, the Board will be updated on the progress of three more audits that UH is currently undergoing. These audits have reviewed the current Student Fees Advisory Committee process, the “request for proposal-procurement process associated with the VenuWorks/Aramark contract” and any possible violations of the Memorandum of Understanding agreement with the student body. “Substantial progress” in the audits is expected by Thursday, and a summary report will be presented at the meeting, according to a spokesman for the University.

After revelations that outgoing University of Texas at Austin President Bill Powers personally intervened in the admission into UT-Austin of numerous otherwise unqualified students, the school is reviewing its admissions process.  An investigation by Kroll Associates revealed that Powers was using his office to reward the children of wealthy donors and influential alumni. Some of the students admitted were described as completely unqualified for admission to the school but were let in based at Powers’ urging.  The Houston Chronicle reports on the new investigation.

System Chancellor William McRaven announced Monday that he is forming a committee to examine UT-Austin admissions policy in the aftermath of the review by Kroll Associates. “My goal is to ensure full and open transparency to the public with respect to how admissions decisions are made at UT-Austin,” McRaven said in a statement. “I realize that admissions practices are complicated and nuanced processes, but we must clearly define a policy that determines the degree of appropriate discretion at the institution level, while ensuring a fair and transparent process for applicants.”

Committee member Larry Faulkner, UT-Austin president from 1998 to 2006, said last week that it’s important to keep the report in perspective. “I think something that’s very important to understand is that every selective university has a president who gets letters about admissions,” Faulkner said, echoing part of Powers’ response to the report.

The report by the Kroll consulting firm, commissioned by the UT System Board of Regents, stopped short of condemning the president’s intervention in admissions decisions. It said Powers broke no rules and acknowledged that universities must consider factors such as relationships with donors and legislators.

The San Antonio Express-News reports that the physical condition of the Alamo is deteriorating at an alarming rate.

The iconic mission-era church of the Alamo has long been crumbling, possibly at a rate Texans will find alarming, according to a Texas A&M University researcher.  The base of a decorative column next to the church’s main entrance has lost up to 2.7 inches of its limestone surface since 1960, said Robert Warden, director of the university’s Center for Heritage Conservation. The base of each of the four columns were originally rectangular and solid, with carved features that “now look scooped,” he said.  “It’s clear from photos of the building in the 1930s that material loss was already well underway,” he said.

The decomposition rate on one column “adds up to a significant amount, especially if that rate increases in the future,” said Warden, one of at least seven experts slated to speak at the center’s 14th annual Historic Preservation Symposium, “The Alamo: Structure of History,” Feb. 20-21 in College Station.

Online registration for the Symposium runs through Feb. 18 and is $10 for students, $20 for faculty and the general public and $100 for professionals.  For more information visit  http://chc.arch.tamu.edu/

New University of Texas System Chancellor Admiral (Ret.) William McRaven has staked out positions that will likely win him no friends in the Tea Party dominated Texas Legislature.  McRaven supports the Dream Act which provides in state tuition rates to college bound students who were brought here illegally as children. The act currently benefits about 21,000 students at no real cost to the state.  McRaven also vehemently opposes concealed carry on campus. Texas A&M President  Michael Young has also voiced support for the Dream Act stating that Texas should “educated everyone” who plans on staying in the state, but has remained silent regarding packing heat on campus.   The San Angelo Times reports that while legislators have tremendous respect for McRaven and his service to our country, that respect does not translate into support for his positions.

In rapid-fire succession, the former Navy SEAL came out against concealed handguns on campus — saying it would make classrooms “less safe” — and supported allowing universities to set their own tuition rates. He also opposes repealing a 2001 state law that grants in-state tuition rates to some immigrants living in Texas but without legal U.S. residency, calling it a “moral obligation.”

But how much clout he’ll have in swaying lawmakers on those issues remains unclear. Republican Sen. Konni Burton, a firebrand tea-party favorite, was perhaps most indicative of potential pushback when she recently challenged McRaven’s position that concealed weapons would stifle free speech in universities. Burton called that a false argument and said the right to bear arms was “granted by God.”

When asked Tuesday about potential skirmishes, McRaven— who led the U.S. Special Operations Command before taking the university job — told The Associated Press: “All I know is I have to take a position on these issues, and I have to take a position as an educator.”

“I enjoy the dialogue,” he added. “This is the best thing about our democracy.”

I guess Red missed that Sunday where we learned about God giving us the right to bear arms or Jesus packing a 38 Special at the Sermon on the Mount.  McRaven appears to be too much of a diplomat and gentleman to respond to the brilliant theological arguments of noted religious scholars such as Sen. Burton.