**PRESS RELEASE**
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 6, 2019
Audit Highlights Need to Review Contract at Dickinson State University
Contact information: Brianna Ludwig, North Dakota State Auditor’s Office, 701-328-2453, bsludwig@nd.gov
State Auditor Joshua Gallion today released an audit of Dickinson State University which shows during the fiscal year 2018, the university entered into a contract for the management of the bookstore that could adversely impact the university’s revenues. In the first year of this eight-year contract, Dickinson State received zero revenue.
"As the contract is written, at best, the university may collect $10,000 in revenue,” said Auditor Gallion.” In prior years, under its own management, they reported net revenues of $260,000-$350,000 annually. It’s unsettling to see the university losing revenue on this contract.”
The audit also found that the university was not consistently conducting student evaluations of adjunct faculty, lacking an annual operating agreement with a local senior living facility, lacking blanket bond coverage, improperly sharing purchase cards, not following procurement requirements, not recording liabilities for capital projects and lacking a policy to handle nepotism and conflicts of interest.
This audit is a result of the State Auditor’s Office statutory responsibility to audit or review each state agency once every two years. The complete audit report can be found on our website, http://bit.ly/Dickinson18.