Joseph Golia is taking over an office eager for a rebirth, and - what with a new moniker for the department, an added position to oversee business transactions and a fresh set of oversight rules - a new beginning seems to be just what the former Office of Student Activities is getting.
The department, which was recently renamed the Office for Campus Life, earned infamy last November when then-Director Jodie Nealley was accused of embezzling approximately $300,000.
Annie Wong last month became the OCL's first business manager, a position meant to tighten oversight of funds that go through the office, which handles money for student organizations. Golia took over as OCL director on July 1, the same day that a Middlesex County grand jury indicted Nealley and former staffer Ray Rodriguez.
Golia took the reins from interim Director Paul Tringale, and will be the first director to start the job under recently imposed guidelines aimed at streamlining the office's finances.
"I think we were lucky to have someone join us with as much experience and qualification for the job as Joe," Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman said. Golia was previously at Assumption College for 15 years, and was its director of student activities for the last 11.
Limiting the director's autonomy
The university is looking to give the embattled OCL a fresh start. "The priorities right now are to sort of move forward and get people excited about a new beginning," Golia said. "Now it's not just about trying to get through it every day."
Previous directors had opportunities to access the Student Activities Fee -- which brings in over $1 million each year -- and a number of outside bank accounts without a great deal of routine oversight. Now, in the midst of the Nealley scandal, administrators have sought to tighten up protocols. As a result, Wong has been charged with reviewing the office's expenditures and financial records.
Wong reports to an administrator outside of the OCL, Director of Administration and Finance for Arts and Sciences Marc Miller, who in turn reports to Executive Administrative Dean of Arts and Sciences Leah McIntosh. Golia, like Nealley and other past directors, reports to Reitman.
McIntosh said that removing financial oversight from the director is not meant to detract from his ability to plan programming. Instead, she said that Golia will work with Wong to ensure that his initiatives receive proper funding. "The actual management, the actual decisions, [they'll] make together," she said.
Altered banking policy
Another change that will affect the OCL is a new university policy encouraging all departments and organizations to move outside accounts into Tufts' internal banking system. The university had previously monitored all internal transactions with software from the company PeopleSoft, which allows auditors and department heads easy access to records. But it was not applied to outside accounts.
The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate, for example, has a Citizens Bank account, from which it cut all of its checks to student groups.
Middlesex County District Attorney Gerry Leone's office said in a press release that Nealley had control over certain university bank accounts tied to the Student Activities operations. "Nealley used one of these accounts to deposit student activity funds and would then transfer that money into her own personal bank accounts. She also used the account to withdraw cash and make personal purchases," the press release said.
Jessica Venezia, a spokesperson for the DA's office, declined to comment on whether that referred to the Senate's Citizens Bank account, saying that she could not release details until after Nealley and Rodriguez are arraigned. A date for the arraignment has not yet been set.
Rising senior and incoming TCU Treasurer Matt Shapanka said that although the funds that were allegedly stolen would not have been taken exclusively from the Citizens Bank account, some probably were. "It's fair to assume that some of it came from that," he said.
According to Shapanka, the Senate is in the process of closing the account. With the elimination of outside accounts, the university will assume a greater banking function, according to Reitman, and will ensure that all funds now are tracked by the PeopleSoft software.
Apart from the administrative restructuring of the office, the OCL is looking to spruce up its image. Golia mentioned plans to renovate the Web site, which still says Office of Student Activites, and to draft a new mission statement.
The first project is short-term, but changing the mission statement will likely take the entire academic year to finalize. "That's not a quick thing," Golia said. "You don't want to rush into that."
