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SGA votes to oust Administration and Finance VP Carlucci, deputies

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SGA President Charles Haston addresses a packed house with an impassioned speech at Wednesday night’s meeting. | Brittaney Penney/The Cougar

The Student Government Association voted Wednesday night to unanimously, with one senator abstaining, call for the immediate resignation of Administration and Finance Vice President Carl Carlucci, Associate Vice President Emily Messa and Assistant Vice President Esmeralda Valdez after repeatedly voicing concerns about the disorganization and lack of leadership over auxiliary services, parking and transportation, HigherOne, an over-budget TDECU Stadium and disappearing funds for Hofheinz Pavilion renovations.

“I think what the issue boils down to is that he has people underneath him like Emily Messa and Esmeralda Valdez that demonstrated that they’re entirely incompetent and unable to hold the positions they hold on this campus,” SGA President Charles Haston said. “Dr. Carlucci’s solution to that is to take as many shortcuts as possible…he doesn’t have a staff that’s capable of actually doing their jobs.”

Haston has been butting heads with the Division of Administration and Finance since November, when during a public comment portion of Student Fee Advisory Committee hearings he commented that parts of a referendum passed by students were not honored.

According to an email obtained by The Cougar, an audit of the Higher Education Assistance Funds that were allocated for TDECU Stadium have been completed and will be made public before the Feb. 19 Board of Regents meeting.

Additional audits are underway to investigate the Request for Proposal-procurement process that is associated with the VenuWorks/Aramark contract that Carlucci initiated, as well as an audit looking into the Memorandum of Understanding agreement between students and the University that Haston said was “violated.” Another audit is looking into the SFAC process.

“Substantial” progress on the three unfinished audits will be done before the Feb. 19 meeting, of which a summary will be given to the Regents, according to the email.

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Outgoing Faculty Senate President Wynne Chin addresses SGA about the Faculty Senate’s resolution in support of Administration and Finance VP Carl Carlucci. | Brittaney Penney/The Cougar

The UH Faculty Senate executive committee, led by President and decision and information sciences professor Wynne Chin, wrote a resolution in support of Carlucci, telling SGA that while they understand the issues, Carlucci’s supervision of the Division of Administration and Finance has overseen numerous changes on campus, such as the increase in residential housing and the improvement “of the overall community here at UH.”

“Faculty by definition, as scientists, need to get all the information,” Chin said. “If you’re going to make a judgment, we need all the information. Until we actually get the other three (audits), we ourselves are not in a position to make an opinion. And that’s why we made the resolution. It’s just simply that we’re going to have to continue to support (Carlucci) unless you have other evidence to the contrary.”

The Faculty Senate’s resolution states that “it has found Dr. Carlucci and his staff to act only with the highest level of integrity and professionalism in forwarding our shared vision for the future of the University.”

“This University can never be stronger unless faculty and students continue to understand what the issues are,” Chin said. “Carlucci has spent a lot of time investing and ensuring that there is an operation under him that is focusing on a lot of the other areas besides the issues that have been raised recently by SGA.”

UPDATE: The University has responded to The Cougar saying it would be inappropriate for them “to comment further or provide interviews until all the facts of the (audits) are known.”

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21 Comments

    • Yeah. They do. That’s why they’re not sucking up to the administration and faculty senate and are instead standing up for the students they represent.

      I’m starting to wonder if Carlucci is paying people to post comments like this…

      • Or maybe SGA’s heads are so up their collective booties that they don’t see how anyone could disagree with them.

        2 sides to every issue.

      • That is commendable that you are standing up “for the students.” But in order to do so effectively, you need to arm yourself with the facts and understand the facts. It’s so painfully obvious to those on the outside who aren’t being blinded by raw emotion that the SGA doesn’t understand or is plain ignoring the facts that are out there.

        When it comes to the MOE, the fact of the matter is that everything Mr. Haston has stated has been erroneous. The MOE is plain and simple to read and understand, so how anyone can misunderstand what it says to the extent that he has is beyond me.

        The rest of the facts aren’t in yet. They will be when the audits are released. Don’t put the cart before the horse.

  • This university is in trouble! President Khator must answer for her staffs actions just like a Wall Street CEO would. She is Chair of the Dallas Reserve but can’t manage her own house. Try to stop by her office to ask a question. Her floor is restricted access. On a state building? Who does she think she is? Down with the queen! She is away from UH more than she is here. Living a rich 1% life off of us! Bullocks! Limo drivers, mansions, million dollar salary and all we have is unfinished buildings and debt, a lot of debt.

  • Chuck Haston here guys. Took a break from looking like a crappy Baldwin to weigh in on this issue formally.

    Look, I know a lot of people are wondering why I led this charge, but I gotta be honest with you, I think it’s important. If there’s on thing I learned from the one class I took this semester, it’s that all publicity is good publicity. My face is showing up on the evening news, which not only means UH is gaining recognition but also my casting reel is getting a lot of help.

    I think it’s important we get Carlucci out of office before an ‘audit’ ‘proves’ any ‘involvement’ in the issue. Because I don’t need facts. All I need is heart.

  • Very clever of President Khator’s staff. They post under Charles’s name and under pseudo names with BS and then the comments are taken down by the Cougar because they cannot verify identity. Only positive words for the President and Carlucci OR ELSE! Way to limit free speech Khator Administration. One more unethical move by your dirty administration.

  • As reported, the only floor on our entire campus that can’t be accessed is the one housing Khator and Carlucci. This internal audit will be a sham!

    • I used to go to that floor to take a dump a couple of times a week. Very nice facilities. Maybe I’m the reason it’s restricted.

  • The Daily Cougar has consistently linked to a draft version of the MOU in stories concerning this issue. The final version has some major changes that aren’t shown in that hyperlinked version. It’s frustrating that TDC can’t/won’t perform the basic due diligence to make sure that they’re accurately presenting facts.

    /rant

  • So this is only tangentially related, but I think I speak for everyone when I say I hope someone from university admin starts posting on here and has an Aaron Sorkin-style meltdown. That is all.

  • The fact that they went over the budget for the Stadium and neglect things like parking is a much bigger deal than than it seems. I’m glad someone is paying for it.

    • Parking and Transportation has built four parking garages in the past seven years. I hardly call that neglecting parking.

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