State auditors said Monday that the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff had no statutory authority to pay $175,000 in severance to its former football coach by funneling the money through its alumni association. A finding by the Division of Legislative Audit stated that the attorney general has opined that using public funds for private purposes likely violates the "public purpose" doctrine that public funds should be used for public purposes and, thus the "illegal exaction" provision of Article 16, Section 13 in the Arkansas Constitution.University officials said the Arkansas Supreme Court has already ruled that severance paid to former Little Rock Superintendent Roy Brooks didn't violate the state constitution. "How did you all pay off the superintendent of Little Rock?" asked UAPB Chancellor Lawrence Davis of reporters after the meeting. "Our attorneys said we had a precedent in that case."
Davis said paying the money to the alumni association was the only option to meet the terms of former coach Maurice Forte's contract that included language that any severance would be paid by a third party. Forte was fired in November 2007. "We don't have a strong support group right now. So we said we'll let you have it, take care of it for us, and we'll get it back eventually," Davis said. By negotiating a severance with Forte, "we saved some money," Davis said. "We had to make a change, I'm telling you, somehow."
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