More than $3 million in misspending by Morgan State University has prompted lawmakers to consider asking the Maryland Stadium Authority to oversee construction projects at the college.
The authority, which has served as general contractor for a half dozen projects at several area colleges, might be tapped to manage a pending $80 million business-school project at Morgan, said Del. John Bohanan Jr., D-St. Mary?s.
The university?s president, Earl Richardson, repeatedly apologized to legislators at a hearing last week and promised to hire additional staff and create a board to avoid construction fiascoes.
But Bohanan says that?s not enough.
“That?s not a response at this point,” he said. “Frankly, we are waiting for a response.”
A university spokesman, Clinton Coleman, did not return a phone call Tuesday.
The stadium authority is managing the $109 million construction of a new athletics complex at Coppin State University and has overseen the building of stadiums, parking garages and other athletic facilities at the University of Maryland, Towson University and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
“We are accountable; we don?t do any funny deals,” said Jan Hardesty, a spokeswoman for the authority.
Two years ago, lawmakers gave Morgan, a historically black university in Baltimore, construction autonomy from the Department of General Services after university officials requested a faster process for building and renovating college buildings.
But now several lawmakers, including Del. Adrienne Jones, a Baltimore County Democrat who introduced the bill that gave Morgan autonomy, have threatened to take away the independence.
A recent audit found Morgan officials cushioned a construction contract with Baltimore-based contractor Whiting-Turner with about $3 millionthe college used for a new phone system and athletic track.
The money was part of $7 million in state funding designated for renovation of an academic hall.
Construction contracts were broken up into smaller ones to avoid having to get approval from the Board of Public Works, said auditors, who sent their findings to the criminal division of the Maryland Attorney General?s Office for investigation.
