European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 6, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Monday january 6, 1992 the stars and stripes a Page 7overbilling was t improper Mit says Boston apr a Pentagon audit shows the Massachusetts Institute of technology overfilled the government by about $22 million for research. But James Culliton Mit vice president for financial affairs said the Billing concerns Stem from disagreements Over accounting rules not any improprieties. A we have severe differences in the recommendations they have made Quot Culliton said Friday. The recommendations from the defense contract audit Agency reflect the governments stepped up efforts to examine How it reimburses universities for indirect costs of research such As utilities and Library expenses. The government is also considering How to rewrite the reimbursement rules. For example until this year Mit billed the government for 49 percent of its Library costs saying they were research related. Auditors want to reduce that rate to about 21 percent leaving the Cambridge school with a Cost of More than $3 million Culliton said. The heightened scrutiny was prompted by revelations that californians Stanford University billed the government for depreciation on a school yacht and Par ties and furniture at the Home of school president Donald Kennedy. Stanford which has repaid the government $2 million. Acknowledged last week that a new Pentagon audit might find the school owes the government an additional $480 million. Stanford officials also said they worry that the government is applying different standards to past agreements. Bill Luke chief of audit Agency a policy Liaison division said that since the Stanford Case a we have been doing a lot More intensive audits at Many universities Mit being one of the Agency audits 38 schools where most of the government business is tied to the defense department. Among these new Yorkus Cornell and Columbia universities and Pennsylvania state University. Last april Mit said it would repay the . Government More than $700, pm after an internal review found it had billed taxpayers for dinner meetings receptions and Flowers for the presidents office. Luke declined to comment on the latest Mit audit. But the school confirmed the Agency has recommended that it subtract $22 million from the projected $131 million billed to the office of naval research for this fiscal year. The office of naval research said it was working with the auditing Agency a to Correct deficiencies a uncovered. Culliton said $4 million has already been Cut from the $22 million figure reflecting costs initially budgeted but no longer anticipated. About $6 million of the disputed amount Are Post retirement benefits which May be billed to the government. Cd . But auditors objected that Mit did no to have the Money in a specially designated Trust fund so Mit will comply he said. Another of the auditors recommendations could effectively reduce the number of doctoral degrees earned at Mit he said. In the past government reimbursements for tuition costs have not been tied directly to the research assistants working on specific projects but instead have been spread among a Pool of students. Though this reduces the governments expense auditors have proposed tuition expenses be assigned directly to the individuals Culliton said. Such a move would drive up the governments costs meaning fewer students working on the projects he bid to patrol la. Project criticized los Angeles a a bid by Louis Farrakhan a nation of islam to patrol the crime Ridden hallways of a Federal housing project has been criticized by jewish groups who say the Muslim organization is anti semitic. But some tenants of the Holiday Ven ice apartments a fed up with drug dealers who brazenly do business in their buildings hallways and addicts who openly Trade Money and sexual favors for dope a Welcome a private Security Force. A we want the nation Quot said 38-year-old Regina Hyman a Mother of three Regina Hyman head of a tenants group approves of the Black Muslim patrol. And president of the tenants action committee at the Complex which is under the authority of the . Department of housing and Urban development. A we want reality. We want it done Quot Hyman said. A there Are certain people who done to get respect Here. The police certainly done to get it. They get shot Farrakhan a . Security Agency inc. Is one of four companies bidding to patrol the 246 apartments said David Lukin vice president of Alliance housing management inc., which manages the project. The area a Seaside Community 15 Miles West of downtown is noted for its racially integrated population that ranges from wealthy to poor. Farrakhan a fundamentalist Muslim organization which encourages Black economic self sufficiency said it already patrols 1,200 Hud units in Washington. But its bid in los Angeles has aroused controversy because of remarks Farrakhan has made Over the years that Are considered offensive to jews and other ethnic groups. David a. Lehrer regional director of the by Nai brith anti defamation league wrote a protest letter to Hud. In a recent interview he called Farrakhan Quot an avowed racist anti semite and Irv Rubin National chairman of the jewish defense league called the nation of islam Quot racist anti american and Quot that my tax dollars Are going to fund Farrakhan a so called Security apparatus is revolting to my gut a he said. Calls made to the Chicago Headquarters of the nation of islam were not immediately returned. A receptionist said officials were unavailable because of the re cent death of Wali Muhammad editor of the organizations newspaper. Tenants Leader Hyman criticized the jewish groups for interfering in what she described As a neighbourhood matter. Quot they done to live Down Here. T hey done to have any idea what s going on Quot she said. About 60 percent of the project s More than 200 tenants Are Black and 40 percent Are i hispanic. Project manager Lukin said. Rubin said a synagogue is located near the Complex and he feared that the Muslim patrols would discriminate against jews and i hispanics. Quot if i were a latino person i would not feel comfortable. As a jewish person i feel sheer terror Quot Rubin said. A i done to understand How the Federal government would contract with an organization that is perceived As racially prejudiced Quot said in Hil Raider of Oakwood beautification committee a local neighbourhood group. Bill Christiansen an official in had s los Angeles office said the government has started its review of the four Bills but that he did no to know when the contract would be awarded. He declined to say How much Money is involved but Lukin said the contract is thought to be Worth several Hundred thousand dollars. Christiansen said problems at the Complex warranted action and noted that Iid Secretary Jack Kemp has encouraged residents to get involved in their neighbourhoods. In the past Hyman said she and other residents had to patrol their apartment building themselves to keep drug dealers out. A we stopped them those nights Quot she said Quot but we done to want to be to depict Wallace As corrupt Womanizer Montgomery Ala. Apr a Book in Progress by one of George Wallace a closest operatives in the 1960s depicts the former governor and presidential candidate As a Womanizer whose powerful political machine was corrupt. The Montgomery advertiser quoted writer Seymore Trammell As saying Wallace engaged in Quot a lot of cheap sex w Ith women All Over the Wallace a son state treasurer George Wallace jr., said the account is full of lies. Wallace who is 72 and needs a w wheelchair since an assassination attempt during the 1972 presidential Campaign had no comment. But his spokesman Elvin Stanton said Friday the four term governors authorized biography will set the record straight. Trammell was state finance director and Campaign chief for Wallace in the 1960s before the two parted company. In the Early 1970s, Trammell served 14 months in Federal prison for tax evasion. Trammell elaborate on the Book when contacted Friday by the associated press but he said newspaper reports that depicts Wallace As a Womanizer were accurate. He said the Book. Madness in the Magnolia will be published by summer but he identify the publisher. Or. Robert j. Norrell director of the University of Alabama s enter for Southern history and c culture said he read a draft of the Book More than a year ago and it contained a a lot of information from Trammells viewpoint on the use of the state Treasury to Reward friends of the Wallace Quot in my opinion that was the most significant revelation. The Way it details the graft and Norrell said. "1 sincerely Hope it s Wallace a son said the Book was a a desperate and pitiful attempt on the part of Trammell to make some t Rammell a disbarred lawyer said his motive was a educational. A
