Wednesday, September 21, 2016 | Volume 212 | Number 22 | 40 cents | iowastatedaily.com | An independent student newspaper serving Iowa State since 1890.
Report finds improper disbursing of funds By Alex.Connor @iowastatedaily.com
Emily Blobaum/Iowa State Daily
By Ellen.Bombela and Jenna.Hrdlicka @iowastatedaily.com
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punky, sassy, ultimate bat-remover. These terms, as told by various Pi Beta Phi members, describe Doris Weiner — the mom behind the sisterhood. Weiner is the house director of the Pi Beta Phi chapter at Iowa State. The house directors within the Greek community are better known as the “house moms.” Weiner, a retired teacher who taught special education for 36 years, decided to become a part of the greek community for a couple of different reasons. The first reason was to escape her small-town life. “In 2012, I retired and I wasn’t willing to stay in a town with 4,000 people,” Weiner said. “I wanted something to do.” Weiner came up with the idea of applying to be a house mom because of her daughter’s involvement in the greek community. “My daughter was a Theta at Iowa State
and I’d always said, ‘that’s something I’d like to do ... something in the greek system,’” Weiner said. “I started applying through the Office of Greek Affairs here, and then also at Drake [University]. This was the house that looked at my application and granted me an interview.” Weiner was hired by the House Corporation Board. The House Corporation Board is a group of alumni who basically care for the house, make the house rules, and all the renovations and repairs are done by them, she said. Weiner decided on Iowa State as one of the places to apply because of her history with the university. “I went here as a student but had to leave after two years because there wasn’t a special ed major here back in the olden days, so I was really familiar with Iowa State,” Weiner said. While she was a student on campus, Weiner was not involved in a sorority. She said sororities were not as popular back then as they are now. Weiner has now been with Pi Beta Phi for five years. In her role as a house mom,
her main responsibility is the safety and security of the women in the house. Some of her duties to ensure this include locking doors, fire safety, emergency numbers and repairs. “She genuinely cares about our safety,” said Kaley Mead, junior in pre-business. “When we first move in, we have to put her number in our phone and text her our name. That way if we ever need something, like if we need a ride or if we’re feeling unsafe somewhere on campus, she’ll come get us.” Weiner often goes the extra mile to make sure the women are safe. “One night it was really stormy out, and she posted on our in-house facebook page that she was just leaving her apartment, and if anyone needed a ride from campus, she would wait there for them,” said Ashley Mies, junior in finance. As well as ensuring safety, Weiner’s duties also include enforcing a few house rules such as wearing shoes on the first
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Roger McEowen, the former director of Iowa State’s Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation, CALT, reportedly diverted more than $320,000 in improper and unsupported disbursements, according to a special audit report released Tuesday. The report, which was conducted by Auditor of State Mary Mosiman, identified that McEowen, who resigned from his position in early January 2016, said he diverted a total of $280,170.83 to his personal or PLC business bank account for instances regarding speaking at CALT-sponsored seminars, the sale of his textbook to students, speaking at seminars without reporting vacation time from CALT and for which he used CALT materials and travel reimbursements. Here’s a breakdown of the funds, according to the report: • $278,265.83 of payments received and deposited to McEowen’s personal or business bank account for speaking at seminars without reporting any vacation time from CALT and for which he used CALT materials. • $1,615.00 of payments received and deposited by McEowen to his personal or business bank account for speaking at CALT-sponsored seminars. • $290.00 of payments from the sale of McEowen’s textbook to students he taught at the University. Mosiman also reported that $43,612.93 of improper disbursements identified include: Excess vacation costs and an improper vacation payout, payment for days when McEowen did not take vacation but attended conferences or seminars as a presenter, although not as a representative of CALT and travel expenses reimbursed by Iowa State. Mosiman also discovered that $1,032.92 of unsupported disbursements identified include travel reimbursements to McEowen. According to the 69-page audit report, the investigation was requested by Iowa State officials as a result of concerns regarding certain actions taken by McEowen, who was employed by the university in 2004 and was placed on administrative leave in December 2015.
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Iowans fight Bakken Pipeline By Keegan.Kearney @iowastatedaily.com Construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline, or Bakken Pipeline, which is intended to span four states across the Midwest, has become a topic of national controversy — not just for Native American tribes, but for many Iowans who live along the planned route. Though many may have heard about the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s protest of the project, many don’t realize the impact it has on Iowan communities. The pipeline will stretch through 18 Iowa counties, mostly on land acquired by eminent domain. “Historically, the use of eminent domain has been used to create pathways for public utilities, but there is nothing public about this pipeline,” said Angie Carter of the Women’s Food and Agriculture Network, one of the many groups involved in the statewide Bakken Pipeline Resistance Coalition. Carter said they’re carrying this oil to the Gulf of Mexico for private profit and then it will be sold on the global market for private profit. Many Iowan farmers, whose land has been taken for the project, also disagree with the methods by which the land was acquired. Many landowners across the state report unethical behavior by agents of the company, including Hughie Tweedy, of Montrose, Iowa, who has recorded evidence
of a land agent offering him the services of an 18-year-old prostitute for his land. “If an old junkyard dog like me was offered the sexual services of little girls to get my hackles down, I wonder what was offered to the power brokers of this state to gain their support for silence,” Tweedy said in a press conference. The Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club, an environmental non-profit dedicated to preserving the natural resources of the state, as well as many other groups and individuals opposing the pipeline, cite serious environmental concerns relating to the transportation of oil, including water and soil pollution from possible oil spills, destruction of farmland during construction, and displacement of animal habitats. The Sierra Club has dubbed the granting of construction permits across land outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers illegal, on the grounds that the Corps had no jurisdiction to survey the proposed lands for historically and environmentally significant areas. They also said that although Dakota LLC has been required to take out insurance policies for the event of an accident, the extent of this coverage is not available to the public. If the pipeline were to spill, explode or cause any other serious environmental damage, it is impossible to know how much money will be available to repair the damage — damage that may
Courtesy of energytransfer.com
The Dakota Access Pipeline, or Bakken Pipeline, will stretch across 18 Iowan counties, mostly on land that was acquired by eminent domain. Story County is included in the counties that will be affected by the pipeline.
cause serious, long-lasting damage to the environment. Despite these allegations and opposition throughout the state by farmers, citizens and Native American tribes, whose historic and cultural
sites are in the path of the pipeline, the project has been supported by Iowan government officials, including Gov. Terry Branstad and other key officials of both Democrats and Republicans, raising
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