Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

Record Red Tape Constricts Inventories BY CHERE COPE Gamecock Staff Writer "If you want a list of the Gamecock's equipment, you're in for a lot of trouble," ac cording to Omar Stevens, director of inventory for the USC purchasing department. Any existing composite of student owned equipment is "...just a bunch of screwed up 5 documents...," according to c Charles Witten, vice president r for student affairs. Over the years thousands of v dollars have been spent out of c student activity fees for ti equipment and supplies to run student organizations. Once purchased, it becomes the property of the university, and n also the university's respon sibility to account for. During the past week the Gamecock has tried to find out how the university keeps tab on I this equipment. "If an oganization wants inventory, there are a number of ways to go about it," says Stevens. "There are account numbers, --by location and room number; from listings, we can program the com puter." According to Stevens, each organization has its own separate account number and fund number, and if the organization has this in formation the computer car give them an inventory. Do Your Clothes I Joir Of Stud But later in the interview, Itevens had second thoughts n whether this is the inventory nethod now employed. For the Russell House, vhere all the major irganizations are housed, here is only one account umber, Stevens said. "I-don't know if the fund nbers are seperate, I think iey are ," Stevens said. or the Russell House, where all major organizations are housed, there is only one account number. O0 dfake You Look Like iThe Legion Come n St. (next to Carolir entEqu Any exist'ing student-owne "just a bunch docun Charles Witten, v for studer "Dean Alexander would know, or Charles Witten." Robert E. Alexander, dean for student activities, was not available during the. week, and Charles Witten asked not to be quoted'on the majority of his statement. David Ness, university union director suggests organ zations keep a running in ventory throughout the year to keep track of equipment. Stevens said, "If the people that run the place don't have the knowledge. of what they have, we can't tell them. We sometimes run a year behind." Everything the university buys of permanent value is placed annually on inventory if its cost is over $25 or $30. When an item ordered is paid for, it is tagged and its number is fed into the computer with the date of the purchase order, description, accounf number, fund number, university decal number and a classification code. The building and room A Millionaire? to ta Theatre) ON ipment composite of d equipment is of screwed-up ients," ice president it affairs iumbers price and depart nent code are also included in his information. Annually, inventories are nade in each department. "At he end of that time, a list of tems that were not found is ;ent to, in the case of the Russell House , the director !xllaining that these items were not located during in ventory," Stevens said. "If the people that run the place don't have the knowledge of what they have, we can't tell them. We sometimes run a year behind." Gamecock Wa P91DE TUES STUDENT SIRLOIN STEAK Choice Sir serve4 Baked Potato or Fret THREE LOCATIONS: 543 K NOX A BBOTT D BUSH RIVER ROAD, 4510 DEVINE STREE Vague The listing is verified, and the items are either accounted for or their absence is ex plained. If an item is stolen, ac cording to Bob Todd, assistant director of the Russell House business operations, it is turned over to university security. "We don't have a hand in tracking down stolen items." Most thefts occur because offices are left unlocked at night, Todd said. "We try to make sure any empty office is locked. However, all we can do in the event of theft is to throughly search the building. Then it goes to security." Director of Security and Communications George Key said all of the services offered by the city, county, and federal government, including the State , Law Enforcement Division are avavailable for tracking the university's stolen items. "When something is reported stolen, we feed the serial number of the item inot a central computer system. A cassette recovered in a drug raid in California was found to be one stolen from Carolina over a year ago," Key said. Key also said that two typewriters recently recovered in Charleston were traced back to the university. "However, our thefts are below average for univer sities,"Key said. it Ads Worki WSA DAY '.M. TIL CLOSING NIGHT 1.69 with student i.D. loin Steak I with ch Fries, hot bread. R IVE. Cayce just ett 1-26 T. EAST COLUMDIA.