USF Poly administrator resigns; report recommended dismissal

Posted May 10, 2012 by Lindsay Peterson

Updated May 10, 2012 at 02:50 PM

Last month, USF investigators recommended that two USF Polytechnic administrators be dismissed for their role in what they described as financial mismanagement at the campus.

One of them, Alice Murray, submitted her resignation on Monday.

“I enjoyed my long affiliation with USF and am very proud of the many accomplishments I have made on behalf of the institution, most especially in the many strides that were made in the maturation of USF Polytechnic into Florida’s twelfth University,” she wrote to interim chancellor David Touchton.

Murray, vice chancellor for planning and facilities, was criticized in last month’s investigative report in part for authorizing payment for a high-cost audio/video installation in violation of USF policy requiring that approval for technology purchases.

Also, it said she participated in an effort to incorrectly describe a soda fountain as “equipment rental” to obtain state funds to pay for it, at the behest, the report said of then-Chancellor Marshall Goodman.

The investigators also recommended that budget director Josh Bresler be dismissed.

The investigative report focused on Goodman, saying he created a “hostile” environment with “threats, intimidation and retaliation that resulted in violation of policy and statute.”