CHARLESTON, S.C. ― Gov. Nikki Haley wants members of the board of the Medical University of South Carolina to reimburse the school for expensive meals and hotel stays during their board meetings.
Haley spokeswoman Chaney Adams told The Post and Courier of Charleston the governor already has asked her appointee to the school’s governing board, Dr. Harold Jablon, to repay more than $20,000 he was reimbursed for the meals, wine and luxury hotel rooms.
“We asked Dr. Jablon to repay the Medical University of South Carolina, which he has agreed to do, and his colleagues should do the same,” Adams said.
The Post and Courier reported that the MUSC board spent about $560,000 since 2011, largely on hotel rooms and food, at their six meetings per year in Charleston.
Dr. Donald Johnson, chairman of the MUSC trustees, has ordered a review of the board’s spending.
“I have called for the immediate review of the board spending policies in order to define and align with best practices as we move forward,” Johnson said in a letter to the newspaper.
According to Johnson, the review will include two board members, university finance, compliance and legal officers as well as two external members.
Last week, the state inspector general told The Post and Courier that he had begun investigating the MUSC Board of Trustee’s spending habits at the request of the State Commission on Higher Education, which oversees the state’s public colleges and universities.
