The presidents and officials spent more than an hour with Williard, asking questions about specific scenarios at their schools and clarification in several areas including cell phone use and bidding for sole-source contracts.
Ingram State Technical College President J. Douglas Chambers said he'd like to see uniform system rules for things like the use of college cell phones so each president wouldn't be left to their own interpretations.
"There are a lot of state regulations that we are governed by and there are a lot of gray areas," he said following the meeting. "There's room for you to use common sense, but it's sometimes in using common sense when you hear things popping up."
Williard urged the presidents to make sure background checks are done on all employees and cautioned against giving them too much trust. He also warned not to "judge books by their cover," pointing out that most white collar crimes are committed by middle-aged white females and they don't have tattoos, he said.
"Don't depend on examiners. Examiners don't catch everything," he said. "I'm not saying check every day, I'm not saying check it every month. If we don't have good controls and we're not checking, they're going to take advantage of us."
--Associated Press
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