State auditor gives two weeks to tag tablets

Southern Miss has two weeks to inventory the remaining Samsung Galaxy tablets or pay the price, literally.

According to Vice President of Student Affairs Joe Paul, last week 14 tablets were left to be inventoried by Southern Miss officials.

"We fully anticipate having all the tablets accounted for and inventoried this week," Paul said.

In late August, Southern Miss officials issued 700 tablets, each valued at $530.

Originally, the tablets were presented as gifts to Honor College students, McNair Scholars, Southern Style members, SGA elected officials and some faculty members, but after an investigation led by a USM attorney and a Mississippi internal auditor, it was discovered that the tablets were state property and couldn't be given away.

A state law prohibits institutions from giving state property away as gifts. Students were told they could no longer keep the tablets upon graduation, and each tablet had to be brought to iTech and tagged as state property.

Following the error, Director of Procurement Mike Herndon and Chief Information Officer Homer Coffman were placed on administrative leave, and Bob Lyman resigned from his position as provost and placed on administrative leave.

Once all the tablets are inventoried, Southern Miss will be cleared by the state auditors office, and the tablets will be tracked, Paul said.

"We will have completed our obligation to the state auditor, but we will keep up with the tablets for an on-going basis," Paul said. "Students are free to use those for their entire time at Southern Miss, and before graduation, they must return them."

Some students chose to return the tablet altogether, but others, like sophomore Ann Marie Chilcutt, decided to keep the tablet, only to find little to no use for it.

"When I first heard about us having to return the tablets, I was pretty surprised and disappointed," Chilcutt said. "I was looking forward to figure out how to utilize it in a classroom, but now that the device is tagged, I have really lost all motivation to figure out how to use it because I will just have to turn in to the school in a couple of years."

Chilcutt expressed her approval for the program, but she said it needs to advance in the classroom.

"I still think that the program itself is a really great idea, but I believe that the USM campus and teachers need to be more tablet friendly before going any further with the process," said Chilcutt. "Unfortunately, I never use that tablet–ever."

In a phone interview, Paul thanked those students involved in the predicament.

"I want to commend our students for being so cooperative," Paul said.   "Many of them were rightly upset about this unfortunate situation, but they were tremendous in being responsive, bringing the tablets in and helping us resolve this situation."

It is still unclear as to whether or not students will be reimbursed for such additional money they spent on their tablets as apps and accessories.