You don’t have to have a doctorate to know that serious waste is occurring in California higher education. In this latest snapshot of wasteful acts, not only are the numbers obscene, but so is the content – state computers, funded by taxpayers, have been used by employees to view pornography.
The Los Angeles Times (September 21, 2007) reported that “an official at Cal Poly Pomona used two different university computers to view Internet sites containing pornographic material, in violation of state law.” These perverted acts were revealed thanks to whistleblowers, who tipped off "state investigators [who subsequently] uncovered a raft of waste and misconduct in recent months….” The investigators got their information “thanks to a hotline on which state employees can report improper use of public resources without fear of retribution.”
It’s likely that this official didn’t think that anyone would catch him (since he was sneaky enough to commit his acts on two different computers). The question is, did his ingenious attempt to avert whistleblowers make his acts any less obvious? Apparently not. “Authorities found that the employee viewed approximately 1,400 pornographic images on two university computers during several weeks in 2006 and from February to May 2007.” With those numbers, it would be pretty hard to work with this guy and not notice his, uh, love of photography.
After marring the reputation of Cal Poly Pomona and exposing two state-owned computers to porn site viruses, “[t]he employee resigned after admitting to auditors that he had misused the computers.” The more responsible thing to do, in addition to quitting, would be for this guy to return a good chunk of his salary to the university. This could only start to make up for the hundreds of hours spent downloading, not to mention looking at, porn on state computers.
Hopefully other naughty state employees will read this and want to change their ways (before they’re reported). We need more employees, like those who turned this man in, to report to whistleblowers in order to prevent more money from being spent on inappropriate office behavior. Our hard-earned money shouldn’t pay for the misbehavior, or fetishes, of state employees.
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