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September 1, 1994

Jaynes says band director cleared of funds' misuse charges

Jaynes says band director cleared of funds' misuse charges

An in-house investigation has cleared University Bands Director O'Neill Sanford of charges that he misused University funds, according to Sanford and Pitt Athletic Director Oval Jaynes.

"Some minor glitches were found [in the way the band office does business], and we've put in place procedures to make him [Sanford] and his office more accountable," said Jaynes, who oversees the University bands. "But no improprieties were found. O'Neill has been fully exonerated. He's our band director and he's going to remain our band director." Sanford said: "As far as I'm concerned, this thing is over with. I'm just glad we can get on now with our band program for this fall." Pitt Internal Audit Director Art Ramicone confirmed that his staff looked into charges against Sanford during an audit conducted from May through July, but he said his office does not publicly release its audit results.

Jaynes said the accusations were made by former band members who dislike the way Sanford is running Pitt's bands. "There are some people in the band alumni organization who are very vocal in saying they don't like O'Neill Sanford. It's like when alumni want to get a coach fired. They don't need a good reason. Then, when they don't get what they want, they begin a campaign to discredit the guy.

"What it really comes down to is, they (alumni) want to have a band, but they want to run it instead of having the director run it. That's not going to happen." The University formally looked into the charges, Jaynes said, "because any allegation that comes to us, unless it's just some crazy phone call, we have to look into it. We can't just ignore them. It's like when people bring allegations of NCAA rules violations to us. You gotta look into them even if there's no substance to them. Because the first time you don't look into them, you could be asking for trouble." Jaynes refused to detail the accusations against Sanford except to say that the most serious had to do with misuse of University funds — for example, allegedly billing Pitt for meals for volunteer staff members during band trips, which would be a violation of University policy. Jaynes said: "Did O'Neill Sanford take some volunteers out for meals? Yes. But there was no evidence whatsoever that he approached the University to be reimbursed. No travel forms, no receipts, nothing. Based on all the evidence, he paid for those meals out of his own pocket." As part of the changes in the band operation this summer, the athletics department's business staff will assume some of the administrative duties formerly handled by Sanford and his assistant director. "That's the one change I like most of all," Sanford said. "It takes some of the weight off our shoulders so we can have more time for things like arranging (music) and recruiting and raising money." As for complaints by some alumni that Sanford hasn't made himself available to meet with band members, Sanford blamed that on the fact that he has been splitting his time between the band's two offices at Pitt Stadium and Bellefield Hall.

"As a result, I wasn't able to spend much time in either office," Sanford said. "You can't be two places at once. Also, I spend a lot of my time out recruiting, visiting high schools, trying to raise money for the program." Beginning this fall, nearly all of the band's business will be done out of the Bellefield Hall office, Sanford said.

— Bruce Steele

Filed under: Feature,Volume 27 Issue 1

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