MONTEREY, Calif.- There's been a big shakeup in leadership, at the Naval Postgraduate School. An investigation into two top school officials accuses them of thousands of dollars worth of gifts they weren't supposed to accept, and claims of mismanagement. Now, both the president and provost are fired from their positions. So on Tuesday night the Center for Investigative Action went to work.
The Navy calls it an investigation into alleged "waste and mis-management". Two reports said the leaders didn't follow the Navy's quote: "mission to provide advanced education and research opportunities for Naval officers."
On the Naval Inspector General's website, there's a 98 page report into alleged mismanagement by President Daniel Oliver and a 27 page report into similar allegations by Vice President and Provost Leonard Ferrari for their work at the Naval Postgraduate School.
NPS said it wouldn't comment on the allegations and referred us to the Pentagon for an official statement.
The reports said NPS staff and faculty provided evidence to support allegations that both accepted gifts from the Naval Postgraduate School Foundation. After those interviews, investigators said they approached the Navy Under Secretary, where he directed them to lead a comprehensive investigation of NPS. Documents go on to explain a long list of mismanagement claims. Both Oliver and Ferrari are accused of failing to follow federal hiring practices, authorizing excessive salaries, travelling excessively, using their official positions for personal gain and failing to function as leaders. But the report said the travel allegations were not substantiated.
One former NPS employee told us he's not surprised. He said he saw mismanagement in the IT department during his time working there for several years.
"We saw a lot of departments giving gifts. We were giving gifts as an IT department that we weren't really authorized to hand over funds," said Daniel Eagle.
Daniel Eagle said he worked at NPS from 2008-2011 and left because the pay wasn't what he expected.
"I mean some of the stuff just seemed kind of shady. That's kind of one of the reasons I left, is they kind of made their own rules," Eagle said.
But Eagle has family who work on campus and he's proud to say the school is an important part of his past.
"Some of the most brilliant minds are on this campus. So I mean if somebody or a few people decide to mismanage things, I don't think that there's any reason that's going to take down an entire campus," Eagle said.
Oliver has been serving as the school's president since April 2007. Ferrari has been provost since July 2006.
To view the Navy Inspector General Files go here: http://www.ig.navy.mil/Documents/ReadingRoom/NAVINSGEN%20NPS%20Command%20Inspection%2022%20Oct%202012.pdf
Investigation Report President: http://www.ig.navy.mil/Documents/ReadingRoom/NAVINSGEN%20201103025%20Senior%20Official%20Investigation%20NPS%20President%2021%20Nov%202012.pdf
Investigation Report Provost: http://www.ig.navy.mil/Documents/ReadingRoom/NAVINSGEN%20201203874%20Senior%20Official%20Investigation%20NPS%20Provost%2021%20Nov%202012.pdf
