Arkansas State University at Jonesboro has confirmed that Tim Hudson, who quit on Tuesday as its chancellor, was the subject of an internal audit at the time of his resignation, KAIT Region 8 News reported on Thursday.
The audit documents, obtained by the television station, stated that there were “noted occurrences of potential noncompliance with a State of Arkansas law,” including that Mr. Hudson appeared to use his position to obtain financial assistance for an unnamed family member.
According to the documents, Mr. Hudson wrote in a November 2015 email that the family member was very interested in the New York Institute of Technology, a partner of Arkansas State University that has a location in Jonesboro, but “frankly, we’d need some sort of help to make that a reality. Perhaps we can find a way to be mutually helpful.”
The audit stated that Mr. Hudson did not follow the university’s policies on nepotism, conflict of interest, and prohibited activities, and failed to report “gifts and nongovernmental sources of payment related to a trip to Spain” in statements filed in 2012 and 2014, the TV station reported.
Mr. Hudson’s resignation came just a few weeks after his wife, Deidra Hudson, stepped down from a part-time position as director of the university’s study-abroad program after an internal audit revealed that the program was disorganized, some instructors worked without contracts, and students paid for trips via a PayPal account, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and other local news sources.