For those of you who find yourselves removed from Fayetteville, NWA, and the happenings at the university, this is a little FYI. It is a convoluted story, but I think it is important it be told in a clear manner

This is our current UA chancellor Dave Gearhart. If you didn't know this, you probably don't know WTF the rest of this post is about either

UA Works to Correct $4M Advancement ‘Miscalculation'

The University of Arkansas "University Advancement" division recently came under fire for budget overruns on the order of $4 million. These were brought to light in December of this year

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Interviews with UA spokesman John Diamond and Gearhart revealed that a $3.1 million budget shortfall in the Advancement Division that had built up over two to three years was discovered in late June and was covered by tapping into reserve funds.

Remember Diamond's name, it will be resurfacing in a major way later

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“Brad was being told by his budget person that there were funds to cover it, when clearly there weren’t,” Gearhart said. “You could debate the issue of what his knowledge should have been. I think he would claim that he was getting bad information from his budget person.”

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He wasn’t fired, the chancellor said, because “there was nothing that showed that funds were misappropriated or misspent. The funds were all spent on things we needed,” including additional fundraising personnel for an upcoming capital campaign

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Choate will continue to collect his $350,000 salary and can stay on staff to assist Gearhart until June 30, unless he finds another job before then.

Many had mixed feelings, to put it lightly, about Choate continuing to collect this salary while he basically updates his resume and Linked in for several months on taxpayer dime. Meanwhile, Gearhart issued a lengthy statement.

Weeks later, Gearhart takes to the presses to complain about negative coverage of the scandal UA was receiving in the editorial section of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

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"The editorials have been particularly mean-spirited and distorted the very facts that the newspaper itself reported," Gearhart says in the column.

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Among Gearhart's greivances is the DG's assertion that the UA had been trying to keep the shortfall situation and fallout "very, very quiet."

However, the plot thickens. John Tyson steps down from the UA Board of Trustees without warning, despite a term lasting until 2017.

John Tyson Resigns From University of Arkansas Board of Trustees

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John Tyson of Springdale resigned from the University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees on Feb. 8, but the UA System didn't know about the resignation until Arkansas Business informed it of the move on Friday

Also, Gearhart ordered an audit of UA finances in February of this year

Facing $4M Deficit, Gearhart Requests Audits of University's Advancement Division

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The university has not released the results of its own internal audit, saying the audit is part of personnel records. But Gearhart said those documents will be available for review by the independent auditors.

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"The university has been transparent and accountable about this situation," Gearhart said in a news release. "I believe these audits will demonstrate that performance while still respecting the legal protections afforded public employees under Arkansas law."

Weeks later, Chris Wyrick was hired to replace Choate, who is still on payroll basically sitting in his office doing nothing at this point

Update: G. David Gearhart Names Chris Wyrick New Vice Chancellor For Advancement at UA

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Wyrick replaces Brad Choate, who held the position for four years. He was relieved of administrative duties after the deficit was discovered in June 2012. Choate is making $350,000 anually. Wyrick's salary will begin as soon as he officially starts his new job, UA spokesman John Diamond said.

Gearhart also commented

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"I feel fairly confident that we’ve got our hands around it," Gearhart said. "Keep in mind that [the university] finished last fiscal year with a $30 million surplus, so, it’s important to point out that we can wipe the deficit out immediately. We’re in very good healthy fiscal shape. This is a deficit that was in one unit of the university."

Gearhart and UA refused to release the results of the audit. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette filed this FOIA request in an attempt to review the audit. They were rebuffed by Gearhart and Diamond for two months. Diamond said the documents were not FOIA worthy because "employee evaluation or job performance records" are exempt. Gearhart offered another, different excuse for why the documents could not be released.

During this time, Gearhart sent emails with simply "FYI" and a forward of Brad Choate's personnel file to people of prominence close to the University. The same files that were supposedly confidential. Ultimately, they were released.

Now we are in April, when Arkansas Business did a glowing piece on Diamond, who wrote the speech Jeff Long read to fire Bobby Petrino. The University of Arkansas has received an award for “Best Crisis Management” in the PR Daily's 2013 Nonprofit PR Awards for the speech.

Jeff Long's Speech: Crafting the Words That Persuaded Razorback Fans

In August now, Diamond is suddenly fired via text message from Wyrick. Remember, Wyrick was working for athletics raising funds just 6 months ago, now he is firing UA's spokesman

This post was edited on 9/26/13 at 8:31 pm