Ousted A&M Provost Watson responds to removal after audit cited conflicts of interest tied to wife

[TexasTowelie]

Texas A&’s outgoing Provost and Executive Vice President Karan Watson has been removed from her position after an internal audit found “significant” conflict of interest issues tied to business dealings her spouse had with the university, according to documents obtained by The Eagle.

The outcome of the investigation likely will trigger sweeping changes throughout A&M System universities and agencies by prohibiting spouses and close family members of senior administrators from doing business with the System.

Over the past seven years since Karan Watson took over as provost at the state’s largest public university, her wife — Nancy Watson, owner of a conflict resolution company in Bryan-College Station — has received $438,733 from the university for training services. The audit highlighted $9,838 that she was paid by the provost’s office and $105,767 from the Office for Diversity, which reports to the provost.

Watson takes issue with the audit, describing it as misleading and saying the conclusions drawn were a “subjective belief unsupported by any actual evidence.”

Read more: http://www.theeagle.com/townnews/university/the-latest-ousted-a-m-provost-watson-responds-to-removal/article_7af9c7e8-6d43-11e7-bd73-cb6d8eb231cb.html

[onetexan]

1. Tx A&M isnt the state's largest public u.

UT Austin is. The UT system is also the largest.