Regents chide universities for not improving IT policies

Also plan to ask for more funding for Wichita's KU med campus

? In other business at the Kansas Board of Regents on Thursday:

• Regents expressed displeasure that three state institutions that were the subject of a follow up audit on computer security had implemented few recommendations from the original audit.

A Legislative Division of Post Audit report, following up on a 2005 audit, found that Kansas University had implemented five of 33 recommendations. Both Kansas State and Emporia State universities also failed to implement several recommendations.

Regent Gary Sherrer asked if there were some kind of policy that would be appropriate to ensure that institutions were following up on recommendations.

While regents balked at micro-management, some suggestions included quarterly reports involving summaries of progress and a written plan of action at the beginning of an audit response that universities would be accountable to.

Regents directed staff to come up with policy options and will vote on the matter in a future meeting.

• Regents indicated that they would likely be recommending to the state an increase in funding for the Wichita Center for Graduate Medical Education.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius line-item vetoed an increase of $2.9 million to the Wichita program for training doctors, which involves KU and two Wichita hospitals, and asked regents to look at the problems facing the agency.

Reggie Robinson, regents president and CEO, said he, other regents and key players from the Wichita program, met recently in Wichita, and following that meeting, that the regents would likely be recommending a short-term increase in funding while they work on a long-term solution for issues facing the program.