The University of South Carolina in Columbia. Tracy Glantz tglantz@thestate.com
Two years ago, the University of South Carolina signed a three-year, $400,000 contract with a public relations firm to promote computer labs in the state’s rural areas. But in one year, the firm created just two press releases that focused exclusively on the labs, according to a critical report by the state’s Legislative Audit Council.
The computer labs were created as part of a $6-million grant the university received through the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief fund to provide emergency educational assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. The idea was to establish eight Apple computer labs statewide in an effort to provide access to rural communities.
The relief fund was established through the U.S. Department of Education.
With the grant money, the USC Office of Economic Engagement hired a South Carolina public relations and marketing agency for $400,000 to promote the labs for three years, the report said.
That agency, university spokesman Jeff Stensland said, was Chernoff Newman.
As part of its review of the program, the Legislative Audit Council asked for “all tangible work products” completed by the marketing firm in 2023. The council received a list of 10 products. But the audit found that three of the items were duplicates.
According to the report, the firm completed only seven projects in 2023.
▪ Just two were exclusively connected to the Apple computer labs, which were press releases of around 600 words each.
▪ Two “briefly” mentioned the computer labs, including a 25-page booklet touting the Office of Economic Engagement containing just three pages that mentioned the computer labs.
▪ Three were about matters “that had nothing to do with the computer labs.”
Peter LaMotte, president of strategic communications for Chernoff Newman, said the company has enjoyed its “close partnership” with USC over the last 50 years. He said the firm is aware of the audit council report, and that the work products available would not reflect all the time and materials that would be a part of the type of contract it had with USC. Those who worked on the account are not longer with the company, he said.
LaMotte would not discuss the audit report further.
According to the audit council report, an Office of Economic Engagement employee said that Chernoff Newman acts as a marketing consultant and conducted outreach to “various media publications” to generate interest in USC initiatives.
“The individual who provided oversight of this particular contract for OEE is no longer employed with the university, but my understanding is the vendor provided quality service,” Stensland, the USC spokesman, said in an email.
The university spent $200,000 of the $400,000 contract maximum. The contract was terminated early, Stensland said, sometime in 2024. New leadership determined the services were no longer needed, he said.
It is unclear whether it required a payout.
The audit council report also noted that before the contract was executed, and even afterwards, USC’s Office of Economic Engagement had already collaborated with the university’s communications teams to draft and issue press releases for the computer labs.
Asked if the work performed by Chernoff Newman could have been done in-house, Stensland said individual colleges and units will sometimes use vendors for time-limited projects that can “more efficiently be outsourced rather than hiring permanent staff.”
In a letter dated Dec. 4, 2024, USC President Michael Amiridis said the Office of Economic Engagement made “best efforts” to apply awarded funds towards opening the iCarolina computer labs.
“While the success of those efforts may be subject to interpretation, the underlying expenditure of federal funds to support those efforts was indeed necessary, reasonable and appropriate,” Amiridis wrote.
Amiridis wrote that all expenditures under education relief fund grant were “allowable.”
Because of the uncertainty raised in the LAC report, however, USC revised its grant application and reporting, removing the expenses noted in the report. They were replaced with other legitimate expenses related to USC’s distance education technology services.
Hiring the marketing firm was also an ethics violation and a conflict of interest, according to the audit council’s report.
An official within the Office of Economic Engagement had a friendship with the former chairman and CEO of Chernoff Newman. The official failed to inform the university of the relationship.
USC policy requires that personal relationships, including friendships, be disclosed. It’s meant to promote transparency, to avoid conflicts of interest to avoid situations in which employees could use their influence on university business decisions in a way that could result in “economic gain to individuals with whom the employee has a business or personal relationship.”
Stensland declined to comment on potential discipline of the OEE official, as it was a personnel matter. However, the letter from Amiridis said that the administration had already appointed new leadership of the Office of Economic Engagement before the LAC report was released.
The State
Alexa Jurado reports on the University of South Carolina for The State. She is from the Chicago suburbs and recently graduated from Marquette University. Alexa previously wrote for publications in Illinois and Wisconsin.
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