Audit Questions Cal State Official’s Stock Transaction

A senior official with the California State University system may have improperly used information from her job to try to reap stock market profits, according to the state auditor.

California Auditor Elaine Howle said Lenore Rozner, assistant vice chancellor of business planning, or her spouse was involved in the questionable transaction.

The auditor’s office found that Rozner or her husband purchased stock in Dell Computer Corp. valued between $10,001 and $100,000 in February 1999, the day before Cal State awarded a computer equipment contract to the Texas company.

Rozner could not be reached for comment, but a Cal State official estimated the value of the stock acquisition at $25,000.

Cal State Chancellor Charles B. Reed characterized the situation as a coincidence, saying, “Lenore had no idea that another part of our office was going to enter a contract the next day” with Dell.