Kudos are in order for ASUO President Adam Petkun for doing the right thing this summer by banning University graduate Dean Neiwert, husband of ASUO Accounting Coordinator Jennifer Creighton-Neiwert, from performing contracted work for the ASUO.
The decision was prompted by concerns about the appearance of nepotism under his administration, Petkun told the Emerald in a September interview — and we can’t say we blame him.
In July 2003, Neiwert was paid $500 in incidental fee funds to update the ASUO Controllers’ Web site, and at least $350 in April 2004 to work on the ASUO’s rental Web site, according to ASUO purchase orders. The contracts were first brought to Petkun’s attention when he took office in May, he said.
While the whole incident has pretty much blown over, thanks to Petkun’s swift action, there is still no procedure or regulation in place for dealing with this sort of problem. We commend Petkun for putting a hold on Neiwart’s contracts, but he needs to push for new regulations that explicitly ban conflicts of interest resulting from family-member favoritism.
It’s not that we don’t trust Petkun. Actually, for the first time in a long while, we have a pretty good feeling about the intentions of the ASUO Executive, but let’s face it — despite its sheer office walls in the EMU, this is an elected office with a history for being notoriously opaque and nebulous in its political motivations and dealings.
It’s important to realize that if anyone is in the right here, it’s Petkun, and if anyone should be blamed, then equal responsibility should be placed on both the previous executive administration and on Creighton-Neiwert.
Since taking on the title of ASUO accounting coordinator in 1997, Creighton-Neiwart has been involved in several questionable incidents where, as one of the most seasoned veterans of the ASUO, she should have acted differently.
Last year, 15 members of the ASUO charged $2,250 to Creighton-Neiwert’s credit card for a trip to Washington, D.C. The ASUO claimed it as a loan and then-president Maddy Melton went begging to the Student Senate for more student money to pay Creighton-Neiwert — an ASUO employee — back.
She also ran into some controversy earlier last year when a typographical mistake made in the 2002-03 ASUO election packet promised senators a stipend of $175 per month when only $125 per month was available. Creighton-Neiwert’s name was included in a resolution that sought to censure those responsible for the error, but since her official duties did not include the elections packet, her name was dropped.
As of this moment, there’s nothing illegal about hiring a significant other to do ASUO grunt work. For the future good of the University, Petkun should bite the bullet and realize that in less than one year, he’ll be gone, and the only way to ensure this doesn’t happen again is to create regulations forbidding it.

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