A recent WSB-TV Channel 2 Action News video aimed to uncover how professors in the University System of Georgia spent state funds while traveling abroad. As a result, the report left many University faculty and administrators disappointed and offended.

The video aired on March 5 and stated that despite the tough economic times and increases in college costs, universities in Georgia, specifically UGA, are spending millions for professors “to play the trumpet in Italy or study films in France.”

Justin Farmer, the WSB-TV reporter who worked on the story, said in an e-mail interview last week that the video is no longer available on the news station’s Web site because of a corporate policy, yet the video preview that aired days before the story is still available online.

Garnett Stokes, dean of Franklin College of Arts and Sciences who was interviewed in the WSB-TV story, said in a phone interview last week the public records used by the station did not distinguish among private funding, endowment funds, grants or money allocated by the state. Instead, she and other faculty said the report focused on the overall travel expenditures rather than the actual sources of the travel funds.

Farmer said in the report that some funds were privately contributed, but did not differentiate which cases used private donations. Farmer said in an e-mail interview the travel records ran through 2007 and said he requested travel records for 2008 and did not receive them.

Regardless, many administrators, including President Michael Adams, Dean Stokes and Vice President of Public Affairs Tom Jackson, said they were confused why records from two years ago were used to compare with the budget climate the University faces in 2009.

Fred Mills, an internationally known trumpeter and professor at the School of Music, and Richard Neupert, a worldwide specialist in French cinema and professor in film studies, were two of the many professors featured in the report.

Both Mills and Neupert said in phone interviews last week they were not contacted by WSB-TV to discuss their sources of funding for travel.

“I was upset that I had no chance to rebut the false information presented in the report, as not a cent of state money was spent for my trip to Italy,” Mills said. “The festival in Italy paid for everything – my travel expenses, hotel and food.”

In addition to performing, Mills said he was there to teach, direct and coach. University administrators, including Adams, said it’s not unusual for a world-class trumpeter to be invited to perform in overseas venues. Mills said he uses state money intelligently and as a last resort.

Likewise, Neupert said he was confused by the purpose of the report. He said his travel to France two years ago was funded by private sources through foundations – not state or tax dollars.

“In addition, it’s a disservice to confuse viewers by making travel appear somehow separate from research,” he said.

Professor emeritus David Chu, who was also featured in the video, said he was upset after seeing it.

“The reported information was entirely incorrect and distorted. I didn’t use a dime of state or federal money for travel,” he said. “Instead I have raised money for my own research as well as travel funds.”

Chu also said that in order to be involved in cutting-edge research, professors have to be very active in participating and presenting research findings at various meetings and discuss the current and future directions of the related science – all which require traveling.

WSB-TV featured Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle’s opinion, who said that spending was outrageous in a time where Georgia is furloughing state employees.

“The perspective of Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and that in the WSB-TV report differed from ours,” said Stokes. “It’s distressing that the report did not provide all the facts and that Georgia’s Lt. Governor did not understand the value of travel to our university.”

Farmer said in an e-mail that Cagle’s reaction to the spending was that the “travel bills [were] excessive for any economic time, not just during a recession. That is a key point.”

Stokes said a significant part of being a professor at any university includes traveling to conferences, disseminating work and conducting research. Travel is essential since the University hires professors based on their visibility and national and international reputation, she said.

The report said that the University was under a travel freeze this year. Farmer said that Jackson told WSB-TV that Stokes had not approved state-funded travel, and said as much during her interview with WSB-TV. But after reviewing the raw footage, Farmer said they did not find any such remarks from Stokes, and that she said that travel approvals were made on a “case-by-case basis,” Farmer said.

Stokes said there was a misunderstanding about her remarks.

“Some travel commitments with state funds were already set up, so technically some state-funded travel was approved,” she said. “The point was that Franklin College was unable to allocate travel funding to departments this year because of budget cuts,” she said.

In addition, Stokes said, “The University has cut back on state-funded travel dramatically,” and that “very little has been approved.”

Farmer said there has been a large public response to the WSB-TV story.

“Many believe the report did a fair job of revealing how some, not all, but some state-funded travel appears to be abused by some… others wrote saying they thought the Lt. Governor was callous and unfair in his remarks. We also got e-mail from some staff at various schools claiming our report was unfair because many professors travel on grant money and by other means.”

Amid criticisms to the story, Farmer said a retraction is unlikely. “What we reported was given to us by UGA, GSU and others. Again, we laid out the information, the latest we had, we gave dates and numbers provided by others, got reaction to the travel, reported UGA’s claims on the day of the story and aired our report.”

However, Chu said the report leaves the public misinformed about funding for collegiate travel.

“The report was distorted and unfair to the professors in it, and WSB-TV owes an apology for those who were not contacted before the story ran,” he said.