UH stadium generates complaints, reviews months after opening

University of Houston student Houston Boyer, of Dickinson, receives a water bottle from Carl Carlucci during a rally to kick off UH's RecycleMania event on campus Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010, Houston. RecycleMania is a friendly competition between colleges and universities nationwide which encourages green initiatives through measured recycling and events which promote sustainability. The contest runs through March 27. ( Brett Coomer / Chronicle ) less University of Houston student Houston Boyer, of Dickinson, receives a water bottle from Carl Carlucci during a rally to kick off UH's RecycleMania event on campus Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010, Houston. ... more Photo: Brett Coomer, Staff Photo: Brett Coomer, Staff Image 1 of / 23 Caption Close UH stadium generates complaints, reviews months after opening 1 / 23 Back to Gallery

Five months after Cougars fans cheered its first kickoff, the University of Houston's $128 million football stadium has drummed up as much anger and recriminations as school spirit.

Students are calling for the resignation of a top UH official they contend hired an unqualified contractor to run events there. Audits are underway to investigate stadium funding and the bidding process for the contract in question. And emails obtained by the Houston Chronicle show that the companies responsible for running events have butted heads with administrators.

The disclosures in the emails, which shed light on the contracting process in question, are the latest in a series of concerns that have arisen about TDECU Stadium, which opened last August with great fanfare.

A top UH administrator, Carl Carlucci, did not heed warnings from a UH attorney and a top athletics official when he signed a five-year contract with the companies last year, the emails show. Carlucci, the executive vice president for administration and finance, runs day-to-day operations at the flagship campus as a key aide to Renu Khator, the president and system chancellor.

Students now are calling for Carlucci and two of his subordinates to resign. An online petition had gathered more than 750 signatures by Friday, and the student government plans to cast a vote of no confidence in Carlucci next week - listing, among other concerns, Carlucci's failure to listen to the warnings about the contractor.

The companies - Aramark and VenuWorks, operating at UH as Sports & Entertainment - submitted a bid that did not conform with the university's request for proposals, assistant general counsel Eric Bentley wrote in a memo sent before the contract was signed. T.J. Meagher, the assistant athletics director who headed the stadium project, wrote in the same memo that VenuWorks had never operated a facility larger than 22,000 seats - UH's new stadium is twice that size - or competed in a major metropolitan area for booking outside events.

UH's original request sought an agreement guaranteeing a minimum of $1 million to UH annually. Sports & Entertainment's bid guaranteed no minimum revenue or profits to the school, Bentley wrote.

"This proposal does not meet the minimum requirement set forth in the RFP," the attorney wrote, saying UH should reject the proposal and issue a new request if it was willing to change its requirements.

The university responded to requests for comment Friday by saying it had launched internal audits to investigate the contracting process with VenuWorks and Aramark and the handling of an agreement between the administration and students, who agreed to a $45-per-semester increase in fees to cover the cost of the stadium.

A spokesman for Aramark said in a statement: "We are proud of the services we are delivering to enhance the university's athletic programs and look forward to continuing our work with the university to provide unique programming and experiences for students."

Fiduciary duty unmet

Student body president Charles Haston said in an interview that the contracting issue is one of many disputes students have had with Carlucci and his team.

"I think it's important, especially for a public institution utilizing student funds, that we actually have competitive bid processes," Haston said. "I just don't think it ever crossed any student's mind that there ever might be an issue in being able to trust the people who have a fiduciary duty to the student body."

UH's contract with the companies has led to tension among university leaders and resistance from students.

Emails obtained by the Chronicle under the state open records law include complaints from students and visitors about the stadium's management during the first games held there.

Athletics department officials wrote to Carlucci that Sports & Entertainment was dismissive and difficult to work with.

"There is a lack of confidence at this point, in their ability to manage an event to the magnitude of a major college football game with 40,000 fans, without the genuine engagement of and input solicited from the athletic department staff," Hunter Yurachek, the athletics department's chief operating officer, wrote in an email to Carlucci in September.

David Bertman, UH's director of bands, cheer and dance, sent a furious email later that month after band classrooms were vandalized under S&E's watch. "This is a serious violation of trust and ethics," he wrote. "I am so disappointed in the lack of oversight."

Possible funds misuse

Photos of the disarray posted online are "truly embarrassing," he wrote. "I have been literally silent during most of this project but I must speak up because it is obvious to me that S&E and their affiliates are not concerned about taking care of our facility."

The stadium's band classrooms are at the center of UH's internal inquiry. The school is investigating the possible use of $5 million in academic-only funding from the state on the stadium, where construction costs have increased more than 20 percent from estimates. The money was intended to build classrooms for the band, but Khator in November asked university officials to perform an audit to make sure that is how it was spent.

Khator's request came just days after a former member of her Cabinet called for a state audit of the project, saying that he had heard from at least one state lawmaker about the issues, the emails show.

"I just advised Dr. Khator … to have the State Auditor come in to review the entire project just to give it a clean bill of health," wrote Darrin Hall, then the vice president for government relations. "With the legislative session just 2 months away and because we are asking the state for over $120 million in capital construction funding we need to demonstrate to the legislature/general public that this current project is being properly handled."

Tensions were rising even before the stadium opened, as it became apparent the facility would not be complete by the season's first game.

In July, athletics director Mack Rhoades sent an email to Carlucci explaining that if Texas Dow Employees Credit Union signs were not up in the stadium by game time, the school would have to repay money to TDECU, which agreed to pay UH $15 million over 10 years for naming rights.

Carlucci forwarded Rhoades' email to a colleague, adding: "Screwed again by our own people."

The tensions around Sports & Entertainment and the stadium opening spilled beyond administrators. In October, a ticket-holder expressed outrage over the management of the stadium's club, which didn't have food prepared in time for the game.

"This is an embarrassment to the university and to myself," he wrote. "I understand there are growing pains, but if you have someone in charge supervising the club and they do not see any issues, then they need to be replaced!"