The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has both Gary Coltek, the former head chef at The Commons, and Kennesaw State University under its scope after recent allegations prompted an examination into the situation on campus.
After the Fox 5 Investigative Team unveiled multiple incidents of misconduct and aired them on television, Coltek resigned from his position at KSU, effective Nov. 6, 2015.
Coltek’s misconduct involves misuse of school resources and time, nepotism and conducting personal business on campus. Since the light has been shed on Coltek’s actions, KSU has been handling the situation with secrecy, something Mike Puglise experienced first hand.
Puglise is an attorney representing two KSU employees who feel as though they have been wronged by Coltek’s actions as well as the university. On Friday morning, Christian Hardigree, the founding director of the institute for culinary sustainability and hospitality, attempted to reach out to Puglise. The reason for the call is unknown at this time. Puglise was unable to speak to Hardigree but promised to call back when he had more time.
Shortly afterwards, Puglise received an email from Andrew Newton, the Associate General Counsel from the Division of Legal Affairs at KSU that stated, “please do not communicate with her, or any other KSU employee within that definition, regarding any matter within the scope of their employment at KSU without explicit permission from KSU’s legal counsel.”
Newton refused to comment about this situation.
Puglise believes that it is unethical to request this and that employees should not be threatened with the loss of their job if they wish to expose any of the corruption that occurs at KSU.
Coltek’s actions and KSU’s inappropriate response to the situation can be found in a letter that the Board of Regents sent to the Attorney General that highlights three main incidents involving misconduct from both Coltek and KSU. After receiving this letter, the Attorney General’s office requested a GBI investigation on both parties.
Scott Dutton, Public Affairs Director of the GBI, confirmed this investigation but could not offer further comment since it is currently ongoing.
The first incident, as stated in the letter, describes Coltek using KSU resources to cater an unrelated, private event in 2010. Although this incident goes against both KSU policy and law, Coltek reportedly received no prosecution, but instead minimal action by the university.
The next incident occurred in 2014 and included an array of violations including misuse of public resources and nepotism. Fox 5 Investigative Team was able to reveal instances of nepotism when they uncovered emails that Coltek sent to Chartwell, the company that now manages The Commons. In these emails, Coltek attempted to get his daughter a top food position at Life University.
KSU did not report incidents such as these to the University System of Georgia, but instead issued a reprimand to Coltek.
The last incident refers to the unchanging behaviors of Coltek that Fox 5 Investigative Team uncovered as he continued to abuse KSU resources and conduct personal business at the university. The news station reported that Coltek used KSU time and resources to further his own personal businesses, like his company Foodgenuity, by providing services and getting paid on the side by companies associated with The Commons, like Sodexo.
He was reportedly even asking employees at The Commons to perform unrelated tasks at work to further his personal businesses. After learning of this, KSU initiated an internal investigation but was quickly asked to halt the investigation after the Board of Regents filed a referral.
Tammy DeMel, the Executive Director of Strategic Communication and Issue Management, stated that a national search for Coltek’s replacement has begun and that they hope to fulfill the position by mid-Spring. As of now, the university’s current director of culinary and hospitality services has stepped in to assume Coltek’s role due to his inappropriate work behavior.
“Kennesaw State officials are cooperating with all authorities as it pertains to the investigation of Coltek,” said DeMel.
Despite the cooperation, Puglise believes that there must be more to the matter that KSU is choosing not to share.
“I think that’s just the surface,” Puglise said. “I think there’s a lot more to be disclosed. I think the fact that they are telling employees not to talk to us says a lot.”
