FAU police said Monday that student body presidential hopeful Kirk Murray is under investigation – but they won’t say for what.
Murray, a business major, is running for student body president this Thursday and Friday. He lost a previous election in April but contested it, and the new election was scheduled.
When the UP asked FAU detective Michael Aguado about Murray, Aguado replied, “It’s an active investigation” and said he couldn’t comment further. But rumors swirling around the University Center, where Boca Student Government offices are located, hint that Murray is under investigation for improprieties with the SG book voucher program.
One former Boca student senator, Dan Alexander, says he’s scheduled to give a sworn statement to FAU police on July 31. He told the UP that “absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt” that this investigation is about Murray’s involvement with a loosely run program in which SG leaders give book vouchers to students so they can save money on textbooks.
Alexander claims that Murray was involved in purchasing about $500 worth of books at FAU’s bookstore and returning them the next day to get cash back. Alexander said he found out about this because he knows two other students who were initially involved with Murray’s plan. One, he says, refused to go through with it, and told him about it.
The manager of FAU’s bookstore, Phil Silverman, told the UP that an investigation is indeed underway and that it involves his store. He declined to give details because the investigation is ongoing.
Murray could not be reached for comment on either Monday or Tuesday. But Austin Shaw, Murray’s vice presidential candidate, said such talk is “just rumors.” He dismissed them as an attempt by his opponent’s party to discredit Murray. “Obviously I think it’s false,” he says.
Shaw says Murray has not been contacted by the police department and believes that “a few people on [opponent] Tony’s [Teixeira’s] team have been circulating” the rumors.
For his part Teixeira said, “Why would the police have acknowledged an investigation if it was just based on a rumor?”
