ELLENSBURG -- The state auditor's office recently wrote a letter to Central Washington University that said top officials were being accused by faculty of retaliation, cronyism and allowing managers to get away with it.

The letter said the allegations came from the Department of Information Technology and Administration Management one department came to them and accusing higher-ups of "instances of cronyism; repeated actions that are contrary to University policy and Faculty Code; inappropriate treatment and retaliatory actions against faculty members who raised concerns; and administrative interference with the Faculty Senate's authority to hear and decide grievances."

Even adding that "top University administrators were aware of these activities and allowed them to continue," wrote Brian Sonntag of the auditor's office.

Sonntag could not be reached for comment.

The letter was copied and sent to the college's board of trustees.

"We don't know anything about it," said board of trustees vice-chair Sid Morrison. "We don't know the individual, and the state auditor just brought it to our attention"

"I thought we had moved on from this," said Central faculty president Bob Hickey.

Hickey believes this isn't a new issue and that it's likely traces of allegations made a couple years ago. A lawsuit came out of that and a former professor received a settlement from the university.

Hickey said other faculty involved now say they're doing OK.

But while this letter is dated April 28th, it never says when these latest allegations were made to the auditor's office, and the letter doesn't provide any names.

"We don't know what they're talking about so it'll be handled in due course," Morrison said.

Action News talked to the one person working in the department where the accusations came from, but he said he'd never heard of the allegations mentioned in the state auditor's letter.

The state auditor said it won't look into the allegations because the issues fall out of its jurisdiction.

It now falls into the hands of Central's board of trustees.

When Action News asked Morrison whether managers could've retaliated against faculty and higher-ups chose to ignore the issue, Morrison said KIMA and the state auditor were speculating.

Action News pointed out that the allegations were brought to the auditor's attention and that Sonntag believed those making the accusations were "credible."

"The university is dramatically more credible," Morrison replied.

He did add that the board takes the letter seriously and they'll look into it the allegations.