WWU admissions boss fired after charges of scholarship misuse

Karen Copetas, Western Washington University's admissions director for more than 20 years, has been fired after an internal audit found evidence that she had illegally used scholarship money as compensation for students who worked in her office, including at least four students who did not have legal immigrant status.Copetas provided The Bellingham Herald with a 10-page letter she sent to her superior, senior WWU vice president Eileen Coughlin. In her letter, Copetas charges that her practices in the award of scholarship money were widely known for years, and other university offices and departments handled their own scholarship awards in a similar way.