Category Archives: Administration

The New York Times: Ex-Gonzaga Head Is Tied to Abuse Scandal

A former Gonzaga University president was involved in the sexual abuse of boys and young men in the 1960’s, but Jesuit officials covered up his actions, the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus said Friday.

The Chronicle News Blog: Questions Raised About Legality of Kentucky Governor’s Appointment to Board

The Kentucky governor’s choice to fill a vacancy on the Murray State University Board of Regents could be in jeopardy, the Associated Press reports. Members of a committee that recommends nominees to fill such vacancies disagree on whether a list that included the choice—Jeff S. Taylor, an appeals-court judge appointed to the board last Friday—received a sufficient number of votes to be forwarded to Gov. Ernie Fletcher.

AP: Approval of Fletcher appointee uncertain

Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s choice to fill a vacancy on the Murray State University board of regents may not have been approved by a required nominating panel, a member of the committee said.

And what does this absurd circumstance say about the value of strategic planning… EWR

The Chronicle: Plagiarism Hunters at Southern Illinois U. Say Campus’s Strategic Plan Was Lifted

A plagiarism hunt at Southern Illinois University may have snagged its biggest catch yet — a university’s entire strategic plan.

In 2001, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale began a long-range-planning process called Southern at 150, designed to make the university into a top-75 public university by 2019, its 150th anniversary. Many of the planning documents appear to be nearly identical to a strategic plan that Texas A&M University at College Station created in the late 1990s, called Vision 2020.

AP: SIU panel tapped to review new allegations of plagiarism

Southern Illinois University’s president tapped a panel Friday to review new allegations of plagiarism involving the system’s Carbondale campus, scrutinizing similarities between the school’s strategic plan and that of a Texas school where the chancellor once worked.

Glenn Poshard’s naming of the three-person panel came the same day The Chronicle of Higher Education revealed that SIU’s long-range planning blueprint bears similarities to Texas A&M’s “Vision 2020.”

Boston Globe: Boston University dean to resign over embellished vita

The dean of the Boston University College of Communication has agreed to resign his post even though a committee investigating whether he embellished on his resume found that he had done nothing wrong, officials said Wednesday.

Palm Beach Post: FAMU inspector fired over role in probe

Florida A&M University’s interim inspector general was fired Thursday after a review from an outside auditor found he mishandled an investigation involving top-level administrators.

San Diego Union-Tribune: A bumpy tenure

University of California chief Robert Dynes has had a rough year. Under fire for giving questionable pay and perks to executives, he has hung in there. A look at a leader who seems happier in his physics lab than in a boardroom.

The Star-Ledger: New Jersey to Consider Anew a Plan to Merge 3 Public Universities

The state’s top legislative leaders are reconsidering a merger of the scandal-ridden University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey with New Jersey’s two other public research schools, amid growing signs UMDNJ’s nearly 40-year tenure as a stand-alone institution may be nearing its end.

Senate President Richard Codey and Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts announced plans yesterday to form a joint task force that will look at a sweeping reorganization combining UMDNJ with Rutgers University and New Jersey Institute of Technology to produce what they say would be a top-tier institution that encourages public and private investment in New Jersey.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: CCAC faculty union begins no-confidence voting on Sutin

Faculty at Community College of Allegheny County are holding a no-confidence vote against embattled President Stewart Sutin — possibly the first such vote in the college’s 40-year history.

The Chronicle News Blog: Another Day, Another Allegation for Alabama’s 2-Year Colleges

Alabama’s system of two-year colleges, already beset by a host of allegations of corruption, nepotism, and other misconduct, now faces a state inquiry on one campus into alleged spurious students who did nothing but help steal financial aid. According, once again, to The Birmingham News, which has broken chapter after chapter in this saga, some employees at Bishop State Community College arranged student aid for relatives who did not attend, including a 67-year-old disabled grandmother who was enrolled in baseball, basketball, and softball three months before her death.

Just last week, the college’s president was accused of improperly using funds she received from her other job, as a state lawmaker (The Chronicle, August 17). And just on Monday, the News reported on a $125,000 loan given to the system’s recently ousted chancellor by a lobbyist the system had hired (The Chronicle, August 21).

Houston Chronicle: Audit finds TSU mismanaged funds

A state audit released Wednesday criticizes the beleaguered Texas Southern University for mismanaging endowment funds, putting its financial future in jeopardy and keeping inaccurate records.

Inside Higher Ed: Dean Sues President at Del Mar

A dean at Del Mar College, in Texas, has filed a lawsuit against the college stemming from a sexual harassment complaint that a student made against the institution’s president.

Theresa Cox, dean of equal opportunity/affirmative action, equity, access and compliance at Del Mar, says that, according to court documents, a female student came to her in September of 2004 and said that Carlos Garcia, president of Del Mar, made inappropriate remarks and advances.

Western Michigan University fires president

Acting at a special meeting called Aug. 15, Western Michigan University’s Board of Trustees voted to terminate the contract of President Judith I. Bailey, effective immediately.

In related action, trustees voted unanimously to appoint Dr. Diether H. Haenicke as interim president while a search for a new president is carried out. Haenicke was WMU’s fifth president, serving from 1985 through 1998.

The Globe and Mail: Universities boycott Maclean’s rankings

Eleven of Canada’s universities are refusing to participate in the Maclean’s university ranking issue, saying they find the magazine’s survey methodology to be “oversimplified” and “arbitrary.”

In a lettersent yesterday to Maclean’s, the coalition said they will not provide any data to the magazine for its popular, yet controversial, annual fall survey of universities. The letter was signed by the presidents of the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, the University of Lethbridge, the University of Manitoba, the University of Toronto, McMaster University, the University of Ottawa, the University of Montreal and Dalhousie University.

The Chronicle: A Group of Canadian Universities Says It Will Boycott a Popular Magazine Ranking

A majority of Canadian research universities have told Maclean’s magazine that they are no longer taking part in the publication’s annual ranking of universities. But the magazine said it would go on publishing the rankings regardless.

A letter signed by 11 university presidents was sent to the magazine Monday, citing what the presidents said were problems with the magazine’s ranking methodology. The letter also complained that the magazine had failed to address the presidents’ concerns over several years.

The Columbus Dispatch: OU professor sues after school links him to plagiarism

An Ohio University professor has sued the school for defamation, saying that officials falsely accused him of helping students in the mechanical-engineering department plagiarize their master’s theses.

Professor Jay S. Gunasekera also said in an Ohio Court of Claims lawsuit filed Wednesday that university officials characterized him as unethical and dishonest and accused him of supporting academic fraud.

Provost Kathy Krendl and Dennis Irwin, dean of OU’s Russ College of Engineering and Technology, recommended in a report released May 31 that the university fire Gunasekera and another mechanical-engineering teacher.

Inside Higher Ed: Dealing with disaster

A respected chair of religious studies at Elizabethtown College, in Pennsylvania, is arrested for allegedly making Internet plans to meet an undercover agent who was posing as a 12-year-old girl. A long-time dean of African-American affairs at the University of Virginia announces his retirement just days after admitting he lied to investigators regarding his “knowledge of the activities of a known drug dealer.” And a director of undergraduate studies at Eastern Oregon University is placed on paid leave after torrid allegations of rape are exposed.

All of the events occurred during the hot, hot month of July, much to the chagrin at administrators at the spotlighted institutions. While it isn’t every day that colleges and universities see top administrators or professors accused of or involved in major crimes, institutions often have to make fast-paced employment decisions that have immediate impact on individuals and reputations.

The Houston Chronicle: Slade, 3 others indicted; A total of $1.9 million was allegedly misspent

A Harris County grand jury indicted former Texas Southern University President Priscilla Slade and three aides Tuesday on allegations of misusing school money on personal expenses.

The indictment alleges Slade, who led TSU for nearly seven years before being fired in June, failed to follow her employment contract, university policies and state laws in paying for household furnishings, landscaping and charitable donations, among other things

Tallahassee Democrat: FAMU asked to fix money trouble

The bottom line for Florida A&M University’s 2004-05 finances didn’t change as the final audit was released by the state Auditor General on Friday.

FAMU’s $2.7 million increase in net assets, the figure some consider to be the closest one to a surplus, was identical to what was in the draft audit officially received by Interim President Castell Bryant on June 23.

The Star-Ledger: After cuts, state tells UMDNJ: No ad blitz

A proposed $2.5 million marketing campaign to spruce up the image of the state’s scandal-plagued medical university was killed yesterday, after the governor’s office questioned the timing of an advertising blitz after extensive layoffs and program cuts at the troubled school.

The television and print campaign, which officials said was to begin sometime after Labor Day, was aimed at repairing the badly tarnished reputation of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey — which has been the focus of a continuing federal criminal investigation into fraud, waste and financial abuses.