Tag Archives: Academic fraud

U of Louisville provost who hired notorious ed school dean Robert Felner steps down. Is John Deasy next U of L college of education connection to “graduate” to federal prison?

Shirley Willihnganz, the University of Louisville provost who hired “notorious ed school dean” Robert Felner has stepped down from her $342,694 a year position and will return to the faculty after a sabbatical.

Willihnganz told the Louisville Courier-Journal that the “Felner episode” was the biggest regret of her 13 years as a top administrator at U of L.

Willihnganz hired Felner as dean of the U of L College of Education and Human Development in 2003. Felner’s deanship has been described by some as a “reign of terror” because of his abusive treatment of staff, faculty, students and alumni.

Despite dozens of grievances filed against Felner and a faculty vote of no-confidence, Willihnganz and her boss, university president James Ramsey, were dismissive of complaints and vigorously defended him. Ultimately, Willihnganz was “forced to apologize” to the faculty, saying “mostly what I think I want to say is people have been hurt and something very bad happened, and as provost I feel like I am ultimately responsible for that.”

In addition to his well documented abusive behavior, Felner was also engaged in criminal activity while working for the U of L and under Willihnganz’s supervision.

In 2010, Felner was sentenced 63 months in federal prison for a scheme that bilked $2.3 million of US Department of Education money from U of L and the University of Rhode Island.

On June 20, 2008, Federal investigators (Secret Service and US Postal Inspection Service) raided Felner’s office at the U of L College of Education and Human Development (and his new office at the University of Wisconsin, Parkside, where he was in the process of taking over as campus president) to seize documents and a computer.

Read more about the Felner saga and his journey from “high performer” (Willihnganz’s description) to infamous ex-con here.

Courier-Journal reporter Andrew Wolfson asked me to comment on Willihnganz response to Felner. The statement below was quoted, in part, in the C-J story.

Of course it’s hard to disagree that the hiring of Robert Felner as dean of CEHD was, in hind sight, a disastrous decision by the U of L administration and Dr. Willihnganz in particular, but it was not entirely unpredictable. As chair of the largest department in CEHD at the time, I vigorously opposed Felner’s hire and called for the administration to resist the “old boy” network within the college that backed him. The provost’s office failed to do its due diligence in the hiring, despite a plethora of signs that Felner was not a good choice for the university. At the time, I was aware that other universities had considered Felner for deanships, but excluded him based upon thorough investigations of his career. The fact that President Ramsey and Dr. Willihnganz remained in office after defending Felner’s abusive leadership style, and ultimately criminal behavior, says much about the lack of accountability for decision making at the U of L. The damage done to the university’s reputation has been significant and is not merely the result of Felner’s felonious activities and generally abusive treatment of staff and faculty, but can also be laid in some measure at the feet of Dr. Willihnganz and President Ramsey.

The Courier-Journal reports modest positive accomplishments during on Willihnganz’s years a provost, including increased graduate rates and slight improvements in the U of L’s standing in university reputational rankings.

But, these accomplishments pale in comparison to the Felner episode and a long series shameful debacles that have tarnished the reputation of Kentucky’s second largest research university. The C-J reports that,

Under [Willihnganz’s] watch … university employees have stole, misspent or mishandled at least $7.6 million in schemes at the health science campus, the law school, the business school and the athletic department’s ticket office.

Willihnganz also was criticized for approving about $1 million in buyouts for former high-ranking employees, some of which included agreements not to disparage the university or its leaders.

Academic Fraud?
As the chief academic officer of the U of L, Willihnganz allowed the university to bestow a PhD degree on one of Felner’s associates, John Deasy, after enrolling in the CEHD doctoral program for a total of four months and apparently never actually taking any courses.

As reported in the education newspaper Substance,

John Deasy earned his PhD directly under Felner, in a period of four months, earning nine UL credit hours.

Prior to coming to UL, Deasy had awarded Felner’s research company, the National Center on Public Education and Social Policy, a $375,000 grant from the Santa Monica district where Deasy was head.

Before he came to UL, Felner had been dean at the University of Rhode Island’s College of Education from 1996-2003. Deasy studied there in the same period, while Deasy was also a Rhode Island school superintendent.

According to a highly placed source, formerly at UL, Deasy’s dissertation’s title page carries the date, “May, 2003,” while it is signed off, “April 9, 2004.” He entered the program in January, 2004.

A UL investigation of the Deasy PhD did not condemn the practice. James Ramsey, UL president, who had turned a blind eye to Felner’s notorious corruption (the faculty gave Felner a “no confidence vote” in 2006, but he served at least two more years at UL with Ramsey’s full support), gave his nod to the “blue ribbon” investigation.

Deasy is apparently cut from the same cloth as his mentor, having recently resigned as superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, under a cloud of allegations regarding ethics violations in relation to a $1 billion contract to supply iPads to LAUSD students.

A federal grand jury is currently investigating Deasy’s iPad scheme, which involved Apple and Pearson, the latter one of the world’s largest education publishers.

Many in LA were quite pleased by Deasy’s resignation as district boss.

In the end, it can be argued that the mistakes made by the U of L administration in hiring and protecting Felner, allowed Deasy to obtain a questionable PhD, which surely helped him land the high-paying job as superintendent of the second largest school district in the United States.

As LAUSD’s “Deasy episode” unfolds in a federal jury investigation, it could be that Willihnganz’s legacy will include the “graduation” of two federal convicts from the U of L College of Education and Human Development.

‘Gross academic fraud’ at U Texas at Brownsville rocked Office of Distance Education

The Brownsville Herald: ‘Gross academic fraud’ at UTB-TSC rocked Office of Distance Education

A two-month UTB-TSC police investigation found school employees in 2008 had committed “gross academic fraud” after student employees and regular staff used their positions to steal test answers, according to a UTB police report obtained by The Brownsville Herald.

Fired Professor Seeks $200-Million in Lawsuit Against Columbia U.

The Chronicle: Fired Professor Seeks $200-Million in Lawsuit Against Columbia U.

A professor who was fired for plagiarism by Columbia University is suing the institution and her accusers for $200-million, alleging that she was the victim of an “academic lynching.”

Madonna G. Constantine, a former professor of psychology and education at Columbia’s Teachers College, was fired last July after an investigation found that she had plagiarized the work of two former students and a former colleague. Earlier last year, in an interview with The Chronicle, Ms. Constantine maintained that in fact it was her work that had been plagiarized and that her accusers had been motivated by professional envy.

Louisville Says Doctorate Earned in Semester Is Legit

Inside Higher Ed: Louisville Says Doctorate Earned in Semester Is Legit

The University of Louisville has concluded that a much-questioned doctorate it awarded — for one semester of study — was legitimate, The Louisville Courier-Journal reported. The doctorate was awarded to John Deasy in 2004 — and appears to violate university rules about residency requirements. Deasy, as a school superintendent, had given money to a research center headed by the then-dean of Louisville’s education college, who then went on to chair Deasy’s dissertation committee, leading to questions about the legitimacy of the degree. But the university found that the “totality of the circumstances” indicated an appropriate process. At the same time, Louisville announced that it is tightening the procedures about exemptions from normal procedures for doctorates. The former dean, Robert Felner, was for years popular with administrators even as he angered many professors. In October, he was indicted on 10 counts of mail fraud, money-laundering and income-tax evasion related to charges that he fraudulently obtained grants for Louisville and the University of Rhode Island. He has denied wrongdoing.

The Chronicle: U. of Louisville Says a Controversial Ph.D. Will Stand

The University of Louisville has concluded a seven-month investigation into the awarding of a Ph.D. in a case with connections to a former education dean who now faces federal fraud charges, and has decided that the degree will stand, The Courier-Journal reported.

The recipient, John E. Deasy, received the degree in 2004 after having been enrolled in the university for a single semester. Two years earlier, he had been involved in directing a $375,000 grant to a research center that was run by Robert Felner, who was then dean of Louisville’s College of Education and Human Development. Mr. Felner — who stepped down last summer from the Louisville job, as well as from a chancellor’s post he was planning to take in Wisconsin — served as chairman of Mr. Deasy’s dissertation committee.

Before his short stint at Louisville, Mr. Deasy had earned at least 50 credits toward a doctorate at three other institutions, including the University of Rhode Island, where Mr. Felner taught until 2003.

Kentucky: U of L affirms one-semester doctoral degree

Courier-Journal: U of L to allow educator to keep doctoral degree

The University of Louisville announced today that it will allow a former school superintendent to keep a 2004 doctoral degree about which questions had been raised.

The announcement ends a more than eight-month-long review to determine whether the degree was improperly award to John Deasy, who now works for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Former U of L Education Dean Robert Felner, who is facing federal fraud charges in connection with the alleged misuse of federal grant money, was Deasy’s adviser and chairman of his dissertation committee.

Ward Churchill’s $1 Damage Award Said to Have Been Product of Jury Compromise

The Chronicle News Blog: Ward Churchill’s $1 Damage Award Said to Have Been Product of Jury Compromise

Thursday’s jury verdict in Ward Churchill’s lawsuit against the University of Colorado has given rise to a mystery: How is it that a jury could rule that the university had acted illegally in firing Mr. Churchill, and yet still award him only $1 in damages?

West Virginia U. Accepts Latest Report on Degree Problems and Says It’s Time to Move On

The Chronicle News Blog: West Virginia U. Accepts Latest Report on Degree Problems and Says It’s Time to Move On

West Virginia University received the second phase of an outside consultant’s audit of its academic record-keeping practices today, and the institution’s interim president, C. Peter Magrath, said in a written statement that the university accepted the report’s findings and would put in place its recommendations, along with those of an earlier report released in February.

Churchill takes the stand

Denver Post: Fired prof takes the stand; Fights to regain his post

Ward Churchill took his fight to regain his professorship to the witness stand Monday afternoon, defending his views on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and asserting that his academic practices were entirely routine.