Academic Scandals

Academic Scandals

Professors, Deans, and Administrators

Behaving Badly

Having spent most of my professional career in academia, I have always been fascinated with academic scandals. While I don’t believe college professors and administrators have lower moral and ethical standards than the rest of society, I do find it troubling that there are so many moral and ethical failures among people we entrust with teaching our young adults and pushing the bounds of knowledge forward. Of course, people will be people. They lie, cheat, and steal. They also commit violent sexual acts and like to look at inappropriate and sometimes illegal pictures. Yes, whatever depravities there are in society, they are in the academy to what seems to be a similar extent.

So, I compiled this extensive but no doubt incomplete list of misbehavior in American institutions of higher education. Let me first state that it does not cover people in athletics. They deserve their own shameful site. It also does not include student misbehavior, both undergraduate and graduate, though in a few cases students had consensual relationships with professors. It also does not include rank-and-file employee misbehavior. So what it does include is professors and administrators, plus the spouses of administrators.

Warning: These are all legitimate links to stories, but it is entirely possible that some of these stories have been resolved, particularly when criminal activity is involved, that clears the professors. So, the link here is not necessarily the final word. Some of the more recent stories are evolving.

Feel free to reach out to me at dchance@lsu.edu.