Academic Scandals: Administrative Misconduct

 

Academic administrators are typically, but not always, former professors. In contrast to professors, we literally hand them the keys to the university. They’re supposed to be a bit more trustworthy. But alas.

 

Presidential Affairs

When the presidents of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville start sharing hotel rooms, you have to believe they’re doing more than discussing how challenging it is to head up a major research university. And those hotel receipts?  Oh what tangled web we weave. He paid the price, resigning in ignominy, while she stayed on for nine more years. Read the story below:

https://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2012/04/uabs-carol-garrison-and-uts-john_27.html

 

The Head of the University

Another one of our favorites, Liberty University is one of America’s best known Christian-based institutions of higher learning. Founded by a noted Evangelical pastor, it was being run by his lawyer son. And then it became alleged that the president often enjoyed watching his wife have sex with other men. On top of that (no pun intended), she had an affair with some pool boy, and there were allegations of lurid texts, topless pics and sex tapes of the university first lady, which didn’t see the light of day, thanks to the efforts of an infamous Trump lawyer. Can it get any worse? Yes, it can. It seems that Mrs. President opened her mouth a bit too much – shall we say – with a friend of her son who was staying over at the presidential house after a rock band practice. And now we know when someone refers to “the head of Liberty University” they don’t mean the president. Fortunately the president stepped down. Here’s the oral history. Oops. I mean the story.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/27/becki-falwell-affair-liberty-university-student-band-jerry-402559

 

Business Affairs

You’d think the dean of the prestigious Graduate School of Business of Stanford and a distinguished management professor at that institution would know that the above expression means something other than two consenting adults exercising their rights to fool around. Apparently the management professor, an authority on organizational power, didn’t see anything wrong in fooling around with the person who controls her budget. We’re wondering what organizational theory that fits into. Complicating the matter was her husband, a non-tenure track professor there, who got fired, apparently just by coincidence. Fortunately, there appear to be no pics but there are texts between the two  lovebirds that discuss castrating her husband. Well, that would take balls. Not surprisingly, the dean stepped down, but is still a professor of leadership management, and she still lectures on how to build a more constructive organizational hierarchy. Who said professors don’t have much practical experience?

https://www.mercurynews.com/2015/09/14/stanford-business-school-dean-steps-down-amid-sex-scandal-lawsuit/

 

 Deans with Data

It seems the dean of the business school at Temple University, perhaps acquainted with how easy it is to manipulate data when doing research, decided such a skill would be handy for boosting the ranking of his school. The US News and World Reports rankings of top business schools were  his means of making everyone think he’d done a better job as dean than he really had. We’re not knocking Temple University, a fine institution, but it’s not Ivy League. He used the rankings to make Temple Number 1 in online MBA programs. We always knew rankings were important and apparently the Feds thought so too, as his ass got convicted of wire fraud in federal court. One professor and an employee were also involved, the professor having utilized his scholarly talents to figure out how to reverse-engineer the rankings. That is, he determined what manipulations they had to do to boost the rankings. The 75-year old dean was sentenced to 14 months in prison, probation, and given a $200,000 fine. What a way to spend your golden years. The other two were sentenced to various probation requirements and fines. Moral of the story:  never trust deans with data.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/former-temple-university-business-dean-convicted-fraud-rankings-scheme-rcna7089

 

When They Don’t Pay You Enough

You steal iPads. Really? When you’re the director of finance for the emergency medicine department of the Yale School of Medicine you’d think you’d have a great salary. But this lady manages to steal and resell $40 million of electronics to supplement her income. Fortunately she owned up to her misdeeds and will be spending almost a decade in prison. Hopefully she won’t steal the prison electronics.

https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2022/10/18/former-school-of-medicine-administrator-sentenced-to-nine-years-in-prison-for-stealing-40-million-from-the-university/

 

I’m Driving in my Car

Those words, penned by Bruce Springsteen, for the start of a song about a steamy romantic cruise around town, got taken a little too seriously by none other than the provost of Eastern Michigan University. It seems that this distinguished administrator was in a jeep with the top down, naked and fondling himself, when a truck driver spotted him, said something, and then got some footage. For a blurred out – thank God – pic, see the article. We just hope he wasn’t listening to the Beach Boys singing “Fun, Fun, Fun.” Or the Pointer Sisters singing “I want a man with a slow hand.” Or … This could go on forever. We’re thankful no other person was involved, the jeep didn’t wreck, and everything was handled properly. By the authorities, not the provost.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/12/20/michael-tew-sentenced-for-masturbating-while-driving/

 

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Last updated: May 12, 2024