Temple Fox School of Business Dean M. Moshe Porat
After finding that the Fox School of Business knowingly provided false information to U.S. News over the past several years to achieve its No. 1 ranking for its online MBA program, Temple University today (July 9) asked Fox Dean M. Moshe Porat to resign his position. The decision was made after an independent review by the law firm of Jones Day which found numerous examples of misreported data, if not, outright fraud.
U.S. News tossed Temple’s No. 1 ranked online MBA program off its ranking in January after discovering that the school misreported critical data on its program. Temple had reported that all 255 of the program’s latest incoming class submitted GMAT scores to get into the program. In fact, the school acknowledged that only 50 students, or 19.6%, submitted GMAT scores. As a result, Temple’s online MBA program, ranked first in the nation by U.S. News for four consecutive years, was moved to unranked status.
In the immediate aftermath of that embarrassment, the university hired Jones Day to conduct an investigation. In a statement issued today, the school noted that the review is now complete and sacked an academic who had been dean of its business school for the past 22 years. “It is my duty to report that the Fox School, under the leadership of Dean Moshe Porat, knowingly provided false information to at least one rankings organization about the Online MBA,” wrote Temple President Richard M. Englert. “In addition to the misreporting of the number of students who took the GMAT from 2015 to 2018, the average undergraduate GPA was overstated, and there were inaccuracies in the number of offers of admission as well as in the degree of student indebtedness.”
‘FOX HAD IN PLACE A CONCERTED, RANKINGS-FOCUSED STRATEGY’
Jones Day said its investigation revealed that, over the past several years, “Fox provided U.S. News with inaccurate information across multiple data metrics that are part of the publication’s OMBA rankings methodology. And while Jones Day focused on information that Fox provided to U.S. News relating to the school’s OMBA program, the investigation revealed that Fox provided U.S. News with erroneous information relating to other programs as well. On certain occasions, Fox’s reporting of inaccurate information to U.S. News was done knowingly and intentionally for the purpose of improving or maintaining Fox’s standing in the relevant U.S. News rankings.”
The firm’s investigators discovered that Dean Porat and other Fox personnel made clear that improving or maintaining Fox’s position in rankings was a key priority. “Fox had in place a concerted, rankings-focused strategy including detailed analyses of U.S. News’s rankings methodology and strategies tied to specific U.S. News data metrics, which strategy was promoted internally by the Dean and other Fox personnel,” the investigation found. “The environment fostered by the school’s emphasis on rankings contributed to the reporting of inaccurate information to U.S. News. Moreover, the Dean’s focus on rankings, coupled with his personal management style, caused Fox personnel who interacted with the Dean on ranking-related matters to feel pressure to perform in this regard.”
FIVE KEY FINDINGS BY JONES DAY IN ITS INVESTIGATION
The report by the law firm is damning in every way. Jones Day identifed five key findings:
1. In each year since at least 2014, Fox reported inaccurate information to U.S. News with respect to one or more data metrics, including: (a) the number of entrants who provided GMAT scores, (b) the mean undergraduate GPA of entrants, (c) the number of offers of admission extended to applicants, and (d) student-borrower indebtedness. In addition, Fox personnel adopted questionable interpretations of survey questions.
2. In various respects, Fox leadership and other employees bore responsibility for creating or promoting conditions that contributed to the reporting of inaccurate information to U.S. News and/or for the misreporting itself. Pressure to improve and maintain rankings contributed to the reporting of inaccurate information.
3. Following a change in procedure initiated by the Dean in approximately mid-2013, Fox did not establish adequate checks and balances in the process for compiling, verifying, and submitting information to U.S. News.
4. The employee principally responsible for preparing and submitting Fox’s responses to ranking surveys knowingly and intentionally misreported certain information to U.S. News and failed to correct inaccuracies with respect to other information. The investigative record is inconclusive as to whether this employee, in knowingly and intentionally misreporting information, was acting at the specific direction of any other Fox personnel.
5. There were multiple opportunities for other Fox personnel to observe and/or correct inaccuracies in information to be or that had been provided to U.S. News, but these inaccuracies were not corrected either before or after submission.
TEMPLE PRESIDENT CITES AN ‘UNDUE FOCUS ON RANKINGS’
Englert laid the entire blame on Dean Porat. “It was the dean’s initiative to disband a longstanding committee charged with ensuring the accuracy of rankings data,” added Englert. “This absence of checks and balances, together with an undue focus on rankings, enabled such misreporting. While we are committed to determining the nature and extent of possible incorrect data reporting regarding other academic programs at Fox, one thing is clear: This is contrary to the fundamental value of integrity that is at the heart of our academic mission.”
Englert said he and Provost JoAnne A. Epps asked Dean Porat to step down effective immediately as dean. “An interim dean will be identified, and we will begin a national search for a permanent dean as soon as possible,” he said. “Temple’s values and culture have guided us successfully since 1884. They are guiding me now in today’s decision. While I am deeply saddened by these developments, I am confident we are taking the right steps to address this issue. Our message here is simple: What happened at the Fox School cannot be allowed to happen again at Temple.”
“I remain firm in my belief that our Online MBA program, and the Fox School as a whole, is one of the best in the nation and an excellent choice for students who want an exceptional management education in a vibrant urban environment. Today’s action should not detract from the tremendous accomplishments of the school’s faculty, staff, students and alumni.”
Provost Epps will share additional information on a series of measures, including a new university-wide policy regarding rankings, more robust checks and balances for rankings data collection and reporting, and new data analytics staff. We are also sharing information with our various accrediting bodies, as well as the U.S. Department of Education.
DON’T MISS: U.S. NEWS KICKS TEMPLE OUT OF ITS ONLINE MBA RANKING or FOX BOWS OUT OF ALL U.S. NEWS RANKINGS
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