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Corruption at Temple University regarding academic ratings

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by Jeremy Roebuck and Susan Snyder
Updated 
Apr 16, 2021

The former dean of Temple University’s business school was federally charged Friday with orchestrating a complex fraud to boost the college’s reputation and attract students and donors by submitting phony data on its graduate programs to national rankings agencies.

Prosecutors accused Moshe Porat, 74, and two subordinates of reverse engineering the criteria by which the magazine U.S. News & World Report evaluated schools and then falsifying information for years to ensure that programs they oversaw appeared at the top of its lists.

When Temple administrators confronted Porat after discovering the misrepresentations, investigators said, he brushed aside their concerns.

“I just wish you would all stop being so ridiculous,” he told one colleague who attempted to raise an alarm, according to an exchange quoted in court filings. He reportedly rebuffed another, saying: “It’s not like U.S. News is a federal agency.”

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But said Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams in announcing the two-count fraud and conspiracy indictment at a news conference Friday, the consequences for applicants, students, donors, and the university that employed him were very real.

Porat’s purported scheme more than doubled enrollment for Temple’s online and part-time MBA programs between 2014 and 2017, raking in millions in tuition payments from students — some of whom have since sued, arguing the fraud devalued their degrees.

The fallout from the scandal has also driven Temple to reevaluate rankings submissions across the university and to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal settlements to state and federal monitors.

“This was not a victimless crime,” Williams said. “The victims are students, graduates, and donors to the Fox School as well as other universities and their students who were cheated out of their legitimate rankings.”

 
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Did Porat MWCboard? I did not think Deans outside of the MWCboard cared for USNWR's rankings.

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P.s.

P6 at any cost! P6! P6! P6!

 

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Temple was ejected from the Big East for failing to meet minimal standards. Will they repeat?

Cheating on scholastic metrics will probably reduce enrollment.

Time for BOR.

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On 4/26/2021 at 9:48 AM, DoubleBlueGold said:

P6 at any cost! P6! P6! P6!

 

 it sounds like Temple discovered and reported the errors according to the article

Quote

When Temple administrators confronted Porat after discovering the misrepresentations, investigators said, he brushed aside their concerns.

“I just wish you would all stop being so ridiculous,” he told one colleague who attempted to raise an alarm

 

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21 hours ago, since1670 said:

Temple was ejected from the Big East for failing to meet minimal standards. Will they repeat?

Cheating on scholastic metrics will probably reduce enrollment.

Time for BOR.

It didn’t seem to have much effect at North Carolina. 

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1 hour ago, UofMTigers said:

 it sounds like Temple discovered and reported the errors according to the article

 

Oh.  That's different.  I guess it's OK then.

Go self-report to your wife that you've been cheating on her.  I don't care if it's true or not, just tell her.  I'm sure it'll be OK, since it came from you and not the neighbor.

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The falsifying data part is wrong but "reverse engineering" the USNWR rankings is a common tactic these days.  Northeastern used it to go from basically a school that admitted anyone with a pulse, to a highly ranked academic institution in just a few short years.

https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2014/08/26/how-northeastern-gamed-the-college-rankings/

“Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.”

-Richard Feynman

"When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators."

-P.J. O’Rourke

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2 minutes ago, UofMTigers said:

no, it means it may not be systematic of the University as a whole.

FIFY.

Really it means damage control.

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On 4/26/2021 at 6:49 AM, 1066 said:
by Jeremy Roebuck and Susan Snyder
Updated 
Apr 16, 2021

The former dean of Temple University’s business school was federally charged Friday with orchestrating a complex fraud to boost the college’s reputation and attract students and donors by submitting phony data on its graduate programs to national rankings agencies.

Prosecutors accused Moshe Porat, 74, and two subordinates of reverse engineering the criteria by which the magazine U.S. News & World Report evaluated schools and then falsifying information for years to ensure that programs they oversaw appeared at the top of its lists.

When Temple administrators confronted Porat after discovering the misrepresentations, investigators said, he brushed aside their concerns.

“I just wish you would all stop being so ridiculous,” he told one colleague who attempted to raise an alarm, according to an exchange quoted in court filings. He reportedly rebuffed another, saying: “It’s not like U.S. News is a federal agency.”

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But said Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams in announcing the two-count fraud and conspiracy indictment at a news conference Friday, the consequences for applicants, students, donors, and the university that employed him were very real.

Porat’s purported scheme more than doubled enrollment for Temple’s online and part-time MBA programs between 2014 and 2017, raking in millions in tuition payments from students — some of whom have since sued, arguing the fraud devalued their degrees.

The fallout from the scandal has also driven Temple to reevaluate rankings submissions across the university and to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal settlements to state and federal monitors.

“This was not a victimless crime,” Williams said. “The victims are students, graduates, and donors to the Fox School as well as other universities and their students who were cheated out of their legitimate rankings.”

 

Epic Win!

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16 hours ago, UofMTigers said:

 it sounds like Temple discovered and reported the errors according to the article

 

I Dont Get It Over My Head GIF by MOODMAN

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