The UI issued a final report Nov. 7 upon the conclusion of its investigation into inaccurate class profile data shared by the College of Law. The report concluded that the intentional inaccuracies were limited to six of the 10 years reviewed, that a one person was responsible for these inaccuracies, and that the college lacked adequate controls to prevent, deter and detect such actions.
In addition to its findings, the report included a set of eight recommendations, including correction of the erroneous data, implementation of “best practice” processes and controls that include data monitoring, auditing and segregation of duties as well as steps to ensure a continued university culture of integrity and ethical conduct. During the course of the investigation, the college’s assistant dean of admissions was placed on administrative leave and subsequently resigned.
The investigation found that admissions decisions, including scholarship awards, appear to have been made based on the true data originally provided by the Law School Admissions Council, the national admissions data clearinghouse. And it doesn’t appear that any students whose data were changed had any knowledge of those changes. In other words, there is no information indicating that changes to individual Law School Admission Test scores or the grade-point average of any students affected any admissions decisions on particular applicants to the College of Law. The 114-page report (available online) is the culmination of an investigation that began Aug. 26 after the University Ethics Office was alerted to potential discrepancies in student profile data – median LSATs and GPAs – for the current College of Law Class of 2014 that had been posted on the college website and disseminated in emails.
The university engaged independent outside legal counsel and forensic data analysts to assist in the inquiry.
“The campus has already begun to implement the recommendations in this report,” said Phyllis M. Wise, Urbana chancellor and UI vice president. “Additionally, we will work with each of our colleges to ensure that appropriate checks and safeguards are in place to help ensure that all current and future data are accurate, complete and verifiable.”
