When University of Connecticut officials hired Baruch College Business Dean John A. Elliott, they were aware of an alleged grade-inflation and forgery scandal that was brewing in Baruch's business school.
UConn spokesman Michael Kirk said in an email Tuesday that Elliott "brought up the issue during the hiring process."
"We did know about the matter," UConn President Susan Herbst said in an email, "and were satisfied that he acted as any leader would, upon finding improper behavior of subordinates."
"I have complete confidence in Dean Elliott," Herbst said, adding that he is "such a great catch for UConn." Elliott was hired in March to head UConn's business school, where he will start in August.
According to a New York Post story Tuesday, a former key administrator at Baruch College's Zicklin School of Business allegedly raised MBA students' grades and forged professors' signatures on grade-change forms.
Elliott said in an email Tuesday that during his 10 years at Zicklin, "I conducted myself with the utmost integrity at all times. When evidence of wrongdoing on the part of others at Baruch College surfaced, I immediately took appropriate action, informed the college and worked with the president and the provost to ensure that these issues were addressed."
Elliott is expected to leave Baruch July 31 and will earn $390,000 annually at UConn.
"As the leader of any large organization knows, it is not possible to be constantly aware of each and every action a colleague or subordinate in your organization takes," Elliott continued. "But when evidence comes to light that an individual or individuals have engaged in misconduct, swift action needs to be taken by a school's leadership and problems need to be addressed decisively. And that is exactly what took place in this instance."
Officials from UConn and Baruch, which is part of the City University of New York, backed up Elliott's statement. Kirk said Elliott took "immediate action" when he "became aware of misconduct ? notifying the college and working with its leadership to address the problems."
Kirk also emailed a statement from Mitchel Wallerstein, president of Baruch College, saying that when "irregularities in three of [Zicklin's] Executive Masters' degree programs came to light, Dean Elliott worked closely with me and with Interim Provost John Brenkman and other College leaders to address the problems."
Wallerstein said that Elliott "deserves great credit for his accomplishments during ten years of service as the head of the Zicklin School of Business, and for his commitment to Baruch College. Under his leadership, the academic quality of the Zicklin School improved dramatically."
Herbst said: "We look forward to John's arrival ? Everyone who works with him will see precisely why he is the bold leader crticial to our future in business."
The Post story identified the former Zicklin administrator as Chris Koutsoutis and said he allegedly falsified the grades of about 15 students so they wouldn't be kicked out of the program.
Koutsoutis was allowed to retire quietly, the Post story said, adding that "insiders" told the Post that the motivation behind the alleged scam was to keep tuition dollars coming in.
A spokesman for Baruch emailed a statement saying that college administrators became aware of "certain irregularities" early in the academic year in three of its executive master's degree programs, including the Executive MBA.
The statement said the matters were fully investigated, an administrator responsible for the programs was placed on leave, and the CUNY Office of Legal Affairs referred certain cases to law enforcement authorities.
Facutly, staff and students were interviewed, and the Baruch statement said it appears that 15 students were affected by the "alleged improprieties."
"Disciplinary measures are currently being taken with respect to certain faculty and staff who were implicated in the matter," and the administrator is no longer employed at Baruch, the statement said.
Each student will be given the chance to complete any work necessary, the statement said. "The college does not currently anticipate that it will be necessary to rescind degrees because of this unfortunate event."
The spokesman for Baruch College declined to provide further details on the case or to explain why certain cases were referred to law enforcement authorities.
Like all executive MBA programs, Zicklin's allows students to earn a degree in a condensed time period with a schedule that is particularly convenient for working executives. Tuition in Zicklin's executive MBA program is $75,000 and classes are held once a week, primarily on Saturdays.
With the sagging economy, corporations' tuition reimbursement for executive MBA programs has declined from an average 44 percent in 2001 to 27 percent in 2011, according to the Executive MBA Council.
Michael Desiderio, executive director of the council, said he was shocked to hear of the possible grade-changing scheme. "This will come as a shock to everyone in our industry if this is in fact true," he said. "I think people are going to be back on their heels saying, 'I cannot believe this happened.'"
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