Showing posts with label misrepresentation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label misrepresentation. Show all posts

Friday, March 18, 2022

U.S. News Ranked Columbia No. 2, but a Math Professor Has His Doubts; The New York Times, March 17, 2022

, The New York Times; U.S. News Ranked Columbia No. 2, but a Math Professor Has His Doubts

"The rankings have driven colleges to make relatively benign changes in culture, but there has also been some fraud, Mr. Diver said. “There’s been repeated evidence of not just gaming the system,” he said, but also “outright misrepresentation, outright lying.”

Last year, a former dean of Temple University’s business school was found guilty of using fraudulent data between 2014 and 2018 to improve the school’s national rankings and increase revenue. The school’s online M.B.A. program was ranked best in the country by U.S. News & World Report in the years that he falsified data.

Over the years, other schools like Iona College, Claremont McKenna College and Emory University have been found to have falsified or manipulated data."

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

The Death of a Fake Twitter Personality Reveals the Systemic Rot of Academia; Medium, August 11, 2020


"The creation of such an identity — as multiple Native scholars and writers have pointed out — isn’t just deeply disrespectful to the small community of Natives in academia, and it doesn’t just play into a gross American tradition of appropriation. It’s also coming at a time when Native people are being killed by Covid-19 at 19 times the rate of all other populations combined in New Mexico alone. Before McLaughlin was unmasked, Duarte says, she had been avoiding social media, which for those with family in the Four Corners region of the Southwest felt like a rolling obituary. She and Washuta both recalled hearing the news that a Native colleague had died and instantly wondering if it was someone they knew. Killing off a fake Native account through Covid-19 registers as doubly cruel.

“The behavior of this individual Dr. McLaughlin eclipses the actual work of Native colleagues,” Duarte says, as well as the struggles of LGTBQ Native people who themselves suffer disproportionate rates of violence. “It sort of feels like being rendered invisible many times over.”"

The Anonymous Professor Who Wasn’t; The New York Times, August 4, 2020

Jonah Engel Bromwich and , The New York Times; The Anonymous Professor Who Wasn’t

A professor at Arizona State University does not exist.

"Among scientists and academics, the shock of mourning was already laced with suspicion. Enough of them had unpleasant interactions with the combative account and were troubled by its inconsistencies and seeming about-turns.

“You have these internal alarms that are like, ‘Oh, I don’t trust you,’” said Julie Libarkin, the head of the Geocognition Research Laboratory at Michigan State University. “Kind of the same as when I worked with BethAnn.”"

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Senior Trump official embellished résumé, had face on fake Time cover; NBC News, November 12, 2019

Dan De Luce, Laura Strickler and Ari Sen, NBC News; Senior Trump official embellished résumé, had face on fake Time cover

"A senior Trump administration official has embellished her résumé with misleading claims about her professional background — even creating a fake Time magazine cover with her face on it — raising questions about her qualifications to hold a top position at the State Department. 

An NBC News investigation found that Mina Chang, the deputy assistant secretary in the State Department's Bureau of Conflict and Stability Operations, has inflated her educational achievements and exaggerated the scope of her nonprofit's work.

She was being considered for an even bigger government job, one with a budget of more than $1 billion, until Congress started asking questions about her résumé."

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

How is an academic CV different from a résumé?; The Washington Post, October 22, 2019

Daniel W. Drezner, The Washington Post; How is an academic CV different from a résumé?

"During the weekend, the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Megan Zahneis wrote up Phillips’s study, noting some possible concerns: “While it has popped up in a few high-profile cases, CV falsification is an instance of academic misconduct that might not make as many headlines as fudging data or plagiarism. But the difficulty of detecting it could make it all the more insidious.” Indeed, the grad students who did the coding for Phillips et al. got more and more upset as they proceeded. As Phillips explained to Zahneis, “That’s because most of these were applicants for entry-level positions, which is what they hoped to be applying for someday.""

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

College cheating scandal is the tip of the iceberg; CNN, March 12, 2019

David Perry, CNN; College cheating scandal is the tip of the iceberg

"We're not talking about donating a building, we're talking about fraud," said Andrew Lelling, the US Attorney for Massachusetts, as he announced indictments in a massive scheme alleging that celebrities and other wealthy individuals used cheating, bribes, and lies to get their kids into elite colleges.

The behavior described in this alleged fraud should be punished. But on a broader and more basic level, the case also sheds light on deep inequities in our college admissions system. Because if someone can get their kid into Harvard by buying a building, let alone by committing any of the alleged acts emerging from this case, the scandal isn't just what's illegal, but what's legal as well. "

Thursday, September 1, 2016

A Silicon Valley Dream Collapses in Allegations of Fraud; New York Times, 8/31/16

Katie Benner, New York Times; A Silicon Valley Dream Collapses in Allegations of Fraud:
"Along with the start-up, Mr. Choi’s personal credibility is on the line. As he built WrkRiot, the entrepreneur said that he graduated from the Stern School of Business at New York University and that he worked at J. P. Morgan for nearly four years as an analyst. N.Y.U. and J. P. Morgan both said they had no record of Mr. Choi. At least one company listed on his LinkedIn profile also could not be found.
Mr. Choi, whose LinkedIn profile has since been wiped clean, did not respond to questions about his résumé. His lawyer, Bernard Fishman, said he was not aware of the allegations against WrkRiot until contacted by The New York Times."

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Melania no more: why did Donald Trump take down his wife's website?; Guardian, 7/29/16

Dan Tynan, Guardian; Melania no more: why did Donald Trump take down his wife's website? :
"Melania Trump’s personal and professional site, the Huffington Post reported on Wednesday, has disappeared. A search of Google’s cache reveals that sometime after 22 July, MelaniaTrump.com was redirected to Trump.com, the official site for the Trump Organization.
Speculation immediately centered on a claim made on Ms Trump’s online biography that she obtained “a degree in design and architecture at University in Slovenia” shortly before embarking on her modeling career.
An an unauthorized biography of Ms Trump, published in February, claims the prospective first lady left the university after a year without obtaining her degree. Critics have accused the Trump campaign of deleting the site in order to hide her biography.
An image posted to Melania’s Twitter account earlier today states: “The website in question was created in 2012 and it has been removed because it does not accurately reflect my current business and professional interests.”"

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Patrick Murphy had a terrible week. Call it the Worst Week in Washington.; Washington Post, 6/25/16

Chris Cillizza, Washington Post; Patrick Murphy had a terrible week. Call it the Worst Week in Washington. :
"Things went from bad to way, way worse for Murphy later that day. A report by longtime Florida journalist Jim DeFede detailed a series of exaggerations and outright untruths in the young congressman's résumé. That included claims that he was a certified public accountant (er, not really) and a small business owner (kind of, sort of).
Murphy's campaign, recognizing the mortal danger to his chances represented by the allegations, threw the kitchen sink at the story. It was old news! DeFede got facts wrong! Quotes were taken out of context!
But DeFede knows his stuff. And the broad impression left of Murphy from DeFede's reporting is of a guy who has a pattern of exaggerations and résumé inflation (Read this Q&A with Miami Herald reporter Kristen Clark for more.)"

Friday, June 10, 2016

Start over, city schools: The Pittsburgh Public Schools cannot function with Anthony Hamlet as superintendent; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 6/10/16

Editorial Board, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Start over, city schools: The Pittsburgh Public Schools cannot function with Anthony Hamlet as superintendent:
"Anthony Hamlet has some of the qualities that Pittsburgh requires in its next superintendent of schools, including a drive to turn around low-performing schools and the realization that alternatives to suspension are needed to address discipline issues. Mr. Hamlet, however, also has qualities that the Pittsburgh Public Schools does not need at this delicate stage. They include a slippery relationship with facts, a willingness to plagiarize and an overly defensive attitude. He must not become the next superintendent of the Pittsburgh Public Schools.
The process was flawed from the start...
The problems with Mr. Hamlet’s credentials are substantive — and the implications for keeping him here are profound. It is impossible to move forward under a leader who misrepresents himself and prefers recalcitrance to transparency. He has more than gotten off to a bad start. He has proved himself unworthy of holding one of the most important positions in the Pittsburgh region. He should withdraw as the next superintendent, a job he is set to begin on July 1.
Lynda Wrenn is the first board member to express doubts about Mr. Hamlet, declaring Thursday that if the plagiarism charges hold true, she will call for a new search. So far, other board members have hedged or stood by its chosen candidate, an understandable position with so much invested in him.
But these are elected officials, responsible to the citizens of Pittsburgh. When the board meets today in a special session about the controversy, it must take a deep breath and realize that the situation has become untenable. If Mr. Hamlet does not resign, his contract must be dissolved. Start another search immediately, this time with a professional search firm.
The board’s failure at this essential task calls its leadership into question, and will renew calls for legislation to dissolve the elected school board and move to an appointed system.
There is only one lesson Mr. Hamlet can teach the students of the Pittsburgh Public Schools now: Own your mistakes, accept the consequences and move on."

Friday, March 25, 2016

Woman convicted of working for decade as unlicensed attorney claimed she obtained law degree from Duquesne University; Associated Press via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 3/25/16

Associated Press via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Woman convicted of working for decade as unlicensed attorney claimed she obtained law degree from Duquesne University:
"A former president of a county bar association has been convicted of using forged documents to pose as an estate lawyer for a decade even though she didn’t have a law license.
Kimberly Kitchen was convicted Thursday on charges of forgery, unauthorized practice of law and felony records tampering in Huntingdon County.
Ms. Kitchen, 45, fooled BMZ Law, a Huntingdon firm, by forging a law license, bar exam results, an email showing she attended Duquesne University law school and a check for a state attorney registration fee, prosecutors said.
The James Creek resident handled estate planning for more than 30 clients despite never attending law school, and she even served as president of the county bar association for a time. She made partner at BMZ before the fraud was discovered."

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Parmesan cheese you sprinkle on your penne could be wood; Bloomberg News via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2/16/16

Lydia Mulvany, Bloomberg News via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Parmesan cheese you sprinkle on your penne could be wood:
"Acting on a tip, agents of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration paid a surprise visit to a cheese factory in rural Pennsylvania on a cold November day in 2012.
They found what they were looking for: evidence that Castle Cheese Inc. in Slippery Rock was doctoring its 100 percent real Parmesan with cut-rate substitutes and such fillers as wood pulp and distributing it to some of the country’s biggest grocery chains...
Some grated Parmesan suppliers have been mislabeling products by filling them with too much cellulose, a common anti-clumping agent made from wood pulp, or using cheaper cheddar, instead of real Romano.
Castle president Michelle Myrter is scheduled to plead guilty this month to criminal charges. She faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.
German brewers protect their reputations with Reinheitsgebot, a series of purity laws drawn up 500 years ago. Champagne makers prohibit most vineyards outside their turf from using the name. Now the full force of the U.S. government has been brought to bear defending the authenticity of grated hard Italian cheeses."

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Doubts About Study of Gay Canvassers Rattles the Field; New York Times, 5/25/15

Benedict Carey and Pam Belluck, New York Times; Doubts About Study of Gay Canvassers Rattles the Field:
"Critics said the intense competition by graduate students to be published in prestigious journals, weak oversight by academic advisers and the rush by journals to publish studies that will attract attention too often led to sloppy and even unethical research methods. The now disputed study was covered by The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, among others.
“You don’t get a faculty position at Princeton by publishing something in the Journal Nobody-Ever-Heard-Of,” Dr. Oransky said. Is being lead author on a big study published in Science “enough to get a position in a prestigious university?” he asked, then answered: “They don’t care how well you taught. They don’t care about your peer reviews. They don’t care about your collegiality. They care about how many papers you publish in major journals.”
The details that have emerged about the flaws in the research have prompted heated debate among scientists and policy makers about how to reform the current system of review and publication. This is far from the first such case."

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Pakistani Journalists Resign to Cut Ties to Axact, a Fake Diploma Company; New York Times, 5/23/15

Saba Imtiaz, New York Times; Pakistani Journalists Resign to Cut Ties to Axact, a Fake Diploma Company:
"Several senior journalists resigned from a developing Pakistani television network, Bol, on Saturday, in the latest fallout from a crisis engulfing the channel’s parent company, Axact, a software firm that profited immensely from international sales of fake diplomas."