The Office of Admissions has remained silent in the three weeks since University President Steven Knapp announced it had been inflating class rank data for more than a decade, and stripped the office's staff of record-keeping responsibilities.
Administrators have kept Associate Vice President and Dean of Admissions Kathryn Napper from the public eye after GW came clean on the misreported data Nov. 8, with top administrators fielding questions about the office on her behalf. Napper has headed the office for 15 years, and officials have said the data errors date back at least a decade.
“It’s all being handled upstairs with external relations. Take it up with them,” Napper said Nov. 14, when GW was removed from the U.S. News & World Report rankings, in her only comment.
She was not present at a town hall Nov. 19 – the first time administrators spoke publicly about the class rank data. Napper did not respond to emails asking about her absence from the forum, whether or not she was asked to participate or her role in the audit of her office’s data. She declined to comment through a spokeswoman.
When a student asked about Napper's absence from the forum Nov. 19, head of GW's public relations Lorraine Voles took the mic and said Senior Associate Provost for Academic Affairs and Planning Forrest Maltzman – who began overseeing admissions in June – has been “dealing with the media both at the University and outside the University.”
When asked afterward the panel if admissions staff members had been invited to participate, University spokeswoman Candace Smith reiterated that Maltzman was the designated spokesperson on the issue and other admissions questions in the future.
"Forrest wanted to be the person on this, and anything that has to do with that office. He wants to...be made aware and possibly participate. Its pretty standard," Smith said.
She said Maltzman's increased oversight is part of a transition into his new role overseeing admissions. He was tasked with overseeing both the admissions and financial aid offices this June after GW's longserving enrollment leader Robert Chernak retired.
"Sometimes it takes a while to make an assessment," Smith said. "Decisions aren't going to be instant right away, always going to be transitions."
The University created an enrollment manager position to replace Chernak, and Smith said the search was "ongoing" for this position. She said she did not know if the hiring hunt had been sped up after GW discovered the misreported data.
Smith said GW was looking to bring on the new hire "as soon as possible."
Administrators say the error stems from a faulty formula that estimated the percent of freshmen coming from the top 10 percent of their high schools.
The provost’s office spotted the error, which showed that 58 percent of freshman were in the top 10 percent of their high school classes, instead of 78 percent, this summer after Maltzman assumed the top post, they said.
An outside firm audited GW’s most recent admissions cycle and found no other flawed data, Knapp said, though he could not provide a copy of the audit because he said the firm never documented their investigation.
Knapp and other administrators maintained that the error was inadvertent, but have been unable to pinpoint the precise starting point and have declined to discuss personnel decisions made because of the error.
Napper has overseen a 28 percent growth in applications and increased selectivity over the last decade. In the past two years, however, the University’s application numbers and selectivity flatlined, when similar institutions collected more applications and became more choosy in their freshman classes.
Just like the Wall Street firms after the financial crisis they caused, it seems no one at GW is being held accountable for this intentional (not inadvertent) manipulation of admissions data. Heads should roll.
Amen!!!
Let’s drop the conspiracy theories and work on an honest discussion. First of all, the admissions data being asked for was out of date and asked for information that most high schools no longer give out (class rankings). It was probably an honest mistake somewhere along the way, where somebody was trying to come up with a way to measure class rank without the school having to give it to them. Second, if it was intentional, it’s not like suddenly GW became a worse school. Like the poster Jon said, its education is still strong and getting stronger- anyone who was deciding between two institutions and chose GW because of its ranking is, in my opinion, looking at the wrong statistics. Should GW clear up this misunderstanding? Absolutely. Should it mean somebody be sacked and blackballed from academic administration? Hardly.
Knapp should show some real leadership and resign his post immediately.
This would be legendary!
Can we move on please.
Move on? Seriously?
We need more accountability here. Students deserve more honest and accurate information about the education they are really getting. And this isn’t just about a few percentage points from a ranking.
“Something happens here” is the greatest marketing gimmick we’ve got. I want to know what percentage of GW undergrads find a job after graduation. I want to know which industries they enter into.
Yeah, move on- nothing to see here…..where have we heard that before? Oh, I remember, when JP Morgan Chase announced they “lost” about 4 billion dollars. Was there any accountability there either? Nope, Jaime Dimon just said s—t happens and that apparently is enough accountability. People will continue to lie and do bad things unless until there are real consequences to their bad actions. GW is in serious need of this, as are many other universities caught lying and cheating across the country.
Colonial- that information is all published on the Career Center website. Do a little research. Most GW graduates are employed or in a graduate program within 6 months of graduation.
My grandfather was a GW alum and went on to study law at Harvard and a successful career as a lawyer. There were no rankings then and the class rank of the incoming freshmen meant nothing. What did matter was the quality of the education he got and how it prepared him for his life and career. The quality of that education has only gotten better since then.
This may seem hard to believe right now, but the rankings—and the class rank of incoming freshmen—means absolutely nothing. It doesn’t change the quality of education and it means nothing to prospective employers. Most employers don’t even give a damn where you went to school, especially undergrad.
The university made a mistake in its reporting of class rank and was transparent about that—releasing a statement a week before US News decided to make an example of GW. That’s what happened here. I’m sure hundreds of other universities are misreporting data and US News is turning a blind eye because they want to make money and avoid a conversation about how bogus their rankings.
To the point about class rank, do we really believe that class rank is any real indication of the quality of student? There’s plenty of research that points to it being virtually meaningless as a predictor of future success in college or in life.
So, to the earlier point…can we please move on.
No, no moving on and excusing blatant lies and misrepresentations- for 10 years. This was not some mistake, it was clearly an intentional policy, but GW insists on calling this a mistake. I have a serious problem with an academic institution being so dishonest. Once again, heads need to roll-no moving on until that happens.
Blah blah blah this is the fourth or fifth article about the same thing and absolutely zero new information is in it. Why are we wasting column inches on reporting absolutely nothing?
Because someone at the Hatchet was waitlisted and has some sort of vendetta.
In the end you’re still going to graduate and get a job (or not, but not because GW screwed up, because no one really cares…I say that as a senior with a job offer. It wasn’t withdrawn because of this, and no one else I know is having that problem….because no one cares.)
No one is denying that GW should be holding someone accountable and whatever, but seriously,life will continue and GW will be ranked next year and the world so far has not ended. It’s like people expect a sinkhole to swallow GW and then no one will believe you went to college and you won’t get a job.
Let me reiterate something I’ve already said….if rankings mattered so much when you were applying/in general, you should have set your sights higher than number 51.
The info posted on the career center site is misleading. As with all other institutions of higher ed, the employment data is inflated due to self selection of who responds to the surveys (if you’re unemployed you are less likely to respond, etc.)It only has a 36% response rate and doesn’t even include salary.
So then what exactly is your solution? And why does this have anything to do with the Admissions Dean?
My solution is what for many years was pretty standard and expected of officials in positions of responsibility: if dishonesty and malfeasance occurs on their watch (especially with their knowledge and participation) they resign their posts–immediately. As in now.
No no no nono you listen to me!
If I don’t get a 50,000 unit presale on this video my ass is wheat grass!