Is There More To The Dickinson State University Fake Enrollment Story?
The North Dakota University System just can’t catch a break these days.
We just barely got over the situation with North Dakota State University’s President Dean Bresciani all-but blackmailing the State Board of Higher Education; then levying exorbitant tuition increases when the legislature didn’t give him the spending he wanted. Of course, nobody resigned or got fired in that situation.
Now we move across the state to Dickinson State University where, yesterday, DSU President Dr. Richard McCallum was asked to resign by Chancellor Bill Goetz of the North Dakota University System.
Why?
Because he was directing his staff to falsify enrollment reports to the state and federal government.
From the Dickinson Press:
“Dickinson State University President Dr. Richard McCallum was asked to resign by the North Dakota University System in light of a review released Thursday showing about 180 students were enrolled at DSU last fall without their consent.
The issue of overstated enrollment arose while the National Survey of Student Engagement, an outside company which conducts surveys of campuses nationwide, was surveying DSU.
Several survey recipients contacted NSSE saying they were not DSU students, according to the report.
However, they had attended local conferences and training symposiums affiliated with DSU but were not students, according to the report.”
It’s difficult enough to get accurate reporting out of the University System, now we have to deal with outright fraud?
If ever there was any question that North Dakota’s universities were chasing higher enrollment for the sake of high enrollment, this situation answers that question.
The timing of this development is interesting. There has been a lot of chatter coming out of Dickinson with regard to McCallum’s management and treatment of staff members.
As the story continues, it hints that there may be more going on than just enrollment fraud:
“The current leadership has created a campus culture that is divided, one of distrust, disrespect and staff being pressured to engage in unethical, suspect or wasteful activities to meet demands,” the report shows.
Actually, it’s more than a hint, stay tuned for more next week on the “suspect and wasteful activities…
Dustin Gawrylow is the director of the North Dakota Taxpayer’s Association.
Tags: dickinson state university, higher education, North Dakota News
