IHE: Scandals in the Ivory Tower (Opinion)

[Wahoo Redux]

IHE: Scandals in the Ivory Tower

Lower Deck:

Corruption, fraud, academic misconduct, aren't isolated occurrences in colleges and universities. They're products of misdirected academic structures, incentives, and cultures.

The financial costs of scandal can be extraordinary – at least $237 million at Penn State, $490 million at the University of Michigan, $500 million at Michigan State, $700 million at UCLA, $852 million at USC.  But at least as damaging are the invisible costs in terms of campus morale, reputation, bad press, and lives harmed.

Nor do the scandals' repercussions quickly end.  Colleges and universities must respond by implementing new prevention programs, training procedures, and systems of bureaucratic oversight, reporting, and enforcement at great expense.  These responses, in turn, tend to make campus cultures more adversarial and inquisitorial and administratively top-heavy.

[Ruralguy]

People tend to think of themselves as fairly invincible after a while. I think most probably realized that Coach or Dr. so-and-so really is engaging in something highly questionable, but its the old "we're winning, so why question it?" mentality.
The admissions scandal seemed to be so out in the open that I am surprised anything went on as long as it did. I guess, again, people were thinking that it was shady, but it "worked", so only really seriously questioned it when it blew up in the face of a B-list actress.