Farahi's fate hangs in the balance

Kean trustees to decide president's future with school early next week

By Cheryl Hehl, Staff Writer

Dawood Farahi’s position as university president hangs in the balance until early next week when the Kean Board of Trustees goes back into deliberation to decide whether he stays or goes.

According to a reliable source close to the board of trustees, members are divided on the issue of whether the information brought forth by the Kean Federation of Teachers in November that Farahi, who has held the position since 2003, lied about his academic credentials.

Whether this is reason enough to remove the university president from the position he has held since 2003 and pays him $293,000 a year will depend on many factors, the source close to the board said. This includes whether Kean University’s reputation has been damaged by the publicity and if the information about Farahi’s credentials is proven to be true.

Although the board initially went into closed session to deliberate, they returned to hear comments from the public. And while several people did speak emotionally on behalf of Farahi, both were former faculty members that Farahi made executive administrators and increased their salaries considerably.

The board then went back into closed session for three hours.

Late Thursday night the Kean Hall meeting room was standing room only as faculty, students and the media waited to hear what the board of trustees decided.

Farahi spent the night smokingcigarettes outside Kean Hall. He did not attend the board of trustees deliberation. 

When the board came out of closed session well after 10 p.m., Board President Ada Morell announced that after taking into consideration all the information the KFT provided and the investigation by their own independent law firm, “we still need additional time to deliberate, which we will do early next week.”