The Farahi Syndrome

EDITORIAL

Dawood Farahi. By now we would hope most residents of Union County, as well as all of your senators, assemblymen and local representatives, are well aware of this man. He has been the president of Kean University since 2003, earned $293,000 a year in that time, and helped increase the school’s debt from $48 million to over $350 million. In addition, he has been under continuous fire for allegedly falsifying his credentials. But we would like to make sure that everyone understands the bigger, and likely more widespread problem.

Last week, we published an article detailing the many resumes Farahi has used since 1982. And, if nothing else, they show an utter lack of organization and a complete inattention to details. Dates, titles, places, and years don’t match anywhere. On paper, Farahi does not appear to even know when he earned his masters degree, or where he was when it happened. Perhaps he’s not even aware that Kean owes $357 million, or that the student-to-teacher ratio is horrendous. Maybe he’s not aware that the faculty has been shrinking, the student population has been growing, and the graduation rate has been dismal. After all, he doesn’t seem to correctly recall anything else that happened in his life.

But last week, Farahi did at least acknowledge the errors in an interview with the Star-Ledger, but he failed to accept blame for documents tracing his own personal life. “I did not create the data sheet,” Farahi said in the article, blaming staff members for the errors.

But Farahi is just one person. He is just the current front man that gives a name to the problem. He is the local face of what has become a systemic failure in the governance of state higher education. The Farahi syndrome is likely widespread, and opens every state college and university to its symptoms: abuse and political patronage.

The Board of Trustees at Kean University, headed by current chair Ada Morell, is responsible for the hiring, and any potential firing, of Farahi. The board is also empowered to increase the school’s debt. But they are in no way required to punish Farahi for allegedly lying. They could simply wag a finger and say, “Bad job!” to their  president, and nobody can stop them. There is no law in place requiring them to take action. In fact, at this point, we are almost expecting them to do nothing. And if they were to fire Farahi, his contract stipulates that he would receive one year’s salary as compensation. But at least he would lose the $12,000 he gets yearly toward a car and gas. If the allegations against Farahi by the Kean Federation of Teachers prove to be true, the board should take legal action to recoup money Farahi received under false pretenses, or fraud. But again, they are in no way required to, and no one expects they will.

And while the board of trustees is a large part of the problem at Kean, again, it is only a small piece of what is an entire statewide problem.

In June 1994, the Higher Education Restructuring Act signed into law by Republican Gov. Christine Todd Whitman  took away the New Jersey Department of Higher Education and replaced it with a more informal structure.  Under the looser and less structured Commission of Higher Education, all authority was given to individual autonomous boards of trustees. Before this, the state carefully watched who was hired as president and how debt accrued at state institutions.

The board of trustees of any state school is appointed by the governor, but is voted on by the state Senate. And with the senate’s consent needed for anyone to be appointed, senators like Raymond Lesniak, who represents Union, can essentially choose, through a process of delaying a vote, any appointee to the Kean board of trustees. And under the current laws, he can use them to curry favor as he sees fit, with no repercussions. It’s perfectly legal. It’s also perfectly legal for former Gov. James McGreevey to teach an ethics course to increase his pension payments from the state, and for Lesniak’s sister to work at the school in what has been described by sources as a “no show” position. His sister, Margaret Devanney, is the mother of former Union County Manager George Devanney, whose ex-wife, Audrey Kelly, has been paid $129,000 a year to be the Kean Board of Trustees executive assistant since 2004.

Is any of this, including his run as governor, discussed in McGreevey’s ethics class?

Probably not. But consider this. In October 2007, a State  Commission of Investigation 189 page report, “Vulnerable to Abuse: The Importance of Restoring Accountability, Transparency and Oversight to Public Higher Education Governance,” laid wide open what has transpired since the Higher Education Restructuring Act was signed by Gov. Whitman.

“In recent years politics and political players, including lobbyists, have become increasingly involved in the appointment of public college and university boards of trustees, and by extension, the administration of these institutions,” the report notes.

We are not only afraid that Kean is no longer run by people who care about the students. We feel confident that the numbers already show it.

The 156-year-old school has 16,000 students. Between 2006 and 2010 the student body reportedly grew by 46 percent. The College of New Jersey, Montclair State University, Rowan University, Ramapo College, and New Jersey City University, have a student to full-time faculty ratio of anywhere from 20 to 1 to 35 to 1, Kean’s average is 49 to 1.

According to the U.S. Department of Education in 2008,   just 16 percent of the students attending Kean University as  their first college graduated in four years, and only 45 percent graduated in six. The numbers do not take into account drop outs, transfers, switching majors or working and delaying graduation, but still are very telling. Ramapo, for instance, graduates 53 percent in four years and 70 percent in six years. Rowan University graduates 43 percent and 65 percent in four and six years, respectively.

In September, Gov. Christie came to Union to discuss ethics on Lesniak’s home turf. We would like to think that was no coincidence. But like the saying goes, talk is cheap.  The mounting debt and cost of tuition at Kean is not.

Finding a politician and a university president that actual care about the students would be priceless.