The lying king of Kean

Teacher's union alleges school president falsified credentials

By Cheryl Hehl, Staff Writer

Kean University President Dawood Farahi allegedly falsified his academic credentials in a series of deliberate misrepresentations prior to being hired in 2003, according to a recent letter sent to the Kean University Board of Trustees.

The Kean Federation of Teachers, which is calling for an independent investigation by the university board of trustees, supplied the information in a letter dated Nov. 29 to the board president, a copy of which LocalSource obtained.

According to James Castiglione,  president of the Kean Federation of Teachers, a source close to the board of trustees indicated they preferred conducting an in-house investigation before this information became public. However, there has been no confirmation the board immediately launched an investigation or how they plan to address the latest controversy involving the president of this state university.

Farahi, who recently received an 83 percent vote of no confidence by the teacher’s union, now comes under fire by the federation after extensive academic searches proved none of the 50 technical articles he claimed in his credentials were accepted for publication.

“In all cases, not a single claim of publication made by President Farahi has been verified,” the letter stated.

In addition, the letter goes on to say that multiple journals, societies and publishing houses Farahi previously claimed had published or presented his manuscripts do not appear to exist.

In various resumes over the years, according to the letter, the university president also claimed he served as Acting Academic Dean at Avila college, but no evidence of his claim could be found.

The federation points out that a number of individuals conducted detailed academic searches of the scholarly literature and found nothing attributable to Farahi.

“These searches have been conducted using academia’s most powerful and sophisticated search engines by faculty and librarians at several institutions, both public and private, both inside and outside the state of New Jersey,” Castiglione said in the letter to board of trustee member Jay Anderson.

“False claims of academic achievements,” he added, “on official documents seriously jeopardize the academic integrity, the reputation and accreditation of Kean University.”

Farahi, who earns $293,000 annually, was hand picked by Democrat Sen. Ray Lesniak, according to the federation, and appointed as president of Kean University in 2003, prior to which he worked as an information computer system consultant for Union County and various municipalities in the county.

His tenure has been marked by strong criticism from the federation of teachers because of the president’s “unholy alliance” with Lesniak, sources have said. In addition, The Chronicle of Higher Education, a Washington D.C.- based publication, reported in November of 2010 that the Federation alleged Farahi “paid off the head of the search committee that selected him with a position in administration.”

The federation also alleged in the past that in return for appointing trustees to the board that were friendly to him, Farahi put Lesniak’s relatives in high paying jobs.

In November an investigation by LocalSource revealed Lesniak got his sister Margaret Devanney a no-show job at Kean for $86,800 a year and also Audrey Kelly, the ex-wife of his nephew, George Devanney, the former Union county manager who resigned abruptly Aug. 1.

Kelly, an employee of the university since 1998, earns $129,000 a year as executive assistant of Kean’s Board of Trustees, a position she was appointed to in 2004, a year after Farahi became president. 

The federation has been asking for the state to do an impartial investigation of fiscal practices at Kean for several years based on the Farahi administration’s unchecked spending. Also of concern is that the university’s budget increased from $140 million to $210 million under Farahi, while debt increased from $48 million to $350 million in just six years.

Castiglione reminded the board in his letter that New Jersey law empowers the board to “exercise the powers, rights and privileges that are incident to the proper government, conduct and management of the college.” He further stressed that trustees have a fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of the university, not Farahi.

Bringing his point even closer to home, Castiglione brought up the fate of what happened to other university presidents who falsified their credentials and eventually were caught.

In September, Carlos Hernandez, President of New Jersey City University, resigned because it was discovered he falsified his resume, claiming for decades he had a Master’s Degree when he did not.

In 1990 Joseph Olander resigned as president of Evergreen State College in Washington after  it was discovered he faked credentials on resumes submitted to Evergreen and a previous institution he worked for, the University of Texas at El Paso.

More recently, Henry Zimon abruptly resigned mid-year from Albright College in Pennsylvania after outside consultants were brought in for its ten-year accreditation review by Middle States.

The federation president also pointed out to the board trustee president that “given President Farahi’s dismal record on accreditation issues, including a warning from Middle States, the rejections of accreditation and other mounting scandals, the university cannot afford another scandal undermining institutional integrity.”

Farahi did not respond to multiple requests for comment.