A former dean who led Emory University’s admissions department during a time when the college misreported student data to national ranking groups took some responsibility Monday for the faulty information.
“I have to take responsibility even though some of the data was delegated to others,” Dan Walls said during an exclusive interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It happened under my deanship.”
Walls was Emory’s dean of admissions from 1983 to 2007 and was associate vice president of enrollment management from 2007 to 2010.
Jean Jordan followed Walls as admissions dean, filling that role from 2007 to 2011. Jordan did not return phone calls and a man who answered the door at her home Monday declined to comment.
Since at least 2000, Emory overstated SAT and ACT scores by reporting marks for admitted students instead of those enrolled, President Jim Wagner said last week. This inflated Emory’s scores because admitted students have higher averages. Wagner and other officials described the deception as intentional and systemic.
Emory officials said those involved in the data deception no longer work at the college. They declined to name them, citing personnel matters. Wagner said two former admissions deans and leadership of its institutional research office were aware of the faulty data.
Walls said the department historically compiled SAT and ACT data for admitted students. However some ranking publications compile their lists using figures for enrolled students.
“The correct information was not submitted and it should have been,” Walls said.
The incorrect data was reported to third parties and was used by those who rank colleges. U.S. News & World Report said Friday that the faulty data would not have affected the school’s current No. 20 ranking and would likely have had a “small to negligible effect” in the years prior. Emory has been a top 20 school for 19 years. New rankings are expected as soon as next month.
Walls cited the U.S. News comments to dispute the idea that the faulty data was an attempt to boost the college’s standing.
Walls said he spoke with Emory investigators about the situation.
The internal investigation was triggered in May after John Latting, the new dean of admissions, noticed the data discrepancy and reported it to the provost. Emory’s general counsel conducted a three-month investigation and brought in the law firm Jones Day to assist.
The investigation found the college overstated students’ class rankings. And Emory “may have” excluded the scores of the bottom 10 percent of students when reporting SAT/ACT scores, GPAs and other information, officials said. This practice was not done after 2004, officials said.
The review was unable to determine how long the college had been reporting the incorrect numbers or why it started. The report found no involvement by other deans, the provost or Wagner, who has been president since 2003.
After leaving Emory, Walls became the senior associate director of college counseling at Pace Academy, a prominent Atlanta private school. He resigned from that position over the weekend.
“It was a mutual decision that it would be best if I not continue there,” Walls said.
Pace officials declined to comment, citing a policy to not comment on personnel issues.
After leaving Emory, Jordan served as the director of Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School’s college counseling, another well-known Atlanta private school.
Jordan resigned over the weekend and wrote in her resignation letter that she was leaving “to pursue another endeavor,” Headmaster Eugene Bratek told the AJC.
Bratek said three officials reviewed Holy Innocents’ student data over the weekend as a precaution and found no problems.
Emory is just the latest college to face a scandal over altered data. An administrator resigned from Claremont McKenna College in California earlier this year after admitting he falsified the school’s admissions data for years.
Staff writer Craig Schneider contributed to this article.
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