Whistleblower Claims Rutgers Created Fake Jobs For Graduates To Goose Business School Ranking

Following up on yesterday's post, Do The ‘U.S. News’ Rankings Rely On Dubious Data?:  Chronicle of Higher Education, Rutgers B-School Faked Jobs for Graduates to Inflate Its Rankings, Lawsuit Says:

Rutgers University’s Business School inflated its rankings by creating fake jobs for its graduates, according to an accusation leveled in a whistle-blower lawsuit filed on Friday.

Deidre White, the business school’s human-resources manager, claims in her lawsuit that the university created bogus jobs to show that the school’s graduates had no trouble finding employment. But after she exposed the purported scheme and refused to comply with it, White asserts, she faced illegal harassment, discrimination, and retaliation.

The lawsuit charges that administrators at the business school used a temp agency called Adecco Employment Services Inc. to hire graduating M.B.A. students who had yet to land a job and place them in fictitious positions at the university. This created a false impression that “postgraduation employment is virtually guaranteed,” the lawsuit says.

Rutgers News, University Responds to Lawsuit Against Rutgers Business School:

As a matter of university policy, we are unable to comment on the specifics of litigation. We will say without equivocation, however, that we take seriously our obligation to accurately report data and other information to ranking and reporting agencies. We are confident in our process and procedures to accurately report to rankings publications.

• Law360, Rutgers Accused Of Inflating MBA Job Data To Woo Enrollees
• NJ.com, Rutgers Created Fake Jobs For Graduates to Boost MBA Program Rankings, Lawsuit Charges
• Poets & Quants, Another MBA Rankings Scandal? Or A Disgruntled Staffer’s Airing Of Dirty Laundry?