U.S. District Court Dismisses Whistleblower's Claim That Rutgers Created Fake Jobs For Graduates To Raise Business School Ranking

Following up on my previous post, Whistleblower Claims Rutgers Created Fake Jobs For Graduates To Goose Business School Ranking:  Law360,  Rutgers Beats Suit Over Inflated MBA Job Data, For Now:

Rutgers University defeated, for now, a proposed class action by a part-time Master of Business Administration student accusing it of inflating its business school's rankings by misrepresenting post-graduate employment statistics, after a New Jersey federal judge found the plaintiff based his claims on a program he wasn't enrolled in.

In a 16-page order issued Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Georgette Castner dismissed, without prejudice, Lorenzo Budet's proposed class action against Rutgers Business School and Rutgers University, accusing the university system of inflating its rankings in publications like U.S. News & World Report by hiring MBA graduate students for "token permanent positions" through a temp agency called Adecco. ...

Rutgers moved to toss the suit, contending Budet lacked standing since he was enrolled in the part-time program, but his claims expressly relate to the school's alleged manipulation of hiring data related to its full-time MBA program. Rutgers argued that the part-time and full-time programs are subject to different Career Services & Employer Alliance reporting standards.

On Wednesday, Judge Castner sided with Rutgers, finding Budet didn't suffer a constitutionally sufficient, particularized injury to confer Article III standing since his complaint has no allegations indicating Rutgers falsified part-time MBA hiring statistics for the supply chain management program Budet was enrolled in. 

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• Whistleblower Claims Rutgers Created Fake Jobs For Graduates To Goose Business School Ranking (Apr. 14, 2022)
• Rutgers Seeks Dismissal Of Lawsuit Claiming Business School Created Fake Jobs For Graduates To Goose Ranking (Aug. 17, 2022)