January 30, 2012
Members of the Claremont McKenna College Community,
I am writing to inform you about an important matter related to the accuracy of the Office of Admission's reporting of admission data.
Earlier this month, I received information from within the College that the Office of Admission had reported inaccurate SAT statistics for the fall 2011 entering class. Upon receiving this information, I asked Jerome Garris, Vice President and Dean Emeritus, to conduct a review of this issue in coordination with the Office of Institutional Research. During Dean Garris' review of this matter, a senior administrator in the Office of Admission disclosed that he had been solely responsible for falsely reporting SAT statistics since 2005.
Although the degree of inaccuracies varied over time, we understand that the reported critical reading and/or math SAT scores were generally inflated by an average of 10-20 points each. For the fall 2010 class, which is the most recent year that has been reported generally to the public, the individual reported a combined median of 1,410 when the actual should have been 1,400, and reported a 75th percentile score of 1,510 when the actual should have been 1,480. It is also important to note that, while overall statistics were manipulated, we do not have reason to believe any student's individual score was altered.
As an institution of higher education with a deep and consistent commitment to the integrity of all our academic activities, and particularly our reporting of institutional data, we take this situation very seriously. I have therefore initiated a series of actions to respond to this matter. First, the individual has taken full responsibility and has resigned his position from the College effective immediately. At this time, we have no reason to believe that other individuals were involved. If we learn otherwise, we will take prompt and appropriate action.
Second, we have engaged outside legal counsel from O'Melveny & Myers to complete an independent review of our admission-related data processes. In addition, we are contacting and cooperating with external groups that may have received erroneous information to provide corrected data. Finally, we are reviewing our internal data gathering and reporting processes and will strengthen them to ensure that this type of conduct will not occur in the future.
While I am sorry to report this to you, I remain deeply committed to ensuring that Claremont McKenna will respond to this matter in a manner that is accurate, honest, and that will reflect the longstanding integrity of our great college.
Sincerely,
Pamela B. Gann, President
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Scripps College's sixth annual Elizabeth Hubert Malott Public Affairs Program presents "An Evening with Ben Stein--Author, Lecturer, and Actor" at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 9.