Iona Takes Steps to Ensure Accurate Data Is Collected, Reported

In an open letter to students, faculty and staff and the community, said it was dealing with the recent discovery of longstanding inaccurate student performance data as transparently as possible.

"We believe that the character of Iona College will be measured in how we handle this matter moving forward," said a letter co-signed by Board of Legal Trustees Chairman James Hynes and President Joseph Nyre. "Therefore, the College has adopted a position of transparency and taken steps to ensure that such discrepancies cannot occur again."

An independent audit of student data during a 10-year period beginning in 2002 found inaccurate data reported to external agencies in 10 categories:

• Freshman acceptances
• Acceptance rate
• Yield rate
• Mean and percentile rank SAT scores
• Student-faculty ratio
• Freshman retention rate
• Four-year graduation rate
• Five-year graduation rate
• Six-year graduation rate
• Alumni who give annually

When asked whether the data was improperly collected and/or badly manipulated or there was an effort to be intentionally misleading, Dawn Insanalli, the spokeswoman for Iona, had the following statement:

"The administration believes the current infrastructure was insufficient to support the collection and interpretation of student performance-related data. The intentionality of overstatement is a matter of interpretation, of which Iona is not able to definitively determine."

After the inaccurate data was discovered, Provost Warren Rosenberg was suspended and subsequently resigned. Brian Nickerson, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, was appointed interim provost.

The agencies that received the inaccurate data included the National Center for Education Statistics (U.S. Department of Education), state Department of Education, state Dormitory Authority, Standard and Poors, Moody's, National Collegiate Athletic Association and U.S. News and World Report.

In order to ensure accurate data is reported in the future, Iona established the Integrity in Reporting Committee, made up of administrative staff leaders and faculty. The committee developed policies and guidelines on collecting, reporting and using data to make sure it's accurate and reliable.

In addition, the Board of Trustees and Alumni Board of Directors passed resolutions supporting full disclosure, self-reporting and transparency.

The audit recommended the college establish a formal Office of Institutional Research, with a full-time director in charge. The office would be responsible for approving reporting methodologies as well as approving personnel charged with collection and reporting.

Also recommended were codifying policies and guidelines for collection, reporting and using data, and increasing the staff to do so.