By Cheryl Hehl, Staff Writer

UNION COUNTY — Kean University abruptly canceled 500 classes, and then reinstated 130, leaving students and professors scrambling to figure out what to do before the term begins next week.

The class cancellations are not only an 11th-hour hitch that complicates the spring semester, but also could result in some Kean students not being able to graduate on time.

But while some speculated the move could be the result of low enrollment numbers, others maintained the massive cancellations were merely the result of poor management on the part of the university.

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By Sergio Bichao

PISCATAWAY — Robin K. Bagley was a model student at Kean University.

A perfect 4.0 grade-point average; a full scholarship to the school’s demanding New Jersey Center for Science, Technology and Mathematics; valedictorian of the Class of 2010; and a top graduate of the master’s degree program a year later.

But the 24-year-old local resident recently learned that all that means nothing in the face of an important truth: A contract is a contract.

The lesson came in the mail last month in the form of nine semesters’ worth of past tuition bills totaling nearly $25,000 — all due immediately.

A couple of years after graduating with top honors, the Union County-based research university revoked Bagley’s scholarship.

When Bagley accepted the scholarship for the accelerated five-year program in her sophomore year, she agreed to eventually get a job teaching at a New Jersey public high school for at least three years.

Fail to keep up grades or get that teaching job within five months, and that scholarship becomes a loan. So says a copy of a sample contract provided to the Courier News, a sister entity of DailyRecord.com, by a university spokesman on Wednesday.

But while Bagley kept up her scores, last year she accepted an offer from the University of Kentucky to enroll in its doctoral program.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. They said, ‘Come out and we will pay you to come here and get a doctorate,’ ” her mother, Jill Bagley, said about the Kentucky offer.

School officials, however, didn’t want to give any leeway — but never gave her a definitive “no,” either, Jill Bagley said.

In a statement, university spokesman Matthew Caruso said Kean created the program “specifically to help address the shortage of qualified science and mathematics teachers in New Jersey, and across the nation.”

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By Brian Konchalski

The Board of Trustees, on September 17, voted to extend Dawood Farahi’s, President of Kean University, contract with the university for another five years.

The board voted unanimously on the resolution, 10-0, extending Farahi’s contract until 2018 at his current salary of $293,550 a year, according to numbers obtained by The Star-Ledger. He is still eligible for a $200,000 retention bonus at the end of his current contract, which expires July 1, 2013.

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By Lee Burrell

Our dear leader has been re-elected! Well kind of; the Board of Trustees, in their infinite wisdom, has deemed it fitting that President Dawood Farahi should stay here to continue his fine work by extending his contract as president for five more years.

But what did you expect? Change? Leave that to Obama and accept your fate Kean. After allowing the university to slip down the quality slide far enough that Middle-States launched an investigation, a resume scandal and a sizable disprovable from the faculty large enough for the Kean Federation of Teachers to ask him to leave, Dawood Farahi is staying.

These problems come up but our man Dawood beats them down like Rocky. So besides the majority of the professors wanting you to leave and breaking the academic integrity policy of your own school, what the hell does a guy have to do to get fired around here?

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By Alexandria Addesso

The Kean Federation of Teachers discussed the updated status of Middle States and the possible outcomes of Kean University losing accreditation at their welcome back meeting on Sept. 10 in the Little Theater.

“Kean is in crisis. That is a fact.” said James Castiglione, president of the Kean University teachers’ union.

According to the KFT report on the meeting on Aug. 2, President Farahi had agreed that the KFT and his administration needed to work together on such issues as accreditation. The report of the meeting with Farahi also brought up the discussion of Kean’s low enrollment.

When asked by Castiglione if the accreditation issue could be affecting enrollment at Kean, President Farahi replied,” It’s a logical explanation; it could be the economy, scheduling reasons, but to think that accreditation status does not have effect on enrollment is faulty.”

During a question and answer section of the meeting a professor asked how she should respond to the constant questions from her students about accreditation and what would happen to students if accreditation was lost.

Castiglione recommended being truthful with students and that Kean has been given a two-year probationary status from June 2011, when the initial infraction was committed.

In the case of Kean University losing its accreditation, Castiglione said the school could close or more likely, “Merge with Rutgers-Newark, Montclair or maybe become a branch of Ocean County College.”

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Follow-up inspection receives positive response from Middle States committee, Larson says

By Karen Wall

Kean University has passed “a significant hurdle” in its bid to be reaccredited, Ocean County College President Jon H. Larson told the OCC Board of Trustees on Monday.

“It isn’t done until it’s done,” he told the trustees, “but they are on a positive track.”

Kean, which is partnering with Ocean County College on a program called Kean@Ocean that will allow students to complete a bachelor’s or a master’s program while taking all of their courses at OCC’s Toms River campus, was put on probationary accreditation status this summer by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education for failing to meet four of the commission’s 14 standards.

Kean, which began undergoing its most recent accreditation review last year, was put on probation in June when, according to Middle States officials, the university had failed to address adequately a list of issues the accreditation inspection team had listed.

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By Mark Di Ionno/Star-Ledger Columnist

Kean University president Dawood Farahi got a five-year extension from the school’s board of trustees, surviving several controversies including a near-miss with the group that does college accrediting.

Patti Sapone/The Star-Ledger Kean University can start to move forward after awarding President Dawood Farahi a five-year contract extension.

Farahi is brusque and may rub some people the wrong way. But his passion and ambition for the university can not be questioned. The physical improvements to the campus over his tenure, including to athletic facilities, are remarkable. He started a successful student-run tutoring center, providing jobs for some very bright kids, and giving others a better chance to succeed.

His acquisition of the Kean family’s Liberty Hall, and willingness to make the university caretaker of its vast archives, puts Kean in an extraordinary position to be a research center for American history, from the Revolution on. This is the Dawood Farahi I know.

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