Kean University president survives a crucible of controversies

By Kelly Heyboer and Ted Sherman/The Star-Ledger

UNION TOWNSHIP — Kean University has spent much of the past year dogged by controversy.

Yet its veteran president, Dawood Farahi, has not only weathered the storms, but gotten the strong backing of his board of trustees.

Last April, for example, all 13 of the university’s NCAA Division III athletic teams were put on probation for four years after disclosures that academic classes were invented and grades were fudged to benefit basketball players.

Three months later, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Kean’s accrediting agency, put the school on probation for numerous violations of academic and ethical rules. If Kean failed to make changes, it could have lost its accreditation and been forced to shut down.

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