Union County LocalSource
Dawood Farahi. By now we would hope most residents of Union County, as well as all of your senators, assemblymen and local representatives, are well aware of this man. He has been the president of Kean University since 2003, earned $293,000 a year in that time, and helped increase the school’s debt from $48 million to over $350 million. In addition, he has been under continuous fire for allegedly falsifying his credentials. But we would like to make sure that everyone understands the bigger, and likely more widespread problem.
Last week, we published an article detailing the many resumes Farahi has used since 1982. And, if nothing else, they show an utter lack of organization and a complete inattention to details. Dates, titles, places, and years don’t match anywhere. On paper, Farahi does not appear to even know when he earned his masters degree, or where he was when it happened. Perhaps he’s not even aware that Kean owes $357 million, or that the student-to-teacher ratio is horrendous. Maybe he’s not aware that the faculty has been shrinking, the student population has been growing, and the graduation rate has been dismal. After all, he doesn’t seem to correctly recall anything else that happened in his life.
But last week, Farahi did at least acknowledge the errors in an interview with the Star-Ledger, but he failed to accept blame for documents tracing his own personal life. “I did not create the data sheet,” Farahi said in the article, blaming staff members for the errors.
But Farahi is just one person. He is just the current front man that gives a name to the problem. He is the local face of what has become a systemic failure in the governance of state higher education. The Farahi syndrome is likely widespread, and opens every state college and university to its symptoms: abuse and political patronage.
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