A Conflict on Integrity Surfaces

After a lengthy back-and-forth with math faculty, Kimmel ended one e-mail by saying: "I ask you to pass these students." Two faculty sources, who declined to be identified for fear of reprisals, said that professors later changed grades because they felt pressured by the request.

Kimmel said she was obliged to investigate whether the test requirement was fair. "I would never say 'pass this student,' " she said in an interview. She later said she had been unable to recall the wording of her e-mail. Faculty members, she said, were not coerced by it.

Any grade changes or readmissions were rare and addressed specific student needs, said Fernandes, who was university provost at the time.

In one case, Fernandes intervened when a student failed an internship after walking off the job at mid-semester, faculty sources said. The failure put the student at risk for dismissal. When the student appealed and a member of Congress inquired on his behalf, Fernandes agreed to give him another internship on campus, she confirmed, but said she did so only because a faculty member agreed to closely monitor him.

In another case, a student who had been suspended after failing classes asked to be readmitted. According to faculty sources, the student had had multiple chances to turn things around, but kept cutting classes and did not do the work or attend summer school.

Fernandes said she allowed the student to be readmitted because, once again, a faculty member offered to supervise. In both cases, the students succeeded, she said.

The issue of bending admissions standards came up with the 6-foot-4 basketball player son of Debra Drymalski. He applied to Gallaudet last May but was rejected because of his low English and reading scores. Yet, he received repeated calls from the university's athletics director, James DeStefano, who told her son he could be retested.

"I thought, what kind of college does that? You apply. You get in or you don't and that's that. It just didn't feel right," said Drymalski, of Darien, Wis., who has taught deaf students for 28 years. "This wasn't the right fit for him. He would have struggled and, honestly, I think he would have failed." Her son is attending a technical school and still has trouble in some courses. "I really had to push back," she said, because DeStefano "was very persistent."

DeStefano said his contacts were a genuine attempt to help a student who was "pestering" him about getting into the school. A high school counselor had told DeStefano the student would succeed if given a chance. It is "my job" to advocate for students, DeStefano said. He dropped the matter "once the mother told me to back off."

Last spring, DeStefano confirmed, he sought a grade change for a basketball player who had dropped below the 2.0 grade-point average needed to maintain his eligibility. DeStefano said he asked the faculty member if there was any work the student could do to raise his 1.9 to the 2.0.

DeStefano said the faculty member agreed, the player did some work and the grade was changed.

"I'd say it was fairly common" to ask teachers what students could do to raise a final grade," DeStefano said. "I'm not saying frequently, but it is not uncommon."