Audit: UT Arlington officials violated Texas administrative code with online program
Update: Karbhari announced he would step down immediately Thursday evening, according to UT System Chancellor James Milliken. See story here.
UT Arlington senior officials used a “Direct Admit” program for online classes to grow enrollment, violating UT System and state codes, according to a 2019 audit. The audit also alleged that UT Arlington President Vistasp Karbahri allowed the staff of the third-party vendor that operated the online course program, which was paid $178 million, to provide input on the admissions policies and be involved in what was described as “less than an arm’s-length manner.”
The audit alleges UTA officials violated the chapter of the Texas Administrative Code that sets standards and criteria for distance education programs. They also violated UT System rules regarding conflicts of interests and administration procedures, according to the audit.
The UT System released the report late Thursday afternoon to the Star-Telegram and other media outlets that had requested the information under the Texas Public Information Act.
In a letter to the chief audit executive of the UT System, Karbhari denied all of the allegations raised in the audit, and countered with a 62-page report. “We hoped to provide a short response,” he wrote, “but the investigation report is so flawed due to a lack of evidence, insufficient fact gathering, use of factually inaccurate data and mischaracterizations that it is impossible to give it any credence and should be rejected outright.”
The “direct admit” program allowed transfer students to enroll in online nursing classes without the university immediately verifying their academic credentials. The report, conducted by the third-party firm Protiviti in conjunction with the UT System, alleges that “direct admit” was enacted without consultation from UT Arlington legal counsel or approval from the UT System Board of Regents.
“Moreover, it was done in spite of repeated oral and written reservations and concerns raised by admissions officers and other senior officials at the University,” the audit stated. “Their concerns were put aside and, as a result, the Direct Admit program may have exposed UTA and UTS to potential legal liability.”
Since 2013, when Karbhari took over as president, UT Arlington’s full-time enrollment has swelled from 33,000 to nearly 50,000 students, according to Department of Education statistics. Its online offerings have grown at an even greater rate. As of fall 2017, according to System records, UT Arlington offered 625 online courses, up from 232 in 2013, and it had nearly 20,000 students enrolled in online courses, up from 10,000 in 2013. Some 50% of students took at least one online course. A press release from UT Arlington in fall 2016 touted UT Arlington’s growth, noting that it could become “potentially the largest campus in the University of Texas System.” Fall 2018 enrollment numbers from the Department of Education, the most recent year available, indicate UT Arlington is smaller than UT Austin.
In an interview the auditors conducted with Karbhari, he said Direct Admit had been created to let transfer students begin coursework before their educational credentials had been reviewed so that UT Arlington would not lose out on the best students. “So, the process is to take a student who is qualified and get them in quicker,” Karbhari said, according to the audit. He told the auditors it was not necessary to seek input from UT Arlington counsel because they were following online admission standards set by the university.
But according to the audit, the online enrollment standards for Direct Admit differed from the university’s on-campus enrollment standards, violating a portion of the Texas Administrative Code. That section of the code states, “Institutions shall require that students (except for students in out-of-country programs)enrolled in a distance education degree program satisfy the same requirements for admission to the institution and the program as required of regular on-campus students. Students in degree programs to be offered collaboratively shall meet the admission standards of their home institution.”
According to the audit, the third-party vendor was paid $178 million over a five-year period by UT Arlington, and Karbhari solicited donations for UTA from the vendor and the vendor’s chairman (the audit claimed the vendor and its chairman and its former CEO donated over $1 million). Karbhari also went on two international trips with the vendor’s executives, according to the audit.
Karbhari resigned this month, effective in late August. Multiple staff and faculty have told the Star-Telegram that he created a culture of bullying and retaliation, and a fired vice president filed a lawsuit against him in February.
A UT Arlington spokesman did not immediately respond to an interview request.
This story was originally published March 19, 2020 at 6:30 PM.