Case In Point: Lessons for the proactive manager

Volume 16 Number 06 | June 2024

Quotable .....

“ You have to think a little smarter, be proactive, not reactive. ”

-- Frank Abagnale

Last month we completed our detailed review of each of the categories from 2023. This month I want to look back once more at the top issues from every category to help us think about the last half of 2024. Summer is a great time to prepare for the coming academic year.

These are the top issues along with one quick suggestion to avoid becoming the headline:

Information Technology – Data Breaches:

Don't click on stuff if you aren’t sure where it's from.

Fraud & Ethics – Occupational Fraud:

Monitor what is happening financially in your area and ask questions when things seem off.

Compliance & Legal – Title IX:

Pay attention to potential changes and ensure you have policies and procedures that are legal and followed consistently and fairly with all parties.

Campus Life – Campus Safety:

If you see something, say something. It truly does take a village to keep our campuses safe.

Admittedly, nothing above is profound, but the ''simple'' things create a solid foundation. There are many other actions that can reduce risk in each of these critical areas.

As a reminder, we suggest you look at the synopsis of each story we link and determine if it’s a risk that is related to your responsibility. If so, we suggest you read the article and think about how you can prevent a similar event from occurring in your operation. That’s proactive risk management and what this publication is all about.

M. Kevin Robinson, CIA, CFE
Vice President
Institutional Compliance & Security& Privacy
Follow us on X

Information Security & Technology Events

Jun 10: Cybersecurity: Teams of bots powered by GPT-4 can scan websites for zero-day vulnerabilities and attack them with a success rate of 53%, researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have found. Large language models (LLMs) can collaborate and work better than a single instance of chatbot to exploit real-world vulnerabilities. The paper demonstrates up to 4.5 times improvement compared to a standalone AI agent. Researchers have developed what they call "the first multi-agent system to successfully accomplish meaningful cybersecurity exploits." (link)

Jun 06: Data Breach: A US-based graduation photo maker exposed the personal details of thousands of students from hundreds of American universities, the Cybernews research team has discovered. Digital Pix & Composites left an open Microsoft Azure Blob, an online storage service, containing hundreds of text files with personal details, our researchers claim. Since Digital Pix & Composites specializes in sorority, fraternity and graduation composites, the exposed individuals are students from US-based universities. According to the team, the exposed instance contained 469 text files with data on 43,000 students, including their full names, home addresses, and institutions they attended. In total, students from 222 universities across the US were exposed. (link)

Fraud & Ethics Related Events

Jun 19: Occupational Fraud: A St. Peters, Missouri, man who served as Webster University's IT director appeared in federal court on Tuesday and admitted defrauding both his employer and an IT equipment seller in a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme. Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said the man, 54, devised his plan in late November 2018. He admitted in court that he received university approval to purchase hundreds of pieces of IT equipment with the understanding that it would be installed on campus. Instead, he sold that equipment to a third party, defrauding the university of a little over a million dollars. He reached out to the university's IT supplier and falsely claimed the equipment they shipped him was defective. He received replacement equipment and sold that as well. (link)

Jun 17: Racketeering: The Rutgers union representing more than 6,000 full-time faculty members, graduate workers, and others is calling for a Rutgers Board of Governors member to resign or be removed from the Board after he was indicted on racketeering charges alongside a powerful South Jersey Democratic Party boss, his politically connected attorney brother, and three others. According to news reports, the six are accused of unlawfully obtaining property and property rights on the waterfront in Camden, N.J."where Rutgers has a campus" receiving millions of dollars in tax credits for those properties, and controlling government officials in Camden, one of the poorest cities in the country. (link)

Jun 12: Settlement Implications: Over the past 5 years, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has won only a handful of criminal cases in which it prosecuted scientists alleged to have defrauded the government by not disclosing research support they received from China. But last month DOJ sent a clear message that, despite that poor track record, research institutions will be held accountable for mistakes in monitoring outside support to their faculty. A 17 May settlement with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (CCF) requires the medical colossus to pay the government $7.6 million to resolve allegations it mismanaged three grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It's a record amount for a case involving foreign research support, a mechanism U.S. policymakers believe China has used to steal U.S. technology. (link)

Compliance/Regulatory & Legal Events

Jun 27: Transcript Withholding: While the federal ban on withholding most college transcripts, which goes into effect on July 1, is welcome news for the millions of students with stranded credits, colleges and universities are anticipating financial repercussions, increased administrative workloads and potential effects on enrollment and retention. That's according to the newly released 2024 Transcript Regulation Impact Survey by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers and Ithaka S+R, which offers recommendations for how institutions can navigate the coming changes. Colleges have used transcript holds as a tool to incentivize students to settle their unpaid balances. (link)

Jun 20: Title IX: The Biden administration's Title IX rule, which promises greater protections for LGBTQ students under the federal gender-equity law, is now blocked in 10 states. Federal judges have answered Republican state officials' legal challenges with preliminary injunctions. More than 20 states are suing over President Biden's Title IX policy, accusing the Education Department of overstepping its authority. Here, we take a closer look at what's at stake for Biden's Title IX rule, and for the college administrators responsible for retooling campus policies, during this wave of litigation. (link)

Jun 19: State Law: Four civil liberties groups will sue the state of Louisiana after Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed a law Wednesday that calls for the Ten Commandments to be displayed in school classrooms. The new rule applies to any school that accepts state money, including colleges and universities. The measure, authored by Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Haughton, requires the Ten Commandments be displayed in each classroom. The poster or framed document dimensions must be at least 11 inches by 14 inches. The four groups bringing the lawsuit issued a joint statement that said, in part, the new law promotes specific religious beliefs to which many people in Louisiana do not subscribe. (link)

Jun 18: Title IX: A federal judge has blocked the implementation of a new Title IX rule that prohibits discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. Danny Reeves, chief judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, handed down an opinion Monday that enjoined enforcement of that portion federal civil rights law, which was recently implemented by the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden. The rule was challenged by Republican attorneys general in Kentucky and five other states in April. Aside from Kentucky, Reeves' opinion enjoined the rule in five other states: Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia and West Virginia. (link)

Jun 17: State Law: Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has enacted a law to exclude acts of civil disobedience from free speech protections on college campuses. Senate Bill 294 by Sen. Valarie Hodges, R-Denham Springs, was billed as a pro-free speech proposal. The bill was designed to "shore up protections" for campus speech, Hodges said. "What we need on college campuses is education, not activists," Hodges said. Students and faculty opposed the bill because they fear it will criminalize free speech. The new law specifically excludes any act that carries a criminal penalty from free speech protections, meaning campus free speech policies would no longer protect acts of civil disobedience. (link)

Jun 17: Title VI Investigation Results: The University of Michigan and the City University of New York did not adequately investigate complaints about antisemitic or anti-Palestinian harassment linked to campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war and other incidents, according to the results of investigations by the U.S. Education Department announced Monday. These are the first investigations to reach a conclusion among dozens launched by the Education Department since Oct. 7. The department's Office of Civil Rights investigated 75 instances of alleged discrimination and harassment at the University of Michigan based on shared Jewish ancestry and shared Palestinian or Muslim ancestry. The investigation found that the university's responses did not meet its Title VI requirements to remedy the hostile environment. (link)

Jun 13: Wrongful Termination Lawsuit: A Furman University professor, who attended a 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, has been fired. It's a part of an ongoing legal battle between the university and the now-former professor. Furman University confirmed long-time computer science professor, Christopher Healy, was fired following a months-long investigation into his attendance at the Unite the Right rally in Virginia seven years ago. Healy is now suing the university for wrongful termination and a list of other claims. (link)

Jun 13: Title IX: The Biden administration's new Title IX rule expanding protections for LGBTQ+ students has been temporarily blocked in four states after a federal judge in Louisiana found that it overstepped the Education Department's authority. In a preliminary injunction granted Thursday, U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty called the new rule an "abuse of power" and a "threat to democracy." His order blocks the rule in Louisiana, which filed a challenge to the rule in April, and in Mississippi, Montana and Idaho, which joined the suit. The Louisiana case is among at least seven backed by more than 20 Republican-led states fighting Biden's rule. (link)

Jun 07: Strike Judgment: A strike by University of California academic workers over the treatment of pro-Palestinian demonstrators was temporarily halted by a Southern California judge on Friday after the university argued the walkout was causing students "irreparable harm." The temporary restraining order, issued by Judge Randall J. Sherman of the Orange County Superior Court, came as tens of thousands of U.C. students were preparing for finals at the end of the spring quarter. The judge's order came in response to the third attempt by the public university system to force thousands of unionized teaching assistants, tutors, researchers and other key workers back to work. (link)

Jun 03: Title IX Lawsuit: Two University of Texas professors are challenging President Joe Biden's administration over new rules it issued prohibiting discrimination against transgender and nonbinary students as well as students who seek abortions. Now plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit, UT professors Daniel A. Bonevac and John Hatfield, in near-identical declarations filed May 13, say they will not excuse class absences for students who get elective abortions and will not honor requests to refer to students by the pronoun "they," often used as a singular pronoun by nonbinary people. The professors' lawsuit claims the U.S. Department of Education overstepped its authority when it issued new regulations forbidding discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, sex characteristics or pregnancy status. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the suit in early May. (link)

Jun 01: Open Meetings Law: LSU-Shreveport chemistry and physics professor Dr. Brian Salvatore has argued from the beginning that his termination hearing on April 8 was an open meeting, one that should have been properly advertised to the public and open to those who wanted to come to listen. This week, 19th Judicial District Court Judge Beau Higginbotham agreed, ruling that LSU Shreveport did, in fact, violate the state open meetings law. Though a win for Salvatore, Judge Higginbotham opted not to nullify the results of the hearing, nor did he levy a fine against the university for the violation. (link)

Jun 01: Termination Lawsuit: Northeast Iowa Community College was justified in its termination of President Herbert Riedel, a judge has ruled. Riedel was previously placed on administrative leave in October after a series of closed sessions, and Vice President of Finance and Administration Dave Dahms is serving as acting president of the institution. A private hearing overseen by an administrative law judge was held in late March about Riedel's possible termination, according to a news release. The judge ruled May 20 that the college had just cause in terminating Riedel. Riedel has 30 days to appeal the judge's decision, the release staid. He also has filed suit against the college's board of trustees, alleging it violated open meetings laws when discussing his performance and job details during a closed session in June 2023. (link)

Campus Life & Safety Events

Jun 25: Campus Climate: An email landed in Ted Roberts' inbox one morning last April. The acting dean of Tarleton State University's liberal and fine arts college, where Roberts taught history, wanted to meet that day. He asked her what it was about, but got no response. At 4:45 p.m. that afternoon, Aimee Shouse, the acting dean, showed up at his office and asked if they could talk. "The decision was made to non-reappoint," she said, according to a recording of the meeting. Roberts could not believe he'd lost his job. His student evaluations were strong and he believed he was in good standing at the university. The faculty senate would later, in a letter, write that the administration's decision "resulted in a widespread impression of a retaliatory environment, which in turn has created a chilling effect throughout the university." What Roberts had done was complain, passionately, about something that people complain about all the time on college campuses: parking. (link)

Jun 23: Campus Climate: Columbia University said it has placed three administrators on leave while it investigates allegations that they exchanged unprofessional text messages while attending a panel discussion about antisemitism on campus. The university said the administrators work for its undergraduate Columbia College, which hosted the panel discussion ''Jewish Life on Campus: Past, Present and Future'' during an alumni reunion on May 31. The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative news outlet, published images on June 12 and 21 of what it said were the administrators' text messages. One included a suggestion that a panelist could have used the campus protests for fundraising and another that appeared critical of a campus rabbi's essay about antisemitism. (link)

Jun 13: Campus Protests: The president of California State University, Los Angeles, said demonstrators protesting Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza are no longer welcome on campus after some of them occupied and trashed a building while she was inside. The takeover ended early Thursday without arrests, a school spokesperson said. Protesters barricaded the multistory Student Services Building at 4 p.m. Wednesday with university President Berenecea Johnson Eanes and dozens of other employees inside, said spokesperson Erik Frost Hollins. Images from the scene showed graffiti on the building, furniture blocking doorways and overturned golf carts, picnic tables and umbrellas barricading the plaza out front. (link)

Jun 10: Stabbing: Four instructors from a small Iowa college were injured in a stabbing attack while on a teaching trip to China, their school and officials in both countries said. Chinese police said Tuesday that a suspect had been arrested and that those injured were receiving treatment but not in life-threatening condition. The rare attack on foreigners in the powerful security state comes as China is trying to repair ties with the United States and revive tourism to help boost a sluggish economy after three years of isolation amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The four instructors from Cornell College, a private liberal arts college in Mount Vernon, Iowa, were injured "in a serious incident" during a daytime visit to a public park, the school's president, Jonathan Brand, confirmed in a statement Monday. (link)

Jun 07: Vandalism & Burglary: Thirteen anti-Israel protesters who stormed and vandalized the Stanford University president's office on Wednesday were charged with felony burglary. The group stormed President Richard Saller's office around 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday, breaking windows, spray-painting walls, and causing ''extensive damage'' to property, according to a university statement. The group occupied the building for more than two hours and injured a police officer in the process before they were ultimately arrested. Several protesters were released on bail after being held for 15 hours, according to the Stanford Daily, which reported that bail was set at $20,000. (link)

Jun 06: Campus Protests: Classes may be ending at many colleges and universities, but the student antiwar movement shows no signs of slowing down this summer. Activists at campuses from California to New York are continuing to demand that their schools divest from Israeli companies with ties to the war in Gaza. Some protesters, like alumni at Columbia University, have even erected new encampments after administrators ordered previous ones torn down. The disruptions follow a turbulent spring for many institutions of higher learning, where protesters sometimes were arrested and faced violent counterprotests and threats of suspension. (link)

Jun 05: Safety Settlement: Columbia University has agreed to settle a lawsuit with a Jewish student who alleged the school created an unsafe environment during pro-Palestine demonstrations on campus. As part of the settlement, Columbia will create a "Safe Passage Liaison," whose duties include serving as the main contact for students with safety concerns due to protests at the school, according to court documents. The liaison will also coordinate safety escorts for students upon request. The settlement also stipulates Columbia must allow students access to their belongings when they are restricted from being on campus due to disciplinary action. If students feel their academic work has been impacted by campus protests, they will also be allowed to seek accommodations from the university, according to the court documents. (link)

Jun 05: Protest Repercussions: The University of California, Los Angeles, has "temporarily" reassigned the school's police chief following protests and violent clashes on campus over Israel's war in Gaza. Mary Osako, UCLA's vice chancellor for strategic communications, said in a statement shared with USA TODAY that the reassignment comes as UCLA's Office of Campus Safety examines security processes. According to the Los Angles Times, the former chief allegedly canceled requests for outside police assistance and failed to provide a safety plan to UCLA before violence broke out April 30 between Israel supporters and pro-Palestinian protesters. Officers on the scene did not intervene for more than an hour while the violent clash continued, sparking heavy criticism of the Los Angeles Police Department and campus police. (link)

Jun 01: Shooting Settlement: The University of Virginia and the state will pay $9 million in settlements after a deadly 2022 shooting on campus, as the families of victims continue to call on the university to release findings of an investigation into the incident. On Friday, Albemarle County Circuit Judge Claude V. Worrell II approved $2 million settlements for each of the families of slain students D'Sean Perry, Lavel Davis Jr. and Devin Chandler -- the amounts are the maximum allowed under the state's risk management plan. But the families said Friday that the settlements were just a first step, and their priority is learning more about how a gunman opened fire on a bus of students arriving back to the Charlottesville campus from a class trip to see play about Emmett Till. (link)

Jun 01: Protest Repercussions: Graduation is an important moment for many Americans. More than just pomp and circumstance, the ceremonies mark when students are handed the most coveted testimonial in academic life: A diploma. But for some college students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests, campus activism has cost them their degrees -- at least for a while. Students being denied conferment -- some of whom have faced arrests, expulsions, suspensions and other disciplinary action -- say they're in limbo and are being made into examples. As they await appeals processes and the results of university investigations, they're preparing for an uncertain future. In the worst-case scenario, they'll be saddled with debt and will have no degree to show for it. (link)

Jun 01: Academic Freedom: An adjunct professor was fired from her role at DePaul University, after offering an optional assignment to her students in which she asked them to explore the biological and health impacts Israel's war in Gaza has on Palestinians. Dr. Anne D'Aquino taught Health 194, Human Pathogens and Defense, across from the now torn-down pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the quad. "Taking real-world examples and applying our biology to it, and then communicating that to the general public--since many of the students will be doing that in their profession," D'Aquino said. On May 7, one day after presenting the optional assignment, she said she received a phone call from the Chair of Health Sciences, who claimed that DePaul had received student complaints about feeling unsafe in the class and said that it was outside of the "realm of microbiology." (link)

Jun 03: Safety: Indiana University public safety officials will deploy IU Police officers to assist Discover IU guided campus tours starting Friday, an IU spokesperson told the Indiana Daily Student Thursday. This follows the IU Office of Admissions temporarily pausing Discover IU guided campus tours due to pro-Palestine protesters Wednesday. Discover IU tours are for prospective students and their families. Office of Admissions Senior Assistant Director Rafael Cronin sent a message to student ambassadors Wednesday, which was obtained by the IDS, announcing the temporary pause. Cronin said admissions leadership made the decision after protesters began yelling over ambassadors and walking beside tour groups. (link)

Other

Jun 27: Loss of Research: A university janitor accidentally turned off a super cold laboratory freezer after repeated "annoying alarms," resulting in the destruction of $1 million worth of scientific research, according to a lawsuit filed in the New York. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a private research university in Troy, New York, is suing Daigle Cleaning Systems after one of its contracted workers wiped out over 20 years of research, according to the suit, which was filed in Rensselaer County Supreme Court. (link)

If you have any suggestions, questions or feedback, please e-mail Kevin Robinson at robinmk@auburn.edu or Robert Gottesman at gotterw@auburn.edu. We hope you find this information useful and would appreciate hearing your thoughts. Feel free to forward this email to your direct reports, colleagues, employees or others who might find it of value. Back issues of this newsletter are available on our web site.