UAlbany grade inflation

37 As

28 A-s

24 B+s

21 Bs

21 B-s

8 C+s

9 Cs

6 C-s

1 D+

6 Ds

0 D-s

1 E (F)

1 W (withdrawal from course)

---

163 students total

1 PhD candidate teaching assistant

2 MA candidate teaching assistants

2 BA candidate teaching assistants

1 PhD visiting assistant professor

The instructor of record had on more than one indication indicated his love of bell curves, his love of test scores falling into a bell curve shape.

Since he never delivered all the grades for my work during the course of the semester or even prior to my graduation and since my department advisor, the Registrar, an Assistant Dean, the judicial administrator, etc. would not help me obtain my grades, I had to file a FOIL request for my own grades. I also requested all the final grades of students in the class - no identifying information, just the grades.

I was charged $30.00 for my FOIL request; several requests were bundled together and I was charged for things I already had, things I didn't request, things that were online, etc. and was overcharged for a number of things. The grades, for example, were printed out in a column with line spacing of about 1 1/2 or so that consequently took up four pages with the majority of each page being blank.

Arranging the grades into a sort of graph, one finds not a bell curve but more of a right or isosceles triangle with the grades heavily skewed towards the high end. Ordinarily the number of As would correspond roughly to the Fs; instead A was the mode, the most common grade.

The check for the FOIL request was inexplicably never cashed. No explanation was ever sent as to why it wasn't cashed. Whatever problem might have attached to cashing it presumably would have attached to charging it to me and not sending what I'd requested until it was received. I still don't know how I received a final grade of an A in the course; from the grades I was given only after I graduated and was required to send a $30.00 check for them, possibly I should have received an A-.

The department where this happened was, not surprisingly, one in which athletes have been known to cluster. When athletes cluster in a department it's generally not a good sign. The department in this case is one where a longtime chair of the department has been the Faculty Athletics Representative.

"[Vice President for Athletic Administration and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Lee] McElroy indicated that some student athletes, who may not be prepared academically, such as students of color, may be looking for less rigorous majors and there may be a tendency for clustering in certain academic areas."

University Senate Executive Committee, Monday; April 26, 2010 3:30-5:00 PM, http://www.albany.edu/04-26-10_SEC_Minutes_(rmr).doc

"Professor Harrison [the Faculty Athletics Representative] reviewed the percentages of student-athletes in each school […] The three most popular majors are Business Administration, Communication and Sociology. Faculty members have in the past expressed concern about some teams clustering in certain majors but the data does not support this view."

University Senate Executive Committee, Monday, February 28, 2011 3:30 PM, http://www.albany.edu/2-28-2011_SEC_Minutes.doc

When Faculty Athletics Represenative Harrison indicated that athletes have clustered in the Business Administration, Communication and Sociology departments, how can that be followed by a claim that data does not support the "concern about some teams clustering in certain majors"? Does it mean athletes cluster in those departments, but the clustering isn't team-specific? There is team-specific clustering but the data doesn't support the view that it should be a concern? It's an ambiguous statement about a serious matter considering how bad things got at SUNY Binghamton.

How does UAlbany even grant degrees the way it does things? N.Y. EDUC. LAW § 224 (4): "No diploma or degree shall be conferred in this state except by a regularly organized institution of learning meeting all requirements of law and of the university" (emphasis added); UAlbany does not meet all requirements of law and of the university, not by far. Are there only a few certain such requirements it need meet in order to grand diplomas or degrees? If so, does it actually meet those?

What of N.Y. EDUC. LAW §§ 225 (9)-(11) inclusive?

"A person who shall: [...]

"9. Secure or attempt to secure any credential regularly issued by the university, which is based upon such examination or based upon a course or courses of study in any institution of learning or educational institution approved by the university, which he has not actually passed or completed; or

"9-a. Knowingly and willfully make an unauthorized and false alteration or representation of any grade, credit, honor, award or standing in the permanent record or transcript of any student with respect to a school or college under the supervision of the regents, the commissioner, or the university of the state of New York.

"10. Otherwise secure or attempt to secure the record of having passed such examination or of having been issued or of having been given credit toward such credential in violation of the university rules; is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished for a first offense by a fine of not less than fifty dollars or imprisonment for not less than thirty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment, and for a second offense by a fine of not less than two hundred and fifty dollars or imprisonment for not less than six months or by both such fine and imprisonment.

"11. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision ten of this section, a violation of this section shall also constitute grounds for disciplinary action in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, the rules of the regents, the regulations of the commissioner, or the by-laws, rules or regulations of such school authorities."

Learning how the final exam was allegedly handled was a particular surprise. Clarence McNeill e-mailed me that the final exam was cancelled, an announcement I never received from the class or the department, an announcement I never saw made on the online component of the course. Supposedly every student was given an A in lieu of the final exam that was worth 20% of the final grade for the course, making both the final exam grade and the final course grade not an accurate indicator of the quality of students' work. That hardly seems consistent with N.Y. EDUC. LAW §225, does it?

How many students would complain about an A they hadn't earned on a final exam that (allegedly) never took place, and a final grade for a course heavily boosted thereby? At UAlbany, probably not very many.

My doubt about whether the final really was cancelled is not due solely to the lack of an announcement from the class during the semester, or McNeill's penchant for lying. The document UAlbany's Records Access Officer Lisa Taylor sent me is of an instructor's view of an edit window ("Edit Mode is: ON") and gives no indication it was actually posted, when it was posted, where it was posted, or by whom it was posted (other than the implication it was posted by the instructor of record "You should feel free to contact me or one of the course assistants with questions concerning your performance in the course.")

The class ended somewhat like it began, with the theft of services by the instructor of record, Michael W. Barberich:

"Put my name on the top of one of the lists in Intro to COM Theory today to get into that closed course. Hopefully as a senior I will. Class had a lot of empty seats in it. I think it will be a very frustrating class. Barberich got there late, then let class out after ten minutes. Maybe he's doing good research that makes up for his lack of teaching skills?"

CKP to Dr. Jennifer Stromer-Galley, August 30, 2011 3:43:31 PM EDT.

His crimes had escalated over the course of the semester, however, to the point that the day after Clarence McNeill tipped him off that I'd reported him outside of the department, above the chair who'd forced me to remain in his class being subjected to his offensive, unprofessional, even alarming behavior, he filed a retaliatory false police report making me out to be some kind of active shooter when I wasn't even on campus.

As Albany County Sheriff's Office Senior Investigator Shaun Spring, Jr. stated, UAlbany's response to me reporting Barberich seems to have to do with Barberich's wife being Therese Assalian, a woman who doesn't think that threatening to have a whistleblower at a public school murdered by a hit man should be a firing offense:

"Albany Donna Bottari was so steamed that a fellow Saratoga Springs school bus driver reported her erratic driving in May 2002 that she told a co-worker she was going to arrange a 'hit' on him, according to a court decision released Thursday. Not a good idea. Following a two-year court battle, the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Bottari must be fired. The 4-0 decision reversed a move by Saratoga County Supreme Court Justice Thomas D. Nolan Jr. to reinstate Bottari last summer. […] ‘We’re disappointed with the decision,’ said Therese Assalian [Mrs. Michael W. Barberich], a spokeswoman with the Civil Service Employees Association. ‘We agree with the lower court, and we’re considering our options.‘ That might include taking the case to the Court of Appeals, she said’" (emphasis added)

Bolton, Michael Morgon. "Bus Driver Firing Upheld" Albany Times Union. January 30, 2004: B4. http://albarchive.merlinone.net/mweb/wmsql.wm.request?oneimage&imageid=6274649

"In May 2002, petitioner, a school bus driver employed by respondent Saratoga Springs City School District, was reported by another driver, Brian Winne, for driving her own bus erratically. A few days later, petitioner confronted Winne and verbally berated him. Petitioner also told another coworker that she was going to 'get a hit out on [Winne]' because he filed the report against her. [...] petitioner had erratically operated a school bus, had used threatening and obscene language against Winne and had threatened to 'get a hit man to take Winne out.' […] petitioner's poor judgment and lack of remorse, the disturbing nature of her comments" (emphasis added).

In the Matter of Bottari v. Saratoga Springs City School District, 3 AD 3d 832 - NY: Appellate Div., 3rd Dept. 2004. http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1343002799337654656

That my untenured visiting assistant professor from hell's wife would try, by making threats, to force a school district to employ an unrepentant would-be hitman-hiring sociopath and force the school to have children entrusted to her care again is troubling. She’s been threatening that school district for years. One of their drug-abusing drivers, after fired, and after they were threatened into rehiring her, immediately reoffended. Another, after fired for drug abuse and enlisting a minor in drug manufacture, got herself run over on her motorcycle by a truck. And yet Assalian keeps threatening the school district to hire back these dangerous drivers who are unconcerned about the welfare of children entrusted to their care.

The school district, Shenendehowa, coincidentally is led by a UAlbany graduate. Why Shenendehowa and CSEA maintain the fiction of the contract, a contract that permits the school to fire drivers, I don't know. Put a UAlbany graduate in charge of Shenendehowa, and voila: Shenendehowa is "the new UAlbany," as one blog put it.

Patrick. "Shen is the new UAlbany." Keep Albany Boring. April 14, 2011. http://www.keepalbanyboring.com/2011/shen-is-the-new-ualbany/