UMKC to pay ex-professor fired amid business school scandal

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The University of Missouri-Kansas City has agreed to pay a former professor $625,000 to settle a whistleblower lawsuit.

The Kansas City Star reports the payment will settle a lawsuit against the school brought by former UMKC professor Richard Arend.

The university also issued a statement with Arend giving him credit for bringing to light that the business school knowingly submitted false data to the Princeton Review, which then ranked UMKC higher than it deserved.

In 2015, auditors found that officials with the Henry W. Bloch School of Management used false data when applying for rankings.

Days later, the Princeton Review stripped the school’s Top 25 rankings issued in 2011, 2012 and 2013.