• PDF: Read the report

Virginia Commonwealth University today said it found 37 instances of exceptions made to university policy in granting an undergraduate degree last year to Richmond Police Chief Rodney Monroe.

The university did not cite the specific examples in a report issued today to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and released to the public.

However, it said Monroe had satisfied only 15 of 28 requirements for his bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies.

The report states that “...the nature, number and magnitude of the exceptions to approved practice could not have occurred unless this student had been afforded preferential treatment at the admissions, curriculum and graduation stages of the student experience.”

VCU said its policies and procedures were not at fault. “Rather, a small number of individuals intentionally violated approved policies or improperly influenced others to do so,” the report states.

The report does not specifically name the people responsible or state what they had done. However, it says that the university received the resignation of two deans, one who left VCU on July 25 and the other reassigned as special assistant to Provost Stephen D. Gottfredson.

In response today to questions from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Gottfredson said he had accepted the resignations of S. Jon Steingass as dean of the University College and Robert D. Holsworth as dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences. He said he also had sent “a formal letter of counsel and caution” to Robyn D. Lacks, an assistant professor of criminal justice who acted as an intermediary with Monroe.

“While the resignations were voluntary, they were made with the understanding that removal from administrative positions was the alternative,” Gottfredson told the Times-Dispatch.

Both men deny they were disciplined or resigned under pressure. Steingass left VCU on July 25 for a job in another state, while Holsworth said he resigned as dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences out of frustration with the internal investigation conducted by the VCU Board of Visitors.

Holsworth, a tenured political science professor and well-known media pundit, retained his full annual salary and took a new administrative title, special assistant to the provost. However, Gottfredson said today that “matters of compensation and duties have not been finalized, and will be addressed in future when Dr. Holsworth’s responsibilities and status are clarified.”

Steingass has said he signed Monroe’s graduation application because the chief was meeting all of the requirements made of him, based on the advice of the coordinator of the program for interdisciplinary studies.

The coordinator, Linda L Spinelli, who has since retired, refused to approve the application because the chief was taking only six of his course hours at VCU. She has said she was pressured to be flexible with Monroe’s application, but she won’t say by whom.

Holsworth has denied any involvement other than asking Steingass to meet with Lacks to discuss the requirements for Monroe to finish his degree at VCU.

Today’s report acknowledges that Gottfredson had apologized to Lacks, both informally and by letter, for a reference to her pending review for tenure in one of the interviews conducted by investigators for the board.

Holsworth, in a letter denouncing the investigation’s handling, said the investigator had told Lacks that the board and the chairman of its academic affairs committee, Thomas G. Snead Jr., were aware of her upcoming tenure review and regarded her cooperation as a factor.

In a resolution last week, the board said it had done nothing to interfere with tenure review and that it “fully supports the tenure policy and process at VCU.” Today’s report repeated that statement and cited Gottfredson’s assurance to Lacks that her tenure review would be fair.

However, Rector Thomas G. Rosenthal confirmed this week that the board had explicitly directed investigator to raise the tenure issue with Lacks.

“We just wanted the individual to know that we knew she was coming up for tenure, and that honesty, integrity and cooperation were an important part of the investigation,” he said. “She probably took it as an implied threat — it was not.”

Rosenthal added, “We wouldn’t do anything to interfere with tenure.”

The rector also confirmed that the interviewer was an outside consultant provided under an emergency contract between VCU and Deloitte Financial Advisory Services, an arm of Deloitte & Touche, a national professional services company. 

Today’s report to the regional accreditation body is based on another report that VCU has not released with the findings of the investigation, which began in May after the university received anonymous allegations that the degree had been awarded improperly to Monroe.

The investigation, conducted primarily by the Department of Assurance Services under the oversight of Snead’s committee, found in late June that VCU officials made “serious errors in judgment” in allowing Monroe to graduate with a VCU degree without meeting the university’s 30-hour residency requirement. 

The board said it could not revoke the degree because Monroe had done nothing wrong.

However, VCU will undertake a review of its policies for awarding and granting degree, as well as conduct universitywide discussions of the VCU Code of Ethics.