To the Temple Community:

We are writing in response to the announcement today by former Dean Moshe Porat that he has filed a defamation lawsuit against the University for its decision to publicly disclose his removal as Dean of the Fox School of Business in July 2018.

We regret that former Dean Porat has chosen to reignite this controversy, but we want to make clear that the university continues to stand by its decision as well as its statements made in connection with it. Dr. Porat’s allegations are without merit.

As we have said from the outset, the university’s decision to remove the former Dean was based on the comprehensive findings of an independent review conducted by the Jones Day law firm, a summary of which is publicly available here.

The Jones Day review took six months to complete, and it included an inspection of thousands of documents and emails, as well as interviews with two dozen Fox School and university faculty and staff. The findings are compelling.

We acted to protect the integrity that is at the heart of our educational mission. Recognizing that the public must be able to trust what we say and do, we insisted from the outset of the misreporting matter that an outside, independent review be conducted. We also continue to insist on complete transparency and cooperation with other agencies or organizations that have undertaken their own reviews of this matter. In the wake of this controversy, the university has made significant progress to address the Fox School issues, including the installation of new leadership at Fox and the implementation of a broad array of checks and balances to ensure that the data we submit are as accurate and verifiable as possible, including data submitted for ranking purposes to U.S. News and other publications. To date, there have been no material issues with any of Temple’s submissions.

As we said last summer, this controversy has not changed the fact that the Fox School of Business remains one of the premier business schools in the country, and one of Temple’s premier schools. Fox retains the same outstanding faculty, the same rigorous curriculum and quality of research, and of course the tremendous intellect and commitment of our student body.
 
For these reasons, we are confident that the Fox School is positioned for a future of continued growth and success.

Thanks for your attention to this matter. We will continue to provide updates as events develop.

Sincerely,

Richard Englert, President

JoAnne Epps, Provost