Dozens of Texas Tech students, including Holton Westbrook, president of the Student Government Association, have expressed support for Dean Lance Nail and opposition to his resignation via social media accounts and a newly created website.
On Tuesday, a committee consisting of seven faculty members and one “ex officio” member, formed by the Provost in June to evaluate grade changing allegations against Nail, released a report finding Nail responsible for changing the grades of four graduate students in a statistics course last May. As a result of the committee’s findings, Nail resigned as dean of the Jerry S. Rawls College of Business Administration, effective Dec. 31, but will remain a professor in the college.
Students’ opposition began by using the hashtag #IStandWithNail on Twitter. As the hashtag spread, a website by the same name appeared as well.
One of the greatest leaders of students at Texas Tech is stepping down? Gonna miss ya @lnail! #IStandWithNail
— Holton Westbrook (@hwestbrookttu) November 11, 2015
Many students also posted on Dean Nail’s social media accounts, expressing praise and admiration for him.
The #IStandWithNail hashtag in support of Dean Nail has now evolved into website. https://t.co/VspfLmS5Yt
— Dexapedia (@INtheLBK) November 12, 2015
Alexandra Valenstein, a Texas Tech tennis player and business major, said Nail was a key reason why she chose to attend Texas Tech over schools such as Stanford and Vanderbilt.
“From the start, Dean Nail impressed me with his vision for the Rawls College of Business to achieve the highest levels of academics,” Valenstein wrote in an email to The Hub@TTU. “His commitment to the success of the business school and the students involved was an attribute of Texas Tech that impressed me over the other universities I was looking at throughout the recruiting process.”
The course in which Nail changed grades was an ISQS 5435: Statistical Concepts for Business Management section, one part of the Master’s of Business Administration degree designed specifically for students with an undergraduate degree in a science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) discipline. Nail helped launch the STEM MBA program in 2013.
Pradeep Attaluri, former graduate vice-president for SGA, graduated in May with a STEM MBA but was not in the ISQS 5435 course last semester. He said Nail went above and beyond for students in the business school.
“As students, we saw ourselves climb to better rankings with Dean Nail,” Attaluri said. “He loved the Rawls, and he loved his students.”
Kory Tillery, a Texas Tech alumnus who graduated last semester with a STEM MBA from the Rawls College of Business Administration, said he was in the same ISQS 5435 course last spring as the students whose grades were changed.
“I love Dean Nail, and he has done so many things for the college,” Tillery said in a phone interview with The Hub@TTU. “But I don’t agree with what he did as far as changing the grades. It was a tough course, but I think it was fair.”
In a letter addressed to Provost Lawrence Schovanec, Nail said he acted in the best interest of the students, who he believes were treated unfairly by Jay Conover, the professor teaching both ISQS 5435 sections last spring.
“I will admit that I did not follow these procedures to the letter; however, this was an extraordinary case in which there was no way to follow the policy explicitly and allow deserving students to graduate,” Nail said in the letter.
Tillery, who is now a medical student at the University of New Mexico, said he is worried how his long-term future might be affected by the discovery of the grade changes.
“I take my academics very seriously, and I care about the integrity of my education,” Tillery said. “I earned my own grade, but I am worried now about how my degree will be perceived by future employers.”
Although Nail will no longer hold the position of dean of the Rawls College of Business Administration after the end of the year, Attaluri said he is glad Nail will still be a tenured professor.
“I know he’s going to continue to work hard for the Rawls,” Attaluri said. “I can’t be happier that he’s still going to be a part of Texas Tech.”
Many faculty members raised concerns about the issues surrounding Dean Nail at the Faculty Senate meeting earlier this week.
Lewis Held, associate professor of developmental genetics, was among the most vocal. Held said he and his colleagues wanted to know why the university glazed over the issue. Conover, invited by Held, was also in attendance.
David Richman, professor of educational psychology and leadership, questioned why Nail was still working at the university in a position to affect student grades.
Schovanec answered that Nail has tenure. Further, selecting a new dean in the middle of November would have been disruptive, the provost said, but he plans to begin talking to candidates for the position next week.
He added that his office is in the process of deciding what to do about the graduate students who received degrees after their grades were changed by Nail, but there have been past cases in which students have graduated without completing a required class.
“We have to go back and see what we can do to make this right,” Schovanec said.
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