Editor’s note: This article is a part of our Year in Review issue. Summer publication begins May 14.

In the semester following a two-month investigation into misreported class profiles, the University’s College of Law dropped 12 spots in April’s U.S. News and World Report rankings.

The College’s annual class profile, which includes median LSAT scores and GPAs had been inaccurately reported under Paul Pless, former assistant dean for admissions and financial aid. Additionally, Pless had manipulated publicized acceptance rates in order to make the college seem more selective than it actually was.

Pless was determined to be the sole actor in the manipulation after two months of investigation by the University’s Ethics Office, Office of Legal Counsel and two outside firms: Jones Day and Duff & Phelps. The investigation’s final report, released in November, chronicled Pless’ actions based on interviews and data analysis.

In late August, the Ethics Office received a tip that the profile for the new class of 2014 was inaccurate, launching an internal investigation. A Sept. 11 press release alerted the University community of the beginning of the investigation, and a week later, preliminary findings were released saying that the College of Law had publicized inflated median GPA and LSAT scores for its class of 2014.

The American Bar Association, or ABA, also launched its own investigation into the College of Law’s reporting standards, but that investigation has yet to be concluded. In a similar case at Villanova University, the law school had to put a disclaimer on its disseminated materials found with inaccurate reporting about its student statistics.

After the initial release, the investigative team decided to look further back into the data. On Sept. 28, it was made known that data had been manipulated for four of the past 10 years. Both median GPA and LSAT scores were inflated, but the largest jump was for the class of 2014, as the reported median LSAT score was 168, as opposed to the actual median of 163.

In his capacity as assistant dean for admissions, Pless was in charge of disseminating information from the Law School Admissions Council and putting it into his own spreadsheets. The final report indicated he was the sole actor in the data manipulation. Pless resigned from the University a few days before the final report’s release.

The report also revealed Pless’ interest in beginning his iLeap program in 2008. The program allows juniors at the University to apply to the College of the Law early, without haven taken the LSAT. Pless had a vested interest in these students’ high GPAs, as told to a colleague in an Oct. 2008 email.

“I am a maverick and a reformer, so I started a new program for U of I undergrads to apply in their junior year and we don’t require the LSAT,” Pless wrote. “We have additional essays and an interview instead. That way, I can trap about 20 of the little bastards with high GPA’s that count and no LSAT score to count against my median.”

The investigative team gave eight strategic suggestions to the college in order for it to more closely follow ABA guidelines and remain ethically stable. The college’s dean Bruce Smith said the college has implemented these changes to its reporting system.