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Air Force Finds 2 Academy Officials Negligent

DENVER (AP) -- Two senior officials at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., were negligent in statements they made about credentials of the school's faculty, Air Force investigators said.

Investigators also said they found no evidence that academy faculty aren't qualified.

The Air Force inspector general disclosed the findings in a Feb. 10 letter to David Mullin, a former associate professor of economics at the academy whose complaint prompted the investigation.

The letter said Brig. Gen. Dana Born, the dean of faculty, was negligent in a statement she made to a newspaper. The letter didn't identify the newspaper, but the statement by Born cited in the complaint appeared in the Colorado Springs Independent.

The letter said Col. Richard Fullerton, the vice dean of faculty, was negligent in a report he submitted to the Higher Education Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, which accredits colleges and universities.

Academy Lt. Gen. Michael Gould is reviewing the report, said Lt. Col. John Bryan, an academy spokesman. Born and Fullerton didn't immediately respond Friday to a request for comment.

Bryan said the Air Force would not discuss whether any action would be taken against Born or Fullerton because it was a personnel matter.

The letter noted that the Higher Learning Commission found the academy faculty to be fully qualified. "We found no evidence to dispute that conclusion," the letter said.

The commission may have a statement later, a spokesman said Friday.

Mullin, who now teaches at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, called the report a "whitewash."

"The taxpayers should expect the quality of the faculty to be much higher quality than the minimum standards of accreditation," he said.

Mullin's original complaint alleged that about 60 percent of academy cadets who took introductory calculus classes between 1996 and 2006 were taught by instructors who did not have master's degrees in mathematics, statistics or mathematics education.

By Dan Elliott, AP Writer (© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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