A legal expert hired by ASU to investigate alleged unethical behavior in the Economics Department found little evidence to support claims made by a former economics professor.
The report does outline how and when education technology company Cengage exchanged money with ASU, in part, for having students buy subscriptions to its services.
KJZZ reached out to then-ASU economics professor Brian Goegan on Facebook on Tuesday asking for a comment.
Former Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor began her investigation into the claims in early May.
A few weeks earlier, Goegan sent an email to students outlining his concerns that they had been forced to pay for MindTap, a Cengage product, to help ASU get a lucrative grant. Goegan also said he was “required to prevent” 30 percent of students from passing classes ECN 211, 212 and 221.
Goegan also shared this message on a website, and students discussed it widely on social media.
McGregor rebutted Goegan’s claims in a 14-page investigation published online by ASU on Tuesday.
The report found Cengage never gave a grant to ASU.
The tech company did share some revenue from sales to students and made about $10,000 in donations to the foundation that supports ASU.
The Arizona Republic reported between spring 2017 and 2018, ASU received a $25,000 cut of the money students paid to use Cengage products in ECN 211 and 212 classes.
McGregor’s report also found that ASU had no policy requiring the failure of a specific number of students in its classes.