Michael Thaddeus is a professor of mathematics at Columbia University. The views expressed in the commentary belong to the author. View more opinion at CNN.
(CNN)The scandal engulfing Columbia University and U.S. News & World Report rose to a new level last week, when Columbia acknowledged that some of the figures it had submitted last year to U.S. News were inaccurate. U.S. News initially removed Columbia from its ranking entirely, then demoted it from second to 18th place after Columbia declined to submit this year's ranking survey.
The article that first exposed Columbia's misrepresentation was written not by a disgruntled rival but by a tenured professor in Columbia's own math department. Many people must have scratched their heads and wondered, "Why did he do it?"
I am the Columbia math professor in question, and I would be the first to admit that what I did was both unusual and unpleasant. I began looking into the matter because my suspicions were piqued by Columbia's dubious claim to U.S. News that 83% of its undergraduate classes enrolled under 20 students. I assumed that Columbia would address the questions I raised promptly and forthrightly. I never guessed that its response would be so slow and clumsy, causing the scandal to drag on for months. While the short-term damage to Columbia's reputation has been painful to witness, I'm convinced that it was necessary for me to speak out.
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