BU journalism professors ask for investigation of dean

Members of Boston University's journalism department asked the provost yesterday to investigate the dean of the Communications School amid questions about whether he has exaggerated his accomplishments on his résumé and elsewhere.

The dean, John J. Schulz of the College of Communication, said he made the same request to the provost, several hours before the faculty held an emergency meeting about Schulz.

Members of the journalism department voted unanimously in their meeting to ask Provost David Campbell to examine the questions raised by a Globe article published Thursday and by professor Renata Adler, who first brought up a number of concerns, according to one professor who was at the meeting.

Campbell could not be reached for comment last night. Schulz, who spoke to Campbell, said the provost said he would form a panel to investigate Schulz's résumé and other allegations.

On his academic résumé, Schulz wrote that he was one of only two students to earn a doctorate from the Oxford University social studies faculty in 1981, while 19 students had attempted to do so. In fact, 30 students received doctorates from the social studies faculty in 1980-1981, and 41 did in 1981-1982, according to Oxford.

Schulz said the misstatement was unintentional, and the number 19 was a typo. He said he meant to specify the international relations program, not all of social studies, and meant to say he was one of two or three out of perhaps 12. Schulz told the Globe he took responsibility for the mistake.

But regarding another issue, he denied that his BU online biography was misleading when it stated that as a Voice of America reporter he covered the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

Schulz never reported from Afghanistan, but he said he covered the conflict closely from his post in Islamabad.

Journalism professor William Lord, who was not at yesterday's faculty meeting, said he was supportive of Schulz's leadership, but agreed with the journalism department's action.

''There were serious issues in the [Globe] article that merit investigation," Lord said.

Schulz has also been criticized for not seeking to correct the record when the student newspaper, the Daily Free Press, when the paper wrote in 1999 that he was an All-American football player or in 2003 when it said he was the author of several books.

Schulz played college football but was not an All-American; he has not published any books.

Schulz's comment to the Globe about why he did not seek a correction has created a stir among students and professors.

''You have to understand I've never taken the student paper very seriously; these are kids," he told the Globe.

Thirty former members of the staff of the Free Press signed an e-mail to Schulz yesterday, writing, ''Mistakes happen in everything from the greatest newspapers to the résumés of scholars. . . . If the newspaper's quality lacks, then at least some of the criticism should be directed toward the college that is supposed to teach journalism skills."

As part of its resolution yesterday, the journalism faculty expressed support for the Daily Free Press, according to the professor at the meeting, who did not want to be named for fear of retribution.

Schulz said he apologized to the current and immediate past editor of the Free Press in a meeting Thursday, telling them he also told the Globe that he was ''understanding and appreciative of their efforts."

Marcella Bombardieri can be reached at bombardieri@globe.com.