U Of L Touts Progress One Year After Felner

More than a year after the investigation into Robert Felner began, University of Louisville officials say the school remains viable for students and grants.Felner is the university’s former Education Dean. He is awaiting trial on federal charges that he misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money.Interim Education Dean Blake Haselton says the scandal has not affected overall enrollment at the College of Education."The last set I saw, we were up a little under 9%, and that's trend data this time of year. You have students enrolling various times and you have eligible but non-enrolled students that have been admitted, indicated they are coming, but have not registered. So it's a little early for final numbers," he says.The university has changed several policies in the wake of the Felner indictment. Following the investigation, U of L announced several changes to its grant management and faculty grievance policies.Haselton says those changes helped the school recover the remainder of the grant Felner is accused of stealing."We did talk to the U.S. Department of Education about the remaining money in the No Child Left Behind grant that was not spent and did amend the application and were rewarded those funds—a little over $90,000," he says. "And the issue did not appear to be a concern at that point in time."Haselton says overall it's too early to guage what, if any, impact the Felner scandal will have on the school.