Wichita State University President Richard Muma has declined to provide or publish the results from a university-led inquiry following accusations of academic misconduct made by the Kansas Reflector last week.

The Kansas Reflector’s reported that Muma failed to properly attribute several sources by not including quotation marks, raising concerns of plagiarism and academic dishonesty.

In a statement emailed to the campus community, Muma said the inquiry, led by Provost Shirley Lefever with assistance from Research Officer John Tomblin, found he had not plagiarized his 2004 dissertation and that “less than 5%” of the attributed text lacked quotations.

When The Sunflower requested the inquiry via the Kansas Open Records Act, WSU’s General Counsel struck down the request. The counsel cited a Kansas statute that allows personnel records, performance ratings or individually identifiable records related to employment to be kept private.

The Sunflower then emailed Muma and Lainie Mazzullo-Hart, WSU’s communication director, asking if the president would make the report available, and Mazzullo Hart also declined to provide the results of the inquiry.

Twenty ‘technical errors’ and years ago

Muma’s dissertation contained more than 50 misappropriated passages of text from more than 20 authors. Errors ranged from missing quotation marks to misspelled author names and incorrect publication dates for scholarly sources.

Hours after the Kansas Reflector’s investigation was published, Muma sent a mass email to the Wichita State student body, faculty and staff. In the message, Muma said the Reflector’s story “raised misrepresentations” regarding his academic integrity.

Muma said the mistakes were “technical oversights,” and he was “taking steps to make corrections.” Muma did not specify how he would do so.

In the message, Muma cited transparency as the motivation for the email to WSU.

“As I have shared with others in recent days, it is important to me to be transparent, open and honest, which is why I am sharing this message with you today,” Muma said. “I trust that the entirety of my work and my words and actions over the years remain the true measure of my integrity.”

Following this message, Muma declined to be interviewed by The Sunflower.

Muma’s statement later said that an inquiry, per university policy, was conducted by Provost Shirley Lefever and John Tomblin, WSU’s research officer. The inquiry included an external review by a “leading expert in plagiarism,” which found that “all sources referenced” in the dissertation were attributed and cited.

The Sunflower has asked for the name of the plagiarism expert.

Muma has been at WSU for more than 20 years. In 2004, he was a tenured professor and department chair at WSU pursuing his doctorate at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Muma’s doctoral thesis earned him his Ph.D., accelerating his career and ascent to university leadership. From department chair, Muma was promoted to vice president and then provost before being named university president in 2021.