Temple University announced Tuesday that one of their highest level officials, Hai-Lung Dai, has been “relieved of his administrative responsibilities effective immediately.” The announcement comes on the same day university officials revealed that they are short $22 million for their merit scholarship program for 2016-2017.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s online publication, several sources with ties to the university said that Temple University president Neil D. Theobald was displeased with Dai’s accounting and that their relationship turned contentious. Given the timing of the two announcements, it appears that Dai was let go for the financial mismanagement.
Patricia Pierce, Dr. Dai’s attorney, told Philly.com that the decision was “rash and completely unjustified.” She credited her client for attracting talent both at the faculty and student level. “Student applications have doubled at a time when other institutions are facing decreases in enrollment. Temple’s attraction of international students has also nearly doubled under Dr. Dai’s leadership,” Pierce wrote in a statement.
The university said that the mismanaged budgeting occurred because of an influx of scholarship-qualified students. The university has allocated $112 million of a $1.34 billion budget for financial aid.
University officials stressed that the agreement to provide financial aid to prospective and current students would still be honored.
A native of Taiwan, Dai came to the United States in 1976 and arrived in Philadelphia in 1984. He was a professor in the chemistry department and the University of Pennsylvania for 22 years. Temple employed Dai in 2007 as dean of its College of Science and Technology, and several years later became the official provost in February 2013.
Temple University has been rising in college rankings in the past several years. The Philadelphia-based college has yet to name an interim or successor provost.
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