Claremont McKenna College (CMC), one of the finest liberal arts schools in the country, has come under fire for lying about the SAT scores of its incoming undergraduate classes for the past six years.

The SAT scores were factored into the college ranking process performed by groups like US News and World Report. Currently, CMC is ranked 9th by US News and World Report among national liberal arts colleges.

In a memo written to the student body and faculty of the college, President Pamela B. Gann wrote, “As an institution of higher education with a deep and consistent commitment to the integrity of all our academic activities, and particularly our reporting of institutional data, we take this situation very seriously.”

The school stated that no individual scores were altered; rather, the percentile scores for the college were inflated by 10-2o points in recent years. The most recent scores for the fall 2010 class reported an inaccurate 75th percentile of 1510 (for Critical Reading and Mathematics sections combined), while the actual score was 1480.

On Monday, President Gann was alerted of the fudged scores by “a senior administrator”; in her memo to the college community, she stated that an administrator stepped forward, took responsibility, and resigned. It was noted that Mr. Richard Vos, former Vice President and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, offered his resignation on Monday. Although the administrator involved in the SAT scandal has yet to be named, Max Benavidez, Associate Vice President for Public Affairs, Communications, and Marketing, confirmed Mr. Vos’ resignation from CMC.

On Tuesday afternoon, President Gann announced that Georgette DeVeres, Associate Vice President for Admission and Financial Aid, would be taking over as the temporary head of the Admission and Financial Aid Office. Claremont McKenna has stated they will provide the real SAT scores on their website soon.