Message From Ben And Matt by Ben Jones
...regarding the recent news of Marilee's resignation.
Hi friends,
This story will likely be all over the news soon, so we wanted to write to you as soon as possible. It’s a very sad day for MIT, and especially for our office. We’ll write more about it in a few days when we’ve had the chance to digest it further, but right now we’re really in a state of shock at the loss of our leader.
To make a long story short, Marilee Jones, our Dean of Admissions, misrepresented her credentials on her resume 28 years ago in 1979, when she applied for her first job at MIT. What started as a mistake in her youth was compounded over time, which she addresses in a personal statement.
We know you’re going to have many questions around this, and we’ll try to address them in the coming days. In the meantime, there are a few things we wanted to say.
First, as many of you know, Marilee has built her career around trying to make college admissions better – with more compassion and less anxiety. Many are understandably concerned that the momentum of this mission will be compromised by these events. But we pledge to you that as we recover in the days ahead, we will continue to celebrate and uphold all of the good that Marilee has brought to our office and to our field, and we hope that others around the country will do the same.
Second, many are asking why MIT didn’t accept Marilee’s resignation quietly. The answer is simple: transparency and openness, as you know from reading these blogs, are the backbone of our culture. People needed to know the specifics to avoid the rampant speculation that would undoubtedly follow otherwise. You need to know that this was a lie on a resume – not some big scandal surrounding our selection process.
Frankly, this is what it is, and there’s nothing more to say about it that will be productive. We need to acknowledge what happened and move forward.
As we’re sure you can understand, our office is quite shaken by this. Until we’ve had a chance to individually process this more, we don’t want to host a big public thread on the topic, so please give us a few days to get back on our feet before we restore comments. In the meantime, you can always email us with questions and concerns.
Fondly,
Ben and Matt