Administration addresses student fraud trials, updates to admissions protocols

This story is part of a series investigating four former students’ arrests, admissions and Visa protocols, and the impact the situation has had on the campus community and the future of Lehigh’s international student population. 

Having discovered a former student from India falsified his admissions application documents in spring 2024, Lehigh launched a broader review of application materials for all international students.

The reviews, which led to the arrests of four students from Ghana on Sept. 9, 2024, also triggered updates to current protocols regarding the vetting process of students coming to Lehigh from outside the United States. 

Likewise, it raised questions about why the students’ admissions status was immediately rescinded upon their arrests — which automatically canceled their F-1 Visa status — rather than waiting for the criminal proceedings to be completed.

Many students and faculty are calling for greater transparency from university leadership pertaining to how the university has historically vetted international students and what changes lie ahead.

Henry Dabuo and Evans Oppong, two of the Ghanaian students arrested for alleged fraud, are still being held in Northampton County Jail, awaiting final trial dates and decisions. Otis Opoku was acquitted on March 31, and Cyrilstan Nomobon Sowah-Nai was acquitted on April 29, but neither former student holds a Visa allowing them to remain in the country because Lehigh revoked their enrollment status upon arrest and before the preliminary hearing.

Some are questioning the decision to rescind admissions statuses before criminal cases have been adjudicated,and are raising concerns about the long-term impact on students who may be wrongly accused of a crime. 

The case came about just two months before Donald Trump was elected U.S. president, heightening political scrutiny around immigration. 

The Trump administration has initiated an immigration crackdown targeting undocumented workers, while also executing the abrupt termination of Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) records for thousands of international students. The campus community felt the weight of this directive on April 10 when an email to the campus community announced the Visa revocation of “a few” students. 

Provost Nathan Urban was initially interviewed in October 2024. In a follow-up interview via email, he wrote that having international students is a critical part of the Lehigh community, and the university must comply with legal requirements related to immigration and visas. 

“At this point, all of the students who have had their SEVIS status terminated have had this status restored,” he wrote. 

Even so, combined with the still-ongoing investigations of Dabuo and Oppong — and the deportations of Opoku and Sowah-Nai — these nationwide Visa revocations have raised campus concerns regarding how Lehigh evaluates international students, the role of third-party agencies in the application process and what changes may lie ahead as the university reevaluates its approach.

The defenses of Dabuo, Oppong, Opoku and Sowah-Nai rested on their alleged use of third-party agencies to complete the Common Application for admission to Lehigh, according to witnesses at the former students’ preliminary hearings. 

In 2017, research by World Education News + Reviews showed about 23% of international student respondents used agents during the application process.

“Top concerns among those who worked with independent agents focused on quality control,” according to World Education News + Reviews. “Specifically, students complained about misrepresentation of information about universities, untimely feedback, document fraud, unclear fee structures, false promises about guaranteed admission, and unrealistic expectations about on-campus jobs or scholarship opportunities.”

Urban said he’s unsure whether the university has separate information specifying when an applicant has used a third-party agent, and he doesn’t know if the admissions office was aware of the use in this particular case. 

He also said he doesn’t believe this use, or lack thereof, should impact application assessment.

 “We want to understand what the student has done, what the student’s academic performance has been (and) the kind of involvement they’ve had,” Urban said. “It’s ultimately the student’s responsibility to ensure that information (is) accurate.”

Though it can be more difficult to verify the sources of transcripts and other information from international schools, he said the protocol for reviewing international application materials is aligned with that of domestic students. 

He said the Admissions Office often uses third-party services itself to translate languages. He also said they are often used because grading scales at schools in other countries are often different. 

Michael Renneisen, an immigration attorney at the law firm Lehigh Immigration, said he thinks the students’ claim of using a third party is “a valid excuse,” as he’s seen translations that have been done poorly or incorrectly. 

“That happens all the time,” he said. “You never know who’s doing it. They may be using Google Translate and not actually speak both languages.”

Urban said with or without alleged use of an outside agent, anytime there’s a strong indication that fraudulent information is provided on any application — international or domestic — admissions offers are rescinded.

“We’re not talking about what might be considered to be minor mistakes or kind of differences between an official transcript and what is provided,” Urban said. “What we have seen is wholesale incorrect information — a completely different transcript that was provided.”

Kyle Fisher, a sergeant for the Lehigh University Police Department, said he couldn’t speak about the specific cases of Dabuo, Opoku, Oppong and Sowah-Nai since the investigation is ongoing, but he said general fraud closely aligns with forgery and theft by deception, and he referenced former Lehigh student Aryan Anand’s case from last summer.

“It can get confusing, but…at the core, you’re deceiving somebody to get something,” Fisher said. “Fraud in this last situation was altering documents in order to receive financial compensation from the university and admission into the university. So, fraud is basically deception to achieve a desirable outcome.”

Urban said Anand’s case triggered the review of all international students’ application materials, which is what led to the arrests of Dabuo, Oppong, Opoku and Sowah-Nai. 

Political science professor Holona Ochs said she disagrees with the way the case was handled and believes the admissions office must take more responsibility for the fact that these individuals were admitted to the university in the first place. 

“I know that the director of admissions feels a tremendous amount of guilt for how this has gone, and I know that he’s not the only one,” she said. “But we also have to acknowledge that our admissions process was not perfect.”

Ochs said in a conversation she had with the provost, it seemed clear to her that the university thought it necessary to refer for prosecution because the staff believed this was theft from other students who would have come here “honestly.”

She said, especially as the cases are ongoing and fraud has not been proven, she thinks the Admissions Office failed to properly review the four former students’ applications. 

In a follow-up interview in May, Urban wrote, “This was fraud and not a failure of our admissions processes.”

Ochs said if the Admissions Office had found false information when reviewing the former students’ applications, they would not have been admitted to Lehigh in the first place. Had the admission process been executed correctly, she explained, the entire situation would have been avoided. 

“We’re completely overlooking the fact that our admissions process is the reason that they’re in jail right now,” she said. 

Urban said the Admissions Office is always looking to improve the processes through which it obtains information and the kinds of information it gathers. He said for international student applications — regardless of country of origin — it’s more difficult to verify information. 

“We are looking at those processes to make sure that they correspond to this kind of industry standard,” Urban said. “But we’re (also) looking for ways in which those could be improved, (and we want to) do better verification of materials that is provided either by the student or from the student’s school.”

The Admissions Office wrote that its processes are continuously reviewed internally and improved based on emerging applicant trends and needs. 

“We are rigorously evaluating additional protocols to prevent the kinds of fraud committed in this case,” the office wrote.

An email from the Admissions Office on March 3 indicated updates to admissions protocols are in the works. 

“To safeguard the integrity of the admissions process, Lehigh Admissions has further enhanced its review and verification procedures since these cases of fraud were found,” the office wrote. “This includes additional training for staff to detect and recognize fraud, enhanced methods for confirming the authenticity of transcripts and application documents, and integrating third-party resources to validate credentials as needed.”

Urban wrote that the university does not routinely communicate details of the admissions processes, but alterations to the processes are made annually. 

He wrote that the changes made this year involve more vetting of credentials and materials — such as transcripts — and these materials should be provided to the university by the students’ high schools. 

He also wrote that the university receives hundreds of questions about the process every year, and “the university provides substantial information to applicants about (the) admissions process.”

The fallout from the admissions scandal extended far beyond academic integrity concerns. As the legal process unfolded, attention turned to the immigration implications facing the students whose acceptances had been rescinded.

For international students, university enrollment is directly tied to their legal status in the U.S. Once Lehigh withdrew their admissions, the four students were no longer in compliance with the conditions of their F-1 Visas, setting off a chain of required actions from the university.

This reflects a broader federal trend in which the Department of Homeland Security revoked the Visas of several international students, prompting abrupt departures and leaving others scrambling to understand their legal options.

After the initial arrests, the school had to contact Immigration and Naturalization Services through a Student and Exchange Visitor Program. While the university doesn’t have a role in the deportation process, Urban said each student’s Visa has been canceled. 

Fisher said the government will look at the F-1 Visas previously held by Dabuo, Opoku, Oppong and Sowah-Nai as being obtained through fraudulent means. 

An F-1 Visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows foreign citizens to study in the U.S. 

Renneisen said Immigration and Customs Enforcement monitors F-1 Visas and normally doesn’t take custody of those without citizenship who are accused of a crime until the criminal proceedings have concluded. 

But if someone has committed fraud in excess of $10,000, he said it’s considered to be an aggravated felony — a deportable offense. He said even if the former students are acquitted, they no longer have legal status to remain in the U.S. 

He said this is because no longer being enrolled at Lehigh is a violation of their F-1 status, and failure to maintain F-1 status subjects them to removal.

“They use what’s called an ICE detainer,” Renneisen said. “So, essentially, ICE will request that a city or state not release an inmate for 48 hours, even after the person has served their sentence, so that ICE can take custody of the person and move them to an ICE detention facility until removal proceedings are concluded.”

The Admissions Office wrote that its staff can’t comment on the ongoing legal proceedings and said publicly available court documents should be used for specifics around hearing schedules and given testimony.

In his initial interview, Urban said instead of speculating, Lehigh’s administration is relying on the legal process.

“I think, given the evidence that I’m aware of and given the information that I’m aware of, I’m confident that they will not be found unguilty,” Urban said.

In an institutional statement, Lehigh administration wrote, “We are aware of the disposition in two of the admissions fraud cases and await the disposition of the remaining cases. Lehigh stands by its decision to rescind the admission of the former students and turn the matter over to the authorities. We firmly believe that legal action is the appropriate course given the severity of the fraud committed. This is necessary to protect the integrity of the admissions process and to ensure fair and equitable opportunities for talented students across the globe.”

The cases of Dabuo and Oppong remain open, with criminal hearings at the Northampton County Court of Common Pleas scheduled for June 3.