Auburn University admissions officer facing allegations of race-based hiring resigns
An Internal email confirms the departure of an admissions official accused by insiders of altering criteria to benefit black applicants.
The university has denied the allegations.
An Auburn University admissions official accused of using race-based admissions has resigned.
In May, inside sources at the Alabama-based university said that several admissions officials had altered admissions criteria to increase the likelihood that black students would be admitted.
[RELATED: College Board ends demographic tool used by colleges to skirt affirmative action ban]
The accused officials included Phil Verpil, then the assistant vice president for Enrollment Management, and the executive director of undergraduate admissions.
Now, 1819 News, which first reported the charges, has published an internal email stating that Verpil had left the school. The email makes no mention of the reason for his resignation or the charges that he engaged in race-based admissions.
“I wanted to share that Dr. Phil Verpil has submitted his resignation,” Joffery Gaymon, the vice president for Enrollment Management, said in the email. “He shared that he is grateful to Auburn University for the opportunity to serve in this role.”
“We appreciate his contributions to our team and wish him well,” Gaymon continued.
Gaymon, who was Verpil’s superior, was another official accused of using race-based admissions and of directing him to participate as well.
“We’re just thankful justice has been served,” an anonymous inside source at the office told 1819 News about the resignation. “[I]t’s almost too little, too late.”
“I hate that the people who changed their lives for this, there’s no reparations for them,” they added.
In June, many of the university’s admissions office tactics to target racial minorities became public through the 1819 News report. Those included making test scores optional and pursuing specific “Target Populations,” with “Black/African American” listed as the only race category.
“Verpil, at the behest of Gaymon, has been able to manipulate the admissions process in a way to benefit black applicants in multiple ways,” a source said at the time.
An Auburn spokesman denied using race-based admissions at the time of the initial report and has not commented on Verpil’s resignation as of publication.
“Admissions policies are designed to ensure that all applicants are evaluated fairly, with a focus on academic rigor,” the spokesman said in June.
In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that race-based affirmative action in college admissions was unconstitutional in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.
In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order threatening the loss of federal funding for universities that continue to promote race-based practices. The order cites the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision against “affirmative action.”
The Trump administration announced in August that it would require universities to submit admissions data to help identify race-based practices.
Campus Reform contacted Auburn University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
