As a fixed-term faculty member who worked in MSU’s Education Policy Center, Shakrani used unattributed material during a 2010 report examining the consequences of school district consolidation.

Senior associate provost June Youatt made the decision to release him from the university and suspend him without pay beginning April 27. Shakrani’s contract was due to expire May 15.

“There was cause to investigate (the professor),” Youatt said. “That’s the general process we use anytime there’s a concern.”

The study initially was based in part of a similar project conducted by researchers at Syracuse University.

Conclusions from the report were outlined by Shakrani in a Detroit Free Press article he wrote, which ran in the paper on March 17, about five weeks before the investigative committee released their findings.

The article focused on Shakrani’s belief that consolidating Michigan school districts would help the state deal with funding cuts.

Shakrani could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening.

Irregularities in the report first were found by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, or the Mackinac Center, last August. The Midland-based think tank discovered problems with Shakrani’s attribution in the report and alerted university officials.

Youatt said the findings validate the university’s system for dealing with accusations of plagiarism.

“It just reinforces how well our processes work. From time to time, there is concern expressed about how someone has approached their work,” she said. Carole Ames, dean of the College of Education, said in a statement that MSU acted properly.

“The investigation and decision process was conducted at the university level according to MSU policies regulating allegations of academic misconduct,” Ames said.