INDIANAPOLIS – A faculty representative claims that Purdue University is manipulating job definitions to disguise an overgrown administration and create the illusion more professors are teaching.

Faculty Senate Chairman J. Paul Robinson said that postdoctoral students are sometimes classified as faculty to boost the number of professors and that clerical staff reductions have been used to make it look like the school’s administration is shrinking.

The Journal & Courier reports (http://on.jconline.com/TQzXvu) that Robinson questioned the honesty of the practice Monday during a presentation to the University Senate.

Purdue President Mitch Daniels said resources should be focused on teaching and that research and job classifications should be counted correctly.

Documents show Purdue’s administration has grown by 311 positions since 2007, while faculty is the lowest in eight years.