TRENTON N.J.

The former top administrator of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey's Camden medical school gave passing grades to unqualified students, potentially endangering their innocent patients, according to a federal monitor's report.

In the report released Monday, the federal monitor investigating the scandal-plagued university wrote that the probe confirmed allegations against Paul Mehne ranging from grade changing and violating school policy for student examinations to financial irregularities.

The 14-page report from former federal judge Herbert J. Stern states the grading improprieties "could cause untold damage to the lives of innocent individuals at the hands of under-trained or unprepared medical professionals."

Mehne had been the associate dean for academic and student affairs at the University's Robert Wood Johnson Medical School campus in Camden since 1995. He was suspended with pay in June and then retired at the end of the month.

A telephone message left Monday at Mehne's home in Havertown, Pa., a Philadelphia suburb, was not returned.

"Paul Mehne's betrayal of the trust placed in him by the university, his colleagues and his students is unconscionable," said UMDNJ spokeswoman Anna Farneski.

Since removing him, she said, the university has made numerous changes, including requiring that all grades be sent directly to administrators at the main campus in New Brunswick and adding three new administrative positions to increase oversight of the Camden campus. Farneski said every Camden student who graduated has passed a rigorous national licensing exam as required by law.

According to Stern's report, an undisclosed number of students got passing grades at the direction of Mehne even though they had not completed required clerkships in which they got hands-on training in hospitals or clinics. Some were improperly permitted to retake exams.

Over a six-year period ending in February, not a single student from the Camden campus was referred to a committee that deals with grade-related issues. The report called that "incomprehensible," noting 357 students from the New Brunswick and Piscataway campuses were referred for review over the six years.