This is the original analysis by one of Columbia's math professors that led to this investigation: <a href="https://www.math.columbia.edu/~thaddeus/ranking/investigation.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.math.columbia.edu/~thaddeus/ranking/investigatio...</a><p>My own reading is that the math professor's analysis is quite credible, and that Columbia did indeed cheat the rankings by reporting "creative statistics".