Amid Probe of Bogus Degrees, Government's Ability to Detect 'Diploma Mill'

[maddezmom]

As a Senate committee prepares to hold hearings on whether federal employees have used taxpayer dollars to purchase bogus college degrees, a key House chairman is raising the sticky question of how to define "diploma mill."



"I am most concerned that federal employees may not have access to information that would allow them to determine whether a degree represents legitimate educational achievement," Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) said in a recent letter to the Office of Personnel Management.

~snip~

From outward appearances, diploma mills might look like a college or institution of higher learning, but the degrees often are awarded for cash rather than academic achievement.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, and Davis have sponsored a months-long investigation by the General Accounting Office to determine whether federal employees use bogus degrees to get jobs and promotions and whether any high-level federal officials have used such degrees to obtain security clearances.

~snip~
more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12979-2004May9.html

[yellowcanine]

1. Uh oh - this could be interesting. Some of the biggest users of

"diploma mills" are right wing fundie bible thumpin evilution bashing types. There might be a few of those hanging out in the White House and in the Republican Caucus in Congress.

[maddezmom]

2. must be a huge breakdown in the system if they give security clearances

based on faked diplomas

[AlCzervik]

3. The guy that Gov. Gropenfuher

put in charge of the DMV was found to have a bogus diploma, The Gov said it didnt matter but a week later he quit.

[playahata1]

4. Many servicemen/-women are vulnerable to the lure of diploma mills.

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=20980&archive=true

Many military personnel are strongly encouraged to get degrees if they want any chance of promotions, commissions, etc. Debra Dickerson (Master's from St. Mary's University in Texas, law degree from Harvard), in her memoir "An American Story," vividly describes the drive for academic credentials amongst herself and her fellow Air Force junior officers.

[Jackpine Radical]

5. Would that be Thomas M. Davis III, M.A., D.D., Ph.D., LLD (R-Va.) ?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

6. I know of one bogus degree from Yale.

[playahata1]

12. LOL!

Ain't that the truth!

[PartyPooper]

14. And, Bill Clinton was a distinguished Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University.

It kinda' shows how far the bar has been lowered since Junior was installed by SCOTUS, eh?

:eyes:

[maddezmom]

7. update on CBS: Top Officials Hold Fake Degrees

~snip~
Assistant Secretary of Defense Charles Abell has a master's from Columbus University, a diploma mill Louisiana shut down. Deputy Assistant Secretary Patricia Walker lists among her degrees, a bachelor's from Pacific Western, a diploma mill banned in Oregon and under investigation in Hawaii.

CBS News requested interviews with both officials. The Pentagon turned us down, saying, "We don't consider it an issue."

~snip~

You don't want somebody with a fake degree working in Homeland Security," says Contreras. "You don't want somebody with a fake degree teaching your children or designing your bridges."

But we found employees with diploma mill degrees at the new Transportation Security Administration, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Departments of Treasury and Education, where Rene Drouin sits on an advisory committee. He has degrees from two diploma mills including Kensington University.

~snip~

more:http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/10/eveningnews/main616664.shtml

[AspenRose]

8. Name it and frame it

http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/1_1/daily_news/20849-1.html

A high-ranking career official in the Homeland Security Department apparently obtained her doctorate from a Wyoming diploma mill.

Laura L. Callahan, now senior director in the office of department CIO Steven Cooper, states on her professional biography that she “holds a Ph.D. in Computer Information Systems from Hamilton University.” Callahan, who is also president of the Association for Federal IRM and a member of the CIO Council, is commonly called by the title “Dr.” Callahan’s resume says she began her civil service career in 1984. Before joining HSD, she was deputy CIO at the Labor Department.

Hamilton University, according to an Internet search, is located in Evanston, Wyo. It is affiliated with and supported by Faith in the Order of Nature Fellowship Church, also in Evanston. The state of Wyoming does not license Hamilton because it claims a religious exemption. Oregon has identified Hamilton University as a diploma mill unaccredited by any organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

"Faith in the Order of Nature" church? I'm sorry, but that just sounds like, "you know, those (fill-in-the-blank) people who aren't like us aren't in the order of nature" type of things.

Be afraid....be very afraid...she was HOMELAND SECURITY!

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

9. Does this include the bogus "honorary" degree just given to Karl Rove?

My apologies to the fellow DU-er who posted this story when it broke. I don't recall their name or the thread title but here is the story:

http://www.trivalleyherald.com/Stories/0,1413,86~10669~2137534,00.html

Karl Rove speaks to graduates

"LYNCHBURG, Va. -- President Bush's chief political adviser told graduates of the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University on Saturday to judge leaders on the basis of character.

America needs people who have "the moral clarity and courage to do what's right, regardless of consequence, fashion or fad," Karl Rove said.

"You either have values ingrained in your heart and soul that will not change with the wind or you don't," he said."

snip

"Rove, who said he never earned a college degree, was presented an honorary doctorate of humanities by Falwell for his "commitment to conservative ideas."

[maddezmom]

10. sure why not, it includes Assistant Secretary of Defense Charles Abell

:eyes:

[BattyDem]

11. Are these people ...

ever honest about anything? :mad: :puke:

[playahata1]

13. If that's the case, shouldn't Patrick Henry College

be considered a diploma mill? I read somewhere that it does not want to be accredited because it would be required to teach biology and the other sciences the way they should be taught -- contrary to the Biblical account of creation. I have also heard that Bob Jones University is the same way.

[Just Me]

15. I.E. IT'S NOT WHAT YOU KNOW OR WHAT YOU'VE EARNED,...

,...it's WHO you know. Get over it,...we do not live in a "merit" based society (at least not since the neocons have reigned).

We never really have,...although there were bounds and leaps made during the 90s,...with corporatists taking advantage.

When we control "greed",...we will establish a healthy democracy.