WV Pol claims Harvard Pub Pol Masters for Extension degree

Some puffing seems to have caught up with a House candidate in WV:

<<Wakim also was asked by reporters to explain his claim to have earned an [sic] master’s degree in public policy from Harvard. Only the prestigious John F. Kennedy School of Government can award such a graduate degree.

Wakim, though, did not attend the Kennedy School. Instead, he graduated from the Harvard Extension School, and he received a “Masters in Liberal Arts.”

The Harvard Extension School, which is affiliated with but not part of Harvard University, has an “open” enrollment policy, meaning that anyone can take its courses, while the Kennedy School is much more exclusive.>>

 

Here's an article on Click here for an article detailing the allegations and his defense.

Click here for his campaign website. It looks like he changed the type of degree since being "outed".

Interesting though.

 

Open yes, well sort of....easy not a chance....

"Wakim added that he never sought to confuse his degree from the Extension School, which has less rigorous admission standards"

I wonder if they know that you have to pass 3 classes with a minimum B to be accepted officially into the program. Also, of the 18 or so classes that they offer in in government from the Extension school at least 11 are taught by full time Harvard professors. The rest are from UVM, Naval War College, BC - gee I guess that is a substandard education. I am sure that Harvard professors must "dumb-down" their classes because of the open admissions policies.....yeah right! Tell me another one, obviously who ever went after this is using a straw man argument about a bullet point on a CV to tarnish his opponent's reputation.

 

Re: Open yes, well sort of....easy not a chance....

Certainly there was an agenda behind pointing out the discrepencies, certainly nothing new across the political specturm.

Mostly posted this because orf an earlier discussion on how extension grads should list their degree.

Regards,
GE

 

Agree

Couldn't agree more with you both, I always wondered why some veterans say they were in a war, when in reality they were just activated to a local base. I don't know this guys background but it does seem a little shady to say that he had an MA in Public Policy. But, such is politics in the good old USA.

 

Love the fact that he got his low grade, a substandard for grad school B-, in a "moral issues" course. Big surprise there!

 

If I were an average voter in his district, I don't think I would have made a distinction between the two Harvards, or the fact that it was a concentration in government as opposed to Public Policy. I probably would not have distinguished Gulf War Veteran (desert storm) with just a veteran around the time of the war.

I think that his actual qualifications are just as good as his imagined ones. What counts is what the politician actually does for the people of his district IMHO.

 

Interesting article!

It is a still problem of one's integrity... Having a degree from Havard Extension School is never a problem. It is as good as other degrees. Less rigorous admission intake doesn't imply less rigorous graduation requirements.

But it is a problem for someone to confuse the degree. He never meant to, but he did. There should be no problem stating a concentration in "Government", but he chose to put in "Public Policy".

It is more than an integrity issue. It is adsurb that he took the degree from HES but didn't respect the "extension" nature of the study. If he isn't proud of it, don't put it on his campaign website.

If he preceives the education he did in HES is as good as in JFK School of Government, he shouldn't have the need to put down "Publicy Policy" and avoided "HES" in his website.

Not respecting the school/programme he attended, not respecting himself as receiving full education that should be as good as other programme in the University, I am wondering how he can ask people to give him votes.