Charlotte Chief of Police - Degree Issues...

I thought some of you police folk might enjoy this article about the chief of police in Charlotte, NC.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/597/story/267138.html

 

The regionally accredited university awarded the degree despite the student, now a police chief, having not completed the minimum academic residency requirement. It does not mention whether he had otherwise earned the necessary number of credit hours for the degree, say 120 credit hours, and merely had to complete the academic residency, common for many transfer students, so the university could award the degree. The police chief used the duly awarded degree to obtain employment that required a bachelor degree as the minimum acceptable education level. The university can amend its degree revocation rules but the fact remains the university awarded the degree and the recipient used it in good faith. How does this rise to the level of a scandal? If any party deserves admonishing it is the university, in my opinion.

 

not a scandal, but to say that the police chief has no responsibility would not be completely transparant. I think that he knew that taking 2 courses at VCU was not the normal requirement for degree conferral. It appears to me that there may have been some sort of collusion between the police chief and the university to "make it happen". Both the university and the police chief need to answer questions honestly about what exactly happened...

 

This is a tempest in a teapot which has been going on for what seems like forever; it seems like a case of someone bending the residency rules rather than fraudulently awarding a degree.

Much ado about nothing IMO, and it seems like a case of political payback.

 

To quote Johnathan Higgins (from Magnum, P.I.), "Quite."

 

To anyone that has ever negotiated anything, beware, if this is the standard!

 

If the chief earned his degree from TESC or any other RA school with more liberal transfer policies, this would be a non-story. Well, it's a non-story anyway, but it wouldn't have made the papers.

 

Follow-Up Story - I wonder if he'll go to Excelsior???

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/597/story/282521.html

 

Certainly not, a "non-story".

You have a guy that accepted a degree for which he knew he had not met the requirements. He paid for that schooling using a work credit card he was not allowed to use for that purpose, and charged more than tuition reimbursement allowed.

After he got the "Bachelor Degree, Interdisciplinary Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University" that he had not really earned, he went and falsified job resumes claiming that he had earned the “Bachelor Degree, Criminal Justice, Virginia Commonwealth University.”

He got the degree, which the school now agrees was awarded improperly because of people breaking college policy. The college says more improperly made deals might have happened, but people in the investigation did not cooperate.

If this corrupt chief had gotten a degree at TESC, Exceslior or another RA School and got a degree for which he had met the requirements, it would still be a story. He would not have had what was needed for a degree at TESC either without more work. He didn't have what was needed to graduate from almost any college.

Who knows what they will find next, as this is still being investigated?

http://www.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?p=278371&highlight=monroe#post278371

 

The degree was issued outside of university policy regarding transfer credit; not exactly the crime of the century, and something I'm willing to bet is done across the country on a regular basis. In other words, he was allowed to transfer 114 credits rather than the maximum of 90 usually allowed.

How the chief paid for the degree and what he called it are on him; my point is that this seems to be a simple case of "bending the rules" by the school rather than the national conspiracy some want to make it out to be.

 

So he just magically got 37 exceptions/waivers, that are not really waivers the college allows, without asking for them or submitting paperwork? Are we to pretend that secret deals did not take place, even though they have in some details been proven already? It is also more than having the right number of credits, you have to have credits in the right areas.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/09/08/vcu

 

Of course there were, but if you don't think secret deals take place every single day in academia, I have some prime land in Florida I'd like to speak to you about.

 

No, deals like this do not take place everyday. We are not talking about a student making a deal with the school via the people in power to make decsions on behalf of the school. This is not a waiver deal agreed to between student and college.

What happened here is that deals were make with people at the school who had no power to make deals. These people conspired to get around the people who were properly in charge. Individuals at the college did things for Monroe that were not in their job descriptions to do.

Basically some employees of the college in the end made a deal where they stoled a blank diploma, put Monroe's name on it, and then slipped in into the pile of those to be issued without the proper people in charge to review degrees being issued, being involved.

 

If what you're saying is true (and I have yet to see anything in print even close to that), then I'll reverse my opinion. However, unless you have inside information then all you're doing is speculating.

 

VCU Monroe Scandal

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news/vcu_monroe_scandal.html

 

The Fraternal Order of Police in Charlotte is demanding an investigation into the controversy surrounding Charlotte Mecklenburg police chief Rodney Monroe's college degree.

http://www.wbt.com/news/details.cfm?article_id=44095

 

While I do not believe that this is the "crime of the century", there is certainly some deceptive behavior going on here on the part of the leader of a major metropolitan police force. The extent of that deception is still up in the air for me, but it does not look good. I believe that is worth looking into.

There is already enough skeptisicm from the general public about the police. To have a leader that has choosen to accept a degree that he knew he had not properly earned and falsify his resume stating a degree in Criminal Justice is a pretty big deal. It would not be such a big deal if he was applying to be the manager at Burger King, but for chief of police in the largest city in North Carolina...it's a big deal!

 

I still see nothing which indicates someone stole a blank diploma and filled in the chief's name; it still seems to be a case of bending residency requirements.

If the chief returns the degree, then is immediately awarded a degree from TESC or another institution with an unlimited transfer credit policy, will that quiet the hysteria?

 

Absolutely!!!

Though, I am not certain that he has the neccesary requirements for a TESC degree. The issue is legitamacy...

 

He would certainly be close to meeting the degree requirements with 114 credit hours transferred to VCU plus the 6 credit hours earned at VCU. At worse, he would need a few credit hours to meet TESC's specific academic requirements.

As to him claiming a criminal justice degree when in fact it was interdisciplinary studies is somewhat of a red herring provided the position did not specifically call for a degree in criminal justice and assuming he had enough credit hours in criminal justice for it to be a major or similar. If he had a BSBA and claimed a BSCJ, toss the book at him for falsifying academic credentials. However, misrepresentation of the area of study on an employment application might call into question someone's integrity.

At least he did not purchase a degree from a diploma mill like so many others in public service seem to have done over the years. Fortunately, those people are being unearthed and exposed to sunlight.