Secretary of Education notices degree mills

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by John Bear, Nov 3, 2003.

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  1. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    Under continuing pressure from Senator Collins of Maine, US Secretary of Education Rod Paige wrote to the good senator, explaining why the Department of Education has "potential difficulties" in identifying mills, but also that he "recognizes that this problem is serious, and requires careful consideration by the Department as to whether a federal response is appropriate."

    He suggests convening a meeting of the people in Oregon, Illinois, North Dakota, and New Jersey who are at the forefront of laws making use of unaccredited degrees illegal, to discuss federal options, if any.

    The letter can be found at
    http://www.ed.gov/policy/highered/guid/secletter/031009.html?exp=0
    and it, and the other stuff, through an advanced search at ed.gov for the exact phrase 'diploma mill.'

    I was surprised and pleaed, looking at www.ed.gov for the first time in a while, that if you search for "diploma mill" or "degree mill" you get to quite a good exposition of the problem, complete with (this is the part that surprised me) a link to the Oregon site (which now includes the Gollin site) and to yours truly -- so perhaps in the only way they easily can, ed.gov is making important information available to those who seek it.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 3, 2003
  2. drwetsch

    drwetsch New Member

    Overall, attention by the feds at this level is important and long overdue. If the pursuit for better standards persist it will help prevent embarrassment -- such as in the Laura Callahan situation at DHS. I hope OPM and agencies become more vigilant when screening applications.

    By the way, anyone know the latest on Callahan? Last I read she was on administrative leave.

    John
     
  3. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

    They were advertising and accepting applications for her old job. The Laura Callahan case ended with a whimper rather than a bang. They obviously wanted to minimize the media exposure.
     
  4. tcnixon

    tcnixon Active Member


    The truly interesting point for me is whether she will be forced to leave government service. I suspect that she ends up in a job somewhere else within government in a relatively short period of time. By all accounts, she was competent.

    My guess is that her next application will only include legitimately earned degrees. Absent a journalist actually doing his job, that's what will likely happen.


    Tom Nixon
     
  5. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    I think Callahan's appeal has yet to be heard.

    The people at ABC suggested that they have heard there is a political angle here. ABC is planning an 'exposé' of quite a high level Republican with a dubious degree -- sometime in the next two weeks -- and they seem to believe that the reason that Senator Collins declined to comment on this latest time bomb is because the person is a Republican, while Callahan is apparently a Clinton appointee.
     
  6. roysavia

    roysavia New Member

    Which is why "Rip Van Winkle" and the Secretary of Education are good bed buddies. Since Callahan is a Clinton appointee, you can be certain that this fiasco will be swept under the rug for another 10 years. Callahan will most likely be relocated to another department or branch of government.
    The Department of Education's "potential difficulty" in identifying diploma mills boils down to one of two things. Does the DofE risk getting dismantled for pointing fingers at high level appointees with fake degrees - or second, is it time for the DofE to pass the buck and keep the feds out of this?
    Pleasant dreams Secretary Rod Paige.
     
  7. MarkIsrael@aol.com

    [email protected] New Member

  8. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    When John Bear, Allen Ezell, and I were interviewed on "Good Morning America" about Charles Abel's fake doctorate from Columbus--Abel is a highly placed Pentagon official--Senator Collins refused comment. So did every other politician contacted. "Sharp eye"? "Eyes shut" is more like it.
     
  9. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    Sen. Collins had a great deal to say about Laura Callahan in Homeland Security and delined comment on Abell.

    Callahan: Democrat, Clinton appointee
    Abell: Republican, Bush appointee
    Collins: Republican

    You don't suppose . . . no, perish the thought . . .
     
  10. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

  11. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    It usually isn't wise for politicians (or any prominent individual) to talk freely about things that they aren't acquainted with, particularly when TV cameras are shoved in their face.

    It's too easy to say ill considered things that are later regretted and it's too easy to be manipulated by other people's hidden agendas.

    This is a touchy subject. There's the potential for it to become a witch hunt, if every government employee with a non-accredited degree ends up being crucified. There's the potential for it to become crudely and stupidly partisan, if both sides start holding auto da fe's in front of the TV news inquisitors, designed to embarass the opposing party in an election year.

    Personally, I think that the best way to address this problem is by an implacably efficient and impeccably sane bipartisan inquiry.
     

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