This is a post for Rich Douglas and other with a historical interest in degree mills. The only person who ever wrote an in-depth dissertation on the topic was Robert Reid, at Columbia University, 1960-63. In the on-line Columbia library catalog is a tantalizing note that all of Reid's original research materials are in three banker boxes in the shelf of special collections there. Ezell, Gollin and I were all in NY this week to put on degree-mill presentations at AACRAO, the registrars' group. On Tuesday evening, we took a cab up to Columbia, where Gollin had made an arrangement for the three boxes to be available in the special collections room, and indeed they were -- apparently untouched for more than fifty years. I felt a little bit like Howard Carter peering into King Tut's tomb, since the others gave me the privilege of the first look. "Wonderful things," indeed. I can't begin to describe and summarize now, but I will in times to come. Sufficient to say, we learned about more than 200 degree mills we'd never heard of, in most cases complete with catalogues and other literature. We found numerous speeches and letters and articles by politicians and educators, lamenting the huge rise in fake schools and degrees, and urging the authorities to do something, before it was too late. These were written in the 1940s and 1950s, but were eerily similar to things written in the last two years. We also learned that the FTC enjoined more than 50 fake schools from operating between 1945 and 1955 -- which is about 50 more than they have done in the last decade. Lots of treasures, for those of us who are fascinated by such things. We only had three hours, and the only usable copier wasn't working. Nothing can leave the all-glass room (where pencils, not pens are allowed), but one is permitted to bring a digital or microfilm camera into the room. We decided seriously to explore seeking a modest grant for this purpose. Nuggets will be shared as time permits.
GIs. GI Bill. The microfilm camera you would want is called a "planetary camera." A fixed and fixed-focus camera above a fixed platform or plane for the documents. Columbia probably still has some of them stuck away in storerooms.
I am EXTREMELY jealous of the three of you. Being one of the only four people to have ever written an academic research study related to the topic, I would have been in raptures to be part of it!!! I wonder if the University of Adelaide would kick in some dosh? Cheers, George
We who are interested in this fun stuff will be in eager anticipation of the nuggets. You could either use a "planetary camera" (as decimon suggests), a laptop computer with a flatbed scanner, or a digital camera. The advantage of using a scanner is that you will have a digital copy that you can retrieve and print at any time. This may be advantageous if you wish to include any of this material in a futre book (hint, hint). Tony Piña Administrator, Northeastern Illinois University
If the particular scanner is capable of capturing text, seals, signatures, etc, on documents of various colors. If, that is, there are documents with those characteristics. I'd test some sample documents before lugging that scanner to the site.
Good point. Fortunately, even small and inexpensive scanners, weighing just a couple of pounds, are now capable of doing these quite well and can save the files in various formats (including PDF, which will preserve all of the look and formatting of the original). This kind system can be less cumbersome to use than a document camera. Reproduction of the scanned images is also less expensive. Tony
Wrong – 1950s material requires the same technology. You take your Minox Camera: http://www.cosmonet.org/camera/minox_e.htm Put it in your copy stand: http://www.minox.info/minox/photo8/copy.html And shoot as many pictures as you would like. You are then so amazed by the results that you join: http://www.minox.org/ And submit your photos to: http://www.minoxography.org/index1.html And yes – I have a number of Minox cameras from the 50s and early 60s and I shoot at least two packs of film each month. Besides this board – this is my other hobby.
Those fans of unaccredited schools please note, it is safe to assume that in George's statement there's an implied "accredited" that wasn't stated. It is implied because unaccredited dissertations are not generally part of the academic knowledge base which means to me that unaccredited doctorates are not fully valid.
Hi Bill, Ezell and Bear cite four research studies on the related area - 1 Ed.D. dissertation, 2 Ph.D. dissertations and 1 M.Ed. (Mgmnt) thesis (mine). I have done a search on thesis databases and must say I have not found any more. If there are, in existence, some unaccredited studies in the area, I would be very interested in obtaining copies. Cheers, George
Hopefully, Dr. Bear, Allen and George will receive a grant in a timely fashion to further investigate this prescient dissertation. The results of their investigation would make great reading. (I second Tony's hint) What field did Robert Reid go into? Did he do any further work in the area of diploma mills or distance education?
Hi George, That's my point. Especially since UMI now refuses to even include unaccredited dissertations in their database (at least last time I checked which was a few years ago), there's no way to reasonably locate research done at unaccredited universities. From my view it is very difficult to see how an unaccredited dissertation can be said to have furthered the academic knowledge.
Did UMI or ProQuest ever include dissertations from non-accredited institutions in their databases? Tony
Re: Re: What Allen Ezell, George Gollin and I did last Tuesday I have ordered a copy of this dissertation from my library, so will report back as soon as I have it. I am sure JB has a copy though. Cheers, George
Expressing this from a more metaphysical perspective, it is very difficult to see how an unaccredited dissertation can be said to have existed at all. Jack
So, (correct me if I am wrong) there is absolutely no central archive/ listing/ database similar to http://www.ndltd.org? Research is supposed to significantly contribute to a body of knowledge, and the only way to disseminate this is to have publications and research freely available. How can this occur in the unaccredited world? Do unaccredited universities want to publish their research? Cheers, George
Tom H: "What field did Robert Reid go into? Did he do any further work in the area of diploma mills or distance education?" John: He apparently went into college administration. One job was Dean at Kendall College. I don't believe he did more in the world of degree mills. In our book, we cite one brief and wistful letter I got from him in the late 70's expressing sadness that so little had been done to deal with the problems. Incidentally and intriguingly, in his archive was a file of testimonial letters from people on the value of correspondence education. Reid seems to have accumulated it on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of International Correspondence Schools, in the 40s. There are enthusiastic letters with, apparently (according to Ezell) original signatures from Thomas A. Edison, Charles Steinmetz, and Dwight Eisenhower, among many othes.
Yes, UMI did include unaccredited dissertations. This practice was apparently discontinued in 1999. They were not included routinely by any particular unaccredited institutions, as far as I know, apparently it was done more by request of the authors. From my study of a particular PhD fraud http://follies.werewolves.org/PhDFraud/index4.html#umi P.S. At least one "dissertation" was apparently listed from from Sussex College of Technology. This is a blatant degree mill that operated for many years out of the UK. I would guess that some doctorate drop out purchased the diploma from Sussex just to get a rejected dissertation published.
