Ashland School of Business at Denver State University

Maori TV chief in gun over MBA degree.

 

And now he's being sacked, and it's page one news

Just had a call, this midnight, from an editor of the New Zealand Herald. Apparently the Prime Minister has decided to sack this bloke because of his fake MBA, and that is likely to be the big page one story of the day there.

 

Board sacks Maori TV chief executive

 

Blame game begins as Davy goes.

A snippet:

• ... But the Herald had alerted Mr Fox the previous day that Mr Davy's degree could be bought over the internet for US$159 ($354) and had been raising questions about other aspects of his background since Wednesday. When faxed copies of the MBA available over the internet, Mr Fox told the Herald: "Look, I have to say I'm trying very hard to be calm here ... You haven't got one thing that has stood up." But yesterday he told reporters that he flew from his Mahia home on Saturday and confronted Mr Davy that evening to seek an explanation. He suspended him, and the board's legal advice was to give the chief executive until 5pm yesterday to supply a satisfactory explanation. "He hasn't been able to do that so I have gone on to dismiss him." ...

 

John was not kidding when he suggested that this would be a big story! A sampling:

Chief Executive Officer Announcement. (This is the press release from Maori TV.)

Recruiters say reference checks part of the deal.

PM confirms announcement on Maori TV chief expected today.

Not enough checks on Davy's background, says Harawira.

Davy's sacking just a glitch, says Maori TV chairman.

News reports not a factor in Davy sacking, says TV chairman.

Maori TV board and Government resist calls for heads to roll.

Allow television board to get on with the job, says Fox.

John Davy: From Whistler to the world.

PM hints that Maori TV's recruiters face legal action.

Degree cheats graduate to big time. (This one has picture of a Denver State University degree.)

Assurances Money Will Be Retrieved.

Finger Pointed At Recruitment Agency.

Davy dismissed from Maori TV.

Govt points finger of blame.

More thorough checks needed. (This one has the following statement: "Mr Saunders says it has also been found 25 per cent of degrees claimed in the US are bogus." Saunders is Waikato's Chamber of Commerce President.)

Maori TV head sacked.

PM blames recruitment agency.

Boss of new TV channel sacked for false credentials. (This one from Australia -- all the above are from NZ.)

Sacking under scrutiny. (This site has streaming video of 7 TV stories -- 25 minutes in all.)

Why did Maori TV use Millennium People?.

Questions For Oral Answer Tuesday, 30 April 2002. (Questions in New Zealand Parliament.)

OK, I'm stopping here because it's endless. And this is just one day after the firing. And I skipped any news site that asked me to register.

Amazing!

 

Sorry, I posted the wrong press release at top of my previous post. Here is today's (actually still tomorrow's for me):

MAORI TV SERVICE BOARD DISMISSES CEO.

 

Opposition members of Parliament are having fun.

Penny Webster of ACT (New Zealand liberal party) implies that the goverment set up Maori TV to fail: Was Maori TV Set Up to Fail?.

National party spokesperson Katherine Rich calls for more sackings: Heads should roll. It's worth quoting a few snippets from this one:

• "Derek Fox and his board are responsible for this botch up but this Government won’t sack him because he would then pose a threat to them by trying to get his political party off the ground."
  ...
  "Derek Fox defended this appointment. Common sense would suggest that checking whether or not a University exists would be fundamental."
  ...
  "This is a Government and Board blunder so monumental that it’s likely to plague the entire establishment of Maori Television. Helen Clark can blame the recruitment agency but she knows the Board and the Government are responsible for their decisions - that’s what governance is all about. ...
  "There is more than egg on Government faces here, there is an entire omelette. "If heads don’t roll over this and by heads, I mean the Board and the Chair, New Zealanders will be extremely resentful at more millions being spent on Maori Television ..."

 

I looks like a fake degree and a bit of snake oil salesmanship can get folks up the ladder quickly. The problem is that the time bomb they set will eventually knock them off the ladder.

John

 

A new day is dawning in NZ, and the storm continues:

Govt orders scrutiny of Davy recruiter. New Zealand Minister of Finance has ordered an enquiry.

Integrity essential, says Davy code for staff. In his short time in the job, Davy issued a code of conduct with the words "Maori TV - and your - reputation depend upon it." One of the objectives: "to demonstrate high standards of integrity in all phases of our business."

 

What About Academic Rules )f Conduct?

Actually, I would love to read Mr. Davy’s Code of Conduct, especially if it in any way resembles the letter urging employees to comply with the rules that accompanied it. According to The New Zealand Herald article, the letter stated, in part, "Nominal compliance ... is not enough to reach Maori TV's objective of high standards of integrity through consistent ethical practice."

Compare the wording with that of a letter written on October 25, 1996, by Jacques Bougie, President and Chief Executive Officer of Alcan Aluminium Limited (coincidentally it accompanied Alcan’s Code of Conduct). The final sentence of the letter reads, ”Nominal compliance with Purpose, Objectives and Policies and with the Code of Conduct is not enough to reach Alcan's objective of high standards of integrity. That objective can only be attained by a conscientious effort to build integrity through consistent ethical practice.”

And, not suprisingly, objective No. 5 in Alcan's Code of conduct is, "demonstrate high standards of integrity in all phases of our business."

The blame, naturally, lies squarely on the shoulders of Denver State University, as they do not offer a class in Ethics (or anything else for that matter).

 

Re: What About Academic Rules )f Conduct?

ADDENDUM

I have just finished comparing Alcan’s Code of Conduct with the Code of Conduct for Maori Television written by John Davy. Not surprisingly, they are practically identical.

For example, Alcan’s Code of Conduct states, "Alcan recognizes that the conduct and effectiveness of an organization are highly dependent upon the quality of the people who comprise it. The Company's ability to fulfil its purpose and to meet its objectives requires able employees who not only place a high value on the interests of Alcan but also take into account the interests of other individuals and groups with whom they relate, both inside and outside the organization.”

And Mr. Davy wrote, “Maori TV recognizes that the conduct and effectiveness of an organization are highly dependent upon the quality of the people who comprise it. The Company's ability to fulfill its purpose and to meet its objectives requires able employees who not only place a high value on the interests of Maori TV but also take into account the interests of other individuals and groups with whom they relate, both inside and outside the organization.”

Except for substituting Maori TV for Alcan, the wording is identical, as it is in numerous other passages in both Codes of Conduct. In copying a publicly available document word for word, Mr. Davy exhibits the hubris characteristic of a professional con man.

I, for one, am not the least bit surprised that someone who would purchase a diploma would have no compunction resorting to plagiarism in an attempt to convince others that he or she had knowledge or expertise that he or she did not posses.

I have, of course, informed The New Zealand Herald of this little tidbit of information.

 

Maori TV Code of Conduct. Many signs of illiteracy, from the initial Foreword (called a "Forward").

 

Davy claims his academic record was adjusted as part of witness protection program: Davy twice bankrupted in Canada.

Snippets:

• ... He said he was placed in a witness protection programme, under which he retained his birth name but had financial and academic details "wiped out".
  ...
  "This is due to an international forensic audit assignment undertaken by me in mid-1980s. To facilitate my assignment I was given protection that included 'adjusting my background' so that any linkage to my real name could not be made. This unfortunately included my financial and academic history."

 

There are some funny sides to this one, but then maybe everyone doesn't share my sense of humour ...

1. Taking down a Maori - the man is daft - they are BIG men and they are WARRIORS - they bend to go through evey door and every floor they walk on sags beneath them - fortunately for him half of them live in Australia...

2. Would he have been any better off with a REAL degree from Oxford in New Zealand?

3. It is a fortunate news article as Helen Clark can use it [Prime Minister of a 1 house Parliament for the Nation], as she is, as a diversion.

4. And Davey gives some excellent lessons in how to stuff up - fake degree? No, I had my identity changed and my history wiped ... and IF that was true his 'new' identity has just come unstuck, but that will also be 'crap'

5. Maybe, on reflection, he did get the right degree! ... well it suits him to date doesn't it?

PF

 

Re: Re: Ashland School of Business at Denver State University

John Davy’s plagiarism exposed in The New Zealand Herald; see Davy's cut-and-paste conduct code

But remember, boys and girls, you read it here first, on DegreeInfo.

And for an interesting read on several other shenanigans perpetrated by Mr. Davy, see Checks, lies and videotape - the John Davy saga

Red Rubber Ball??? I used to hate that song...

 

Gus's research skills demonstrated again!

But I think this is a little harsh. When I write policies, procedures and guidelines for my own department I try to obtain as many examples as I can from other departments and elsewhere, and then I use these to assemble the best documents that I can. Indeed, my boss will ask me whether I have re-used successful materials from other areas, and consequently I generally forestall him by boasting up-front about all the sources that I have "plagiarized."

 

Re: Re: Re: Ashland School of Business at Denver State University

This is all starting to make sense to me now:

1. Davy claims to have written the song "Red Rubber Ball."
2. Actually, Paul Simon wrote "Red Rubber Ball."
3. Davy claims to have been in a witness protection program (which "adjusted" his academic and financial background).
4. Paul Simon disappeared from public view some years ago.

Ergo, it's clear that Davy is Paul Simon, surgically altered in the witness protection program.

 

Top cop to investigate Davy case.

 

It's a long way down from this pedestal.

Snippets:

• What makes a man like John Davy construct a fantasy world of easily discredited lies? ... Of all the traits that set humans apart from the animals, the one that causes the most trouble is our ability to lie.
  ...
  But when confronted with someone like John Davy, whose lies were too wide-ranging and clumsy to be part of a sophisticated con or a party manifesto, you have to wonder if there was something, well, psychological going on. It is one thing to falsify academic qualifications to get a job in a foreign country because you've been bankrupted in the one you come from. It is quite another to be driving through Canada singing along to Paul Simon's Red Rubber Ball and to tell a companion, "I wrote this". Psychologist Henck van Bilsen says this points to someone with a psychological problem - rather than a mental illness - that is somehow wrapped up in self-esteem. These people equate a lack of achievement with unworthiness as human beings. Self-esteem to some people can be like an addictive drug. They feel their levels falling and need another fix.
  ...
  That constant need to feed one's self-esteem drives many a high-achiever and explains why millionaires don't stop at their first million. So why doesn't someone who needs to keep on the pedestal by amassing university degrees or sporting achievements devote himself to earning them in the conventional way? At that point a narcissistic element swings in. They lie to protect their image of their perfect selves from their imperfections. They consider themselves already so clever that enrolling in university to learn would be like admitting they didn't know it all. Mr van Bilsen suspects this is why, when he was found out, Davy told even bigger lies about his past - that he was on a witness protection programme that meant erasing his academic record. He could not face the truth about his average self.

 

I thought I'd check back in on this story. Since our last installment, John Davy has been arrested on a charge of fraud:
Davy appears in court on fraud charge.
'Embarrassed' Davy queues for legal aid.

Snippet:

• The charge sheet alleged that between December 4 and April 26 he used a document, a CV in the name of John Davy, to obtain a benefit or privilege, "namely a senior management appointment with the Maori Television Service".

The charge carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.

The release of government reports on the situation has been delayed pending the court case: Reports on Davy delayed due to court action