New time bomb: private school headmaster

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by John Bear, Mar 1, 2002.

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  1. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    Today's San Francisco Chronicle reports "an academic inbroglio at an exclusive little private school..." in the Bay Area. The newly-hired headmaster of the very pricey Bentley School ($13,000 tuition per year) turned out not to have the University of Virginia Master's degree that had been on his resume for more than 20 years.

    This one has a controversial ending. Turns out the man was only one course shy of the degree. He petitioned the university, which has agreed to award him the degree, 29 years later, apparently with no further work required.

    So the school is standing by its hiring decision, but there are lots of angry parents and faculty. A faculty member is quoted: "Do you think, in life, people should accept responsibility for their actions and learn that there are consequences in life when we make serious errors in judgment, or do you think that by apologizing it is all OK?"
     
  2. mamorse

    mamorse New Member

    I am astounded that the University of Virginia would grant him a Master's degree without fulfilling all of the expected requirements, even if he were "close". Dr. Bear, do you have any inclination as to why they reduced their requirements in his case? I've always regarded the University of Virginia as one of this country's most superb public-supported universities. (And, I still do.) What were they thinking?
     
  3. Article is here.
     
  4. me again

    me again Well-Known Member

    Hey, I'm 30 credits shy of getting a masters degree. If I petition my university, do you think they'll award me the degree with no further work?

    :confused: ;)

    Nuts.
     
  5. Guest

    Guest Guest

    Probably not, but www.americancollege.com is always an option. :D
     
  6. Yan

    Yan New Member

    False PhD Probe

    Another incident happened in Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business at University College Dublin. The PhD qualification of a staff had been found to be falsified after 5 years of teaching at the School. No credentials had been checked at the time of appointment. The related link is http://www.whichmba.com.au and then click "False PhD Probe" for the story.

    I am sorry if the above story had already been posted previously.
     
  7. RedStickHam

    RedStickHam New Member

    I work for a government agency. If any academic credentials are required for the job, they must be verified by transcript first. If it is found that someone "slipped through the cracks" and was found to not have credentials that were claimed when they applied, or they lied about their work history or reasons for previously leaving a job(i.e. said they were laid off instead of fired), that employee would be immediately terminated, regardless of how well they performed their job.

    Although in government, we have civil service protections and the right to an appeal hearing, if an employee were terminated for lying on an application and it was proven, they would get a civil service hearing, but would definitely lose.

    I wonder how this would have been handled if his degree were from a diploma mill where all he had to do was some token "work" to get a fake degree? When you look at it, it is sort of what he did, if not worse. At least someone who attends a diploma mill did the school's required "work" to get their degree, unlike this guy who didn't do all of the work the degree required. It doesn't matter if he were one course, or even 1 hour of credit short of getting the degree, he still didn't meet the requirements of the school he attended, so he didn't have the degree, and he shouldn't have it until he has done all the work required for it.

    As for U. Va's behavior in this, they are acting no better than one of those diploma mills that sell degrees right now. People at diploma mills don't necessarily earn their degrees, neither did this guy. I know of people who are short a few classes needed for their degrees, if they asked their schools to do this, they'd get laughed at to say the least.

    Just my opinion.
     
  8. irat

    irat New Member

    a little shading

    When I was on the school board we had an applicant for superintendent that listed his masters degree as "coursework complete". Come to find out he still had 4 credits to go, but only if he finished in the next 3 months. He had not actually completed a class for 5 3/4 years and the maximum time for degree completion at that school was 7 years.
    Actually the job was offered to him with a starting date in three months, if and only if he was able to start with the degree and transcripts in hand. He did.
    However, that he would apply with the line on the resume "coursework complete" has always bothered me. I wonder how many other things were "almost complete".
    All the best! henry
     

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