A reverse time bomb (whistleblower loses job)

Perhaps we might view Larry Cockrum's original dissertation that he claims "earned" him his original Ph.D. after which he then demanded being called Dr. Cockrum? It might help us weigh the veracity of his claim that he earned a Ph.D. from a private residence that housed a dozen diploma mills? Shucks, I forgot the fraud's dissertation is probably not listed anywhere and can't be found. The original resident of his school, (that's resident in the non-academic sense.) closed down the dozen "schools" operating out of there. If the dozen school owner ever bothered saving a copy of the dissertations from his dozen schools in the first place, they're long gone now, I'm sure. Actually, I question the existance of any dissertation at all by Mr. Cockrum.

 

Hi Rich. I see your point.

None of these guys is a winner, in my book. I make no excuses for bogus degree-holders (you may recall my conflicts with a bogus degree-peddler in the "religious" arena who would not admit what he had done). My point is that the whistleblower in this case is almost certainly the product, profiteer, and beneficiary of a different form of academic corruption: nepotism. Which is worse does not negate the fact that neither one is any good.

In short, is this outfit, *to the extent* of this corruption (in two kinds) a bit of a snakepit? Yes. Is one form of that corruption (the dean) perhaps more germane from a DL standpoint, and one (the buck) more germane from an ecclesiastical standpoint? Quite likely so.

Which turd would y'all like in your soup, gents?

 

Never be greedy...

The small one, if you please.

 

And then this:

http://www.news-leader.com/today/0115-Trusteesba-269025.html

It appears the official response is, 'It doesn't matter'.

Cheers,

George

 

two things

That name, "Cockrum" sounds like an 18th century English insult, or maybe K-Mart's store-brand of bourbon.

While we're free associating a bit, do you think all the attention paid to Metairie, LA (former home of Cockrum's alma mater as well as American Coastline) in DegreeInfo posts is what led 6Dr. Hoyer to move ACU out of its UPS Store box into its new digs (House 13, Entrance 5, Ul. Bolotnikovskaya, 117149, Moscow)? Certainly the winters are more challenging now, even if the curriculum isn't.

G

 

I was going to snip some of the above quote, but I agree with it so completely. If I recall he said he completed classwork -- where in the living room or the kitchen? A dissertation. This is my Dissertation for KW.

 

justice would be someone sending their faculty either a link to this thread or Dr. Bears book provided it references this school as a Mill, whar's fair is fair.........

 

It isn't listed in Bears' Guide. I suspect that a good percentage of the degree mills do not show up there because they are closed down before they're noticed and investigated.

 

C of O official defends his education - Larry Cockrum insists he did not buy his degree

 

Re: two things

Just curious - Is Dr. Hoyer any relation to Richard Hoyer??

 

Re: Re: two things

 

It's all politics

I don't know if Davis had "a pure motive" in this story or he thought he could embarass Cockrum and boost his own image on campus. If it was a power play, he should have considered that Cockrum might have the backing of the Administration and probably the Board.

And his stunt of playing the confrontation game and sending the anonymous letters was immature and just plain stupid. Davis' methods don't look like he had "a pure motive" in this affair. Cockrum is wrong, but he wins because he has some bigger guns on his side.

It's all politics - academic style.

I smell a law suit.

 

Fired Prof to be offered his job back!

And it now looks like he may get his job back!!!

http://www.news-leader.com/today/0306-CofOoffers-32327.html

Cheers,

George

 

"Cockrum threw his dissertation at Davis during a meeting and struck Davis in the face."
http://www.news-leader.com/today/0306-CofOoffers-32327.html

The story is getting more interesting and sensational. Mr. Cockrum had written a dissertation for his diploma mill degree. This is unbelievable.

 

I believe I read somewhere that the "dissertation" was 53 pages.

Even if it was 1,053 pages and of top quality, it wouldn't matter. As some here have great difficulty understanding, it's the credibility of the school that issues the degree, not the quality of the work, that is going to matter in the end.

 

True.

I'll bet that the faculty didn't anticipate that this story would make national headlines. That may be why they offered the whistle blower his job back (or it could have something to do with it).

 

watch out for the staples!

"Cockrum threw his dissertation... and struck Davis in the face."

I would say the thesis' binding matters too, at least as far as Davis' nose is concerned!

G

 

What's interesting to me is that Mr. Cockrum is still using his phony "doctoral" title. He's still Director of the Keeter Center for Character Education and he's still apparently heir-apparent to the college's Presidency. Nothing has changed at all.

Nobody in authority at this college seems willing to say, on the record, that Mr. Cockrum did anything wrong by buying a fake degree, or that the college did anything wrong in using that fake qualification in college promotional materials.

I don't interpret the "offer" to rehire Davis as sincere. The letter assigns guilt to Davis for violating college procedure with no admission that his charges had any merit. It rather condescendingly insists that Davis take responsibility for his actions. And bottom line, it demands that he drop any lawsuits.

My gut tells me that this little college is run by a clique, where the Board, the President and the Dean/Director are all pals. Apparently, the good ol'boys are ethically challenged as well, despite their school purporting, with considerable hubris, to teach its students "character education".

That's why I have sympathy for a critic believing that it would have been dangerous to address this issue quietly through the channels outlined in the faculty handbook.

 

The college president says that the offer to rehire the whistleblower is based on "What would Jesus do?"

One also wonders what Jesus would do about a dean with a fake doctorate.

"Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees..." Isaiah 38,8

 

Using the face damage evaluation method for an unaccredited dissertation was an interesting approach by Cockrum. Although I'm disappointed that the article neglected to report on the outcome of the experiment.