Berne sues DegreeInfo poster and demands removal of posts!!

Well, well, well.

Our old friends from the less-than-wonderful Berne University are at it once again.

This time, they've sued their former provost, Chuck Knisley, for comments he made (which in my opinion, weren't in any way defamatory or libelous) on DegreeInfo.

So, this put us in an intersting position. We generally do not remove or alter messages or threads for any reason, in the interest of preserving the information that exists in our archive.

However, in this case, we looked at the messages in question and felt that there was very little in them that made much difference one way or another... but the threads themselves, which contain messages by many other posters, do in fact tell the story quite well without Dr. Knisley's posts.

So... the threads from which Dr. Knisley's messages were removed can be read (without his comments)

Here
Here
and
Here

Of course, Berne has plenty to earn it the seal of Non-Approval (In the a.e.d days, we referred to it as the Foul Snell Seal of Non-Approval, named after fraudulent Monticello U. founder Les Snell.)

Here's just a few tidbits:

-- More than one poster has alleged, here and elsewhere, that Berne had at one point hired an experienced, knowledgeable person to handle application for accreditation with DETC. However, this person discovered that certain people were involved with Berne, and quickly decided that she did not wish to be involved with an application based on who was involved.

-- Steve Levicoff, recognized diploma mill expert, has regularly referred to Berne as a diploma mill. In fact, he once awarded Bern his prestigious and non-coveted "Diploma Mill of the Month" award.

-- Berne proudly touted its eligibility for U.S. Federal financial aid. However, it certainly did *not* proudly tout the loss of said eligibility. That loss alone speaks volumes about Berne.

-- Berne claims its degree granting authority from St. Kitts... yet students spend no more than a month there, and John Bear has letters from Berne employees stating that the St. Kitts residency can be waived. This, too, is interesting.

-- St. Kitts has never been forthcoming about what, if any, processes are in place to evaluate or oversee academic quality of any of the institutions under its jurisdiction. As a result, it's become known as a haven for "less-than-wonderful" schoolls.

When will schools learn that trying to silence free, honest discussion on DegreeInfo will always result in simply *MORE* truthful discussions?

I guess I won't hold my breath.

 

Just curious.

In what jurisdiction did they file their lawsuit?

 

The very degree mill type act of suing by Berne is another indication of their shady character. I remember Chuck Knisley's posts to be very straight forward, factual and professional. Why is it that only shady schools seem to threaten lawsuits for libel like this?

P.S. I hope New Jersey moves sooner rather than later.