Colleges Can Rescind Degrees!

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by zanger, Jul 18, 2010.

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  1. zanger

    zanger member

    Think graduating means you have the degree forever? Think again. Colleges can, and do, rescind a degree if there is ANY misrepresentation on the application. They can, at any time AFTER graduation demand information for an investigation, not providing information means rescinding the degree. Get a letter from a college you graduated from 20 years ago? Ignore it and you lose your degree. They can also rescind a degree at will for leaving something off the application. Robert Mugabe had a degree granted in 1990, but was rescinded in 2007 for his political actions 15 years after he got his degree. Northwestern also rescinded the degree of Jeremiah Wright for statements about Israel, made many years after the granting of the degree. Are you in a nasty divorce and your wife knows you left something off your college application?

    Make sure you do not fall behind on your student loans! Eastern Illinois even says they will rescind a degree "for other reasons not specified in this catalog."


     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 18, 2010
  2. jeezem

    jeezem New Member

    careful about those facebook posts
     
  3. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Mugabe got an honorary doctorate that was rescinded after he had spent long enough tyrannically plunging his subjects into unmitigated suffering and death. And as for the spy, yeah, he gave them a fake name, were they supposed to look the other way? You take these exceptional examples, and then make it sound like this could happen... to YOU!

    Ridiculous.

    -=Steve=-
     
  4. cesmith78

    cesmith78 Member

    I think rescinding degrees might be a good idea for what to do with people who default on student loans.
     
  5. mcjon77

    mcjon77 Member

    Is this really new information? If you falsify your college application, then yeah, they can take your degree. The moral of the story? Don't lie on your application.

    Keep in mind, this is not something that universities do on a whim. In every case I have heard of, there were some MAJOR falsifications that occurred. The cost of a lawsuit contesting a revocation (whether they win or lose) is too high to do this for all but the most serious issues.

    In one recent case, the person had his doctorate rescinded years later due to a discovery that some of his dissertation had been plagiarized. In another case a few years ago, a university revoked the degrees of several students after they discovered that students had bribed people in the registrars office to change grades, and in some cases, fabricate entire degrees and academic histories.

    In the Bezrukov case you mentioned, that person was a Russian spy who entered Harvard using a stolen identity. In the Jerimiah Wright case, Northwestern didn't rescind a degree that they had given him years before. They simply decided not to award him an HONORARY degree in 2008.

    Of course, you won't receive your transcripts if you still owe the university a balance on tuition.
     
  6. StefanM

    StefanM New Member

    This would only make it more difficult for students to rehabilitate their loans.
     
  7. zanger

    zanger member

    The idea of the application process is to determine if the person can handle the work. If the person graduates, then it proves that the person could do the work, lies are irrelevant. Besides, leaving off information will also mean the degree will be taken away. These schools teach lies in their schools anyway so they have a hypocritical double standard.
     
  8. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    This is funny.
     
  9. Delta

    Delta Active Member

    Holy smokes! All these years I've been tossing those letters from my Alma Mater in the trash thinking they were asking me for money. They have probably spent more money on postage over the years than I did on tuition.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 19, 2010
  10. zanger

    zanger member

    What you people do not get is these colleges want you to pay $150,000 for your degree then turn around and say they will take your degree "for other reasons not specified in this catalog." They openly say when you filled out your college application, when you were 17, if you left out a suspension they can take your degree when you are 50.

    When a college reserves the right to take your degree due to your behavior after you graduate they are saying the degree really was not given to you, it was only in your possession if you behave the way you want. They literally want to control your behavior. Mugabe did what they did not approve of so they took this degree.

    Thus, the degree is not really yours, but more like a seal of approval that can be taken by the college when it deems fit. Sort of like trade certifications.
     
  11. zanger

    zanger member

    Here is a graduate that was told he had a choice: Return to the University for a bogus "trial" or the degree will be taken. This is an example of how colleges want to control people after they graduated and paid $150,000. You people think its OK for a college to tell a student that if he does not return to the school's kangaroo court he will have his degree taken?
     
  12. JBjunior

    JBjunior Active Member

    You are still giving extreme examples. Political issues, spies, rapists. If this is the policy when you enroll then know that you shouldn't rape people, be a spy for a foreign country, or any other issues that the college would distance themselves from. Find one example where a degree was rescinded for American political affiliation, finances, or something similar that the average American could find themselves in and I will lean your way that it may be an issue.

    The incident with rape isn't a college issue and many states have redefined the definition of rape. Don't put yourself in those positions. She was probably drunk and is contending she wasn't able to give consent or something similar. Thank the justice system.
     
  13. zanger

    zanger member

    This graduate of Brigham Young University had his degree taken in 2008 because he created a calender the university did not like. And yes, the college got away with it.
     
  14. zanger

    zanger member

    Not a college issue? The college wants to put the graduate in a kangaroo court, but you say it is not a college issue? The girl didn't even go to the police.

    I think we have people in denial in this forum.
     
  15. JBjunior

    JBjunior Active Member

    I think we have a person in the forum (zanger) that must be a closet criminal and is trying to protect their degree.

    Who is in denial? I am not worried about it but obviously you are. I don't plan on raping, killing, or doing anything else that would send me to prison. The school makes the decision to confer a degree and through whatever rules/restrictions they have in writing can decide the people they confer them on. If someone is so extreme that the college comes together to go through the process of rescinding the degree there probably was a good reason for it. You know, it wouldn't be very good for business if they made a habit of it.

    As far as it not being a college issue, you made a point of putting in the facts of the case regarding she went to the room willingly and various other things. I was pointing out that society and the justice system in America has redefined rape.

    The LDS issue is a grey area for me. He was excommunicated by the Church for his actions and since Brigham Young is the school of LDS they used something else within their power. He would have paid extremely reduced tuition being a member of LDS. If they allowed him to continue to associate views that are not followed by the Church then they probably assume that the public will think they promote or accept his beliefs.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 19, 2010
  16. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    Well that's a relief.
     
  17. JBjunior

    JBjunior Active Member

    They frown on that in my profession..... and society, I guess.
     
  18. Shawn Ambrose

    Shawn Ambrose New Member

    And BYU "got away" with it because Chad Hardy was excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while completing his Independent Study courses for his degree. BYU policy is explicit, that if you are excommunicated while a student, that you can not earn a degree there.
     
  19. b4cz28

    b4cz28 Active Member

    I think once you walk out those doors with a degree in your hands, nothing other than setting fire to your school should get that degree taken away from you.

    Do these people get their money back?
     
  20. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    Well, I agree with the spirit of what you are saying but not the specifics. If someone did set their school on fire, I would be against taking the degree away. The only appropriate situations I can think of are forging credentials (or identity) and academic dishonesty.

    Taking a degree away is like the school saying of your school years: "What? no! That never happened." Give me all the extremes of criminal activity and I still dispute that a school can "reserve" a "right" to take away the fact that someone has completed a degree with them. Why not cancel someone's birth certificate?

    Alumnus: Hi, I just moved to this state and need a new driver's license.
    DMV Clerk: Sorry, according to our records, you were never born.
    Alumnus: But I'm standing right in front of you!
    DMV Clerk: That's not what the computer says.
     

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