London Institute of Applied Research

London Institute of Applied Research was a fake school right?

Shaw University

 

Yes...it's a L.I.A.R

 

Sad to see someone still listing one of their degrees.

 

IIRC, Bears' Guide states that it was a fund raising effort/"gag".

 

It was indeed a fund-raiser for the British Association for Gifted Children. The detailed story is told in one of their newsletters from 1973 or 1974; I've got one in a file somewhere. We were living in England at the time, and I got much involved with this splendid organisation, established (among others) by that former gifted child, Yehudi Menuhin, who was deeply involved. It goet no money from the government, so money was always a problem. Then, as now, many respectable schools were awarding honorary degrees to wealthy people who then, mirabile dictu, made substantial donations to that school. At a fund-raising BAGC meeting, I proposed the notion of doing the same thing, except for a very small donation, and having fun with it, hence the creation of "L.I.A.R." We made clear in the one and only ad run (in the Diners Club magazine, Signature), and in fund-raising mailings, that it was all a joke . . . the diploma was garishly ornate. As I've reported for years in Bears Guide, much of the academic world thought it was a great gag, and a portion of the academic world was deeply offended at making fun of the hallowed honorary degree. It raised a few thousand pounds for the BAGC, zero for me (by design), and then it was retired.

Then it got really weird. Again, as described in Bears Guide, when the story was reported in the newsletter, a Dutchman living in Ethiopia, a Mr. VandenBosch, as I recall, wrote and asked if there any blank certificates left over. When we wrote to say yes, about 100, he offered to make a donation of (my recollection) a thousand pounds for them. And then he started sending bundles -- a dozen or more, weighing about 10 pounds each -- of Ethiopian crosses and ear pickers (think cheap metal Q-tips), which he claimed were worth a lot more than a thousand pounds. We figured wot-the-hell, and sent him the certificates, and sold maybe half the ear pickers in bulk, raising yet more money for the BAGC. I carried the rest of them around for at least 20 years, and finally tossed them out, all but one.

And inevitably (sadly) some of the L.I.A.R. certificates were misused. From the hindsight of 38 years, it probably shouldn't have been done . . . but, gee, it sure helped buy a lot of science materials and art supplies for a lot of very worthy kids.

Here's a fine review of Bears Guide, which leads off the ear picker story: Education by Degrees | City of Smoke

And here's a website that sells ear pickers; the one shown is £62. I shoulda saved them! Ethiopian antique Silver 2 from ATB

 

Thats a very cool thing yall did, it sucks there are always a few people out there who want to abuse it. Dang it, I want an Ear Picker.