Seattle Newspaper Posts St. Regis (et al) "degree" holder list

I have a BA degree somwhere, from the The University of Nescience.... Of course its a religous school attached to the Church of the Lazy Agnotic....

 

Considering I work for a credential evalaution company and constantly see faked documents from Nigeria, Kenya and several milled degree's come across my desk on a monthly basis it makes sense to me. I am sorry that you don't understand where i come from.

Also if you look at the list of people who SRU sold their degree's to several of them are from foreign countries. And if you read the news stories, the investigators acted like they where from a middle eastern country to get a degree.

I have no problem with people wanting to come to America. I am not really onboard with the "Fence" or the Minute Men. I am just stating what I see on a daily basis.

 

The problem isn't supply; it's demand.

Scum like the Randocks operate every day. You'll never eradicate them. And even if you did, others will line up to replace them. That's how much money is at stake.

As noted elsewhere, no one seems to be able to locate about $10M of the Randocks' money. Three years in a fed joint, followed by one-way tickets to the Caymans and a life of ease.

No, you beat this thing by eliminating/reducing the demand. Everyone responsible for expecting education credentials needs the ability and the will to verify those credentials.

 

So, you're willing to just throw up your hands and say, "Oh, well! We'll never get rid of all the big fish! Might as well just go for the little fish!"

 

No. I never said anything of the kind. This is a completely garbled interpretation, or a conclusion attributed to me that is utterly disconnected with anything I've said or implied.

Confronted with their fraud, I'm glad law enforcement did their jobs. But it does not solve the diploma mill issue. It does not even impact it for a moment.

Stand on a beach, facing a tsunami. Hold up a sponge. Do you soak up a sponge's worth? Sure. But look behind you; the beach is still destroyed.

 

Regarding high school diplomas: the talk around the lunch table here in Spokane (where I've been this week) among the federal and state investigators, is that we may be seeing a replay of the matter the New York Times uncovered a couple of years ago: a lot of student-athletes who didn't have the high school grades (and/or diploma) to get into a university, or to qualify for the university teams, so they buy a high school diploma and a transcript with good grades.

I believe hundreds of student-athletes were 'outed' after the Times articles, and the NCAA ostensibly made new policies . . . but, as we learned from Rich Douglas' doctoral research, more than a few HR and other degree 'gatekeepers' are not well informed about such matters.

Incidentally, anyone who wants the very detailed list of St. Regis students (more info than on the list the newspaper made available) can request one, citing the Freedom of Information Act, from Washington Asst. Attorney General Jack Zurlini, [email protected]

 

Thanks for the email to Mr Zurlini...I've requested more information related to the local city councilman and teacher who was listed as purchasing their degree from St. Regis.

 

This guy just made my hometown newspaper's front page:

"Bellingham engineering contractor may have phony degree"

Looks like the list is creating quite a stir nation-wide.

 

My high school alma mater (Fork Union Military Academy) got caught up in the NCAA investigation of the so-called "storefront" schools because of their impressive track record of improving academic performance. Look at the second and third entries down;

http://www.forkunion.com/news/archives/2006/07/index.html

 

I certainly wish more HR departments would take it (diploma mills and people using fake degrees to further their careers) seriously and actually contact schools to ensure individuals whom they're seriously considering hiring actually did obtain a degree from said university.

 

Has anyone requested or received a copy of the more-detailed list from Mr. Zurlini? I'd like to see a copy, but I don't want to contribute to any sudden inundation of information requests for Mr. Zurlini.

 

I've requested a copy but haven't received it yet.

 

If you receive it in an electronic copy, would you mind sharing with me?

 

Absolutely...will let you know when/if I receive a response from the Washington AG

 

Some people may have the same name.
The list may falsely list a person who as a result may loose their job or not get a job etc.

I also see that some people don't have university name next to their name etc.

Also people relocated so if John Smith listed as NY and he is now in PA then he can always say hey its some one else.

The bottom line is what a person is uses on his resume and job application is what counts and it is verifiable.

 

Absolutely correct. The list itself isn't proof of anything (which was clearly stated by the Washington State AG when he sent me the 'official list') and more investigation should be done to verify a persons credentials.

In the case that I've happened across, the person has stated "Concordia University and College" as where they earned their BBA....and the list from the Washington State AG has this persons full name and current address.

The mayor of my local community was supposed to approach this particular individual last night after the council meeting to ask him about his degree.

 

Earned? How about bought and paid for

 

Agreed....but he claims he 'earned' it...further research is showing he did indeed buy from St Regis/Concordia and has used this degree to obtain a teaching job.

As the local city manager said after hearing about this "if he would lie about his degree, what else has he lied about?"

 

This earthquake is felt as far as New Zealand

by g-gollin on Fri Aug 15, 2008 12:52 pm

10 NZers buy fake online degrees, Saturday August 16, 2008, Lincoln Tan and Martha McKenzie-Minifie, Auckland, NZ The New Zealand Herald.

A New Zealand primary school principal, his human resources director brother and a security guard are among 10 New Zealand names on a list of buyers of bogus United States university degrees.

The names were among 9612 found on computers seized as part of Operation Gold Seal, a US Federal case, which led to eight people pleading guilty to operating the scam.

Prices for the bogus degrees ranged from a few hundred dollars for bachelor's and master's to US$5400 ($7,770) for a PhD.

One of the buyers, Mark Barratt, principal of Papatoetoe South School and chair of Auckland Primary Principals Committee on Special Education, said he bought the fake PhD "just for the fun of it", after his brother Shaun, a director at human resources company Salt, bought a bachelor's degree.

"We were just being stupid _ there was never an intention to use them to mislead or defraud," said Mr Barratt, who is also a member of the Auckland District Committee of New Zealand Education.

"I've never used it or claimed to have a doctorate, and the doctorate's sitting in a box at home, somewhere."

Although checks by the Weekend Herald found that Mr Barratt did not list his PhD when applying for his job, the Parent and Family Resource Centre website, of which he is a member, had said "his doctorate explores conflict between governance and management within the NZ primary schooling sector", and that "he is currently completing a second doctorate looking at models of governance".

But following Weekend Herald enquiries, the copy on the website was replaced with: "Mark is currently researching two thesis that will form the basis of a doctorate."

Mr Barratt said he holds master's degrees in Religious Education and Education, but denied that he had ever claimed he had a PhD. He said the copy on the website was changed because he "wanted to get rid of any ambiguity around it".

Papatoetoe South School board of trustees chairman Adrian West confirmed Mr Barratt did not claim the phoney degree when he applied for the principal role last year.

For another buyer, security guard Jagath Nambukara, it was a different story. Mr Nambukara, who spent more than $5000 over two years to get his BBA degree from St Regis University, said he did not know it came from a degree mill.

"I cannot believe what I have now is just a piece of rubbish," he said.

"It is not just the money, but I also spent a lot of time studying and submitting the assignments the university sent me through emails."

By accessing the website and paying fees of between US$399 and US$2454, students could be "evaluated" for a degree _ which the US Justice Department has identified as being done by a high-school dropout named Heidi Kae Lorhan.

The "university" also supported buyers by providing other services, including telephone calls to confirm the degrees were valid.

Husband and wife ringleaders Steven and Dixie Ellen Randock have been sentenced to three years in prison and buyers of the fake degrees have been deemed as "suspects" by the US attorney's office, Mr Thomas Rice, criminal chief at the US Department of Justice told the Weekend Herald.

But Mr Rice said the US Government was leaving it to individual jurisdictions to determine whether a crime had been committed.

NZ Police spokesman Jon Neilson said it was not illegal to buy fake degrees online, but purchasers that used them could face fraud charges.


The 10 from New Zealand who bought fake degrees: Scott, Alan T _ BA; Reid, Donald Erik _ MEd; Ryan, Stephen John _ MBA; Morton, David John _ PhD; Nambukara, Jagath C _ BBA; Jie, Li Liang _ BS; Barratt, Mark Raymond _ PhD; Barratt, Shaun Francis _ BA; Beck, Andrew David Patrick _ PhD; Brickland, Daniel _ ProfFull

 

Well, a lot of you all know me; (yes, I have just reregistered). I used to be part of SRU - and I am today ashamed to say so. Today I refuse to even quote my SRU degrees on my CV, I don't talk about them, I refuse to discuss them because drivel they were and drivel they will always be. I had 2 postgraduate diplomas in management and management studies when I got involved with SRU, and after I woke up and smelled the coffee, I closed the SRU chapter and enrolled through University of Johannesburg for a posgraduate diploma in law (speciality: labor law) which I completed end last year. This year I was quite busy, but next year in January sees me tackling the MPhil in Labor Law through same university. And I will only stop once I have the PhD in the same field in my pocket.

Take it from me - there ain't no shortcuts! Hard work, face to the books : that's the only way.

Glad to be back. Now, let's see how many of you are now going to want to slaughter me.............!

Regards,
Len.