For years their phony diplomas only listed phony universities, including such nonexistent institutions as University of San Moritz, Harrington University, University of Palmers Green, University of Devonshire, Brentwick University, Shelbourne University, and, most recently, Glencullen University. But it now appears that what is perhaps the largest-ever diploma mill has discarded restraint and gone into forging diplomas from real, legitimate universities.
A Bears' Guide reader has shared with us an email sent to him by a representative from Glencullen University. It says:We provide degrees from variety of universities in Europe. All degrees are legal and verifiable, which means when you show your diploma to your employer when you go for a job interview, he can call us and we will confirm that you have completed the university of your choice, as long as it is on our list. The way this system works is, once you register, you become a correspondence student in other words an exchange student. The list of universities is on the bottom of this e-mail.
The exact same list, which includes such schools as University of Cambridge and University of London, appears on the Web site of the European Council for Distance & Open Learning, a phony accreditor set up by these same diploma mill operators earlier this year. Read it and weep at www.ecdol.org/ecdolnet/ecdolnet.htm.
The email goes on to claim that "All signatures on the diploma are officially signed by the deal [sic] of the school and by offer [sic] appropriate officials." We wonder if the typos are deliberately placed for legal wrangling should the need arise. This is an operation that pays attention to technicalities and is careful to cover their bases. Last year, when John Bear pretended to be a prospective client, they mumbled to him on the phone, in kind of a verbal equivalent of fine print, that they are a diploma mill. When John asked whoever was on the other line to repeat that, the person rephrased without mentioning "diploma mill" again. No doubt the message was recorded.
Forging diplomas from real, prestigious universities seems uncharacteristically reckless for this mill. Perhaps the $2 million per month they have reportedly been squirreling into a bank in Cyprus is simply not enough. We can only hope that the audacity of their latest endeavor attracts more attention to the operation, and makes it easier for authorities to do something about it.
I didn't know I taught at Preston UniversityAccording to a report by the Chronicle of Higher Education, Preston University, an unaccredited school based in Wyoming, has been claiming faculty members who, when contacted, say they have nothing to do with the school. That faculty list has since been removed from Preston's Web site.
The latest Baby Bar resultsThe California State Bar recently released the individual school results of the Baby Bar Examinations given in 2000:
Oak Brook College of Law continues to shine, and is the clear first choice for anyone who is either supportive of, or willing to ignore, their evangelical Christian stance.
But the big news is that the performance of Concord University School of Law has actually declined since the previous Baby Bar, which is surprising, given the involvement of the long-established Kaplan test preparation service (also owned by the Washington Post).
Norwich University to sell Vermont College to Union InstituteLast month we reported on Norwich University's announced intention to sell off its Vermont College. This month, The Union Institute announced its intention to buy. If all goes according to plan, the marriage between these two longtime leaders in nontraditional education will bring together established distance-learning programs bachelor's, master's, and doctoral under one regionally accredited roof.
