8 ms·

I don't know how common falsified credentials are in school administration, but I'll mention a parallel experience that was a formative part of my upbringing.

by nkurz 10y ago

I don't know how common falsified credentials are in school administration, but I'll mention a parallel experience that was a formative part of my upbringing. While I was in high school, my father taught at a small private college in Wisconsin, where he was on the hiring committee for the new college president. After being hired, the chosen candidate's behavior was surprisingly erratic, prompting my my father to continue researching his background. After a bit of digging, he found that the new college president had falsified almost his entire resume. Thinking he had solid proof of this, and not being politically savvy, my father presented his evidence to the other faculty who had been on the hiring committee. To his surprise, he (rather than the fraudster) was promptly fired from his supposedly tenured position for "gross insubordination". Shortly thereafter, the "fake" college president pocketed the proceeds from remortgaging the college dorms, drove his college provided little-red-sports-car out of town, and was never heard from again. Embittered by the lack of backing from his purported colleagues, my father never returned to academia, and instead turned to odd jobs and house painting. Not long after, the college lost its accreditation, and went out of business: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Senario_College https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Senario_College.

WhiteSource1 10y ago
But wouldn't academics have to at least show framed diplomas somewhere? Or research?
- kevinmannix 10y ago
  A framed piece of paper? I can make you a graduate of Harvard if that's all it takes.
  - jrs235 10y ago
    Some people are willing to pay you thousands of dollars for that!
- nkurz 10y ago
  Here's an odd part: it was a small enough college community that a "get to know you" type party was held at the president's private residence soon after his arrival. Being an asocial high-schooler dragged along, I noticed a bound copy of his PhD thesis was one of the few books on the shelf. I skimmed through it (something very verbose and academic about the theory of business administration) and found it incomprehensible. So his "research" existed, at least in some form. In retrospect, I'm wondering if it was "real", but from a diploma mill. Or purchased? Or someone else's rebound? Or as real as a thesis on business administration can be, from an earlier time in his life. In retrospect I wish I'd read it a little closer so I had a better clue as to what he actually did.
  - tomcam 10y ago
    There's a book in this story. Please write it!
jrs235 10y ago
This is a story about a teacher near where I live who only got outted for a fake degree when he ran for a school board. And from stories I have heard from his students, he got the fake doctorate degree because he wanted to be called doctor. In fact if students in high school called him Mr. Kulas he would correct them (sometimes chew them out) that he is to be referred to as Dr. Kulas. Use imcognito mode to open this link to avoid possible pay wall: http://lacrossetribune.com/news/ex-candidate-cited-degrees-from-nonexistent-school/article_0b208f22-d275-56fb-bf82-aba8760324c8.html http://lacrossetribune.com/news/ex-candidate-cited-degrees-f...
- pavel_lishin 10y ago
  We had a high school teacher who demanded that we address them as Dr. Whozits on the first day, and would correct us. They learned that you can demand respect all you want, but if you actually want to get respect, you have to earn it from the people you're expecting it from.
  - cwingrav 10y ago
    They earned the title so you should show respect by properly addressing them. Go ahead and call a judge "Mr(s)" or an officer "dude" and see how far it gets you. Whether you like them or not, it's up to you do decide for sure, but have some manners, it will help you out in life.
  - Cyph0n 10y ago
    He earned that title, and he was your teacher (a superior), so I don't understand why you were annoyed. Most importantly, it was the first day! Think of an interview for example: would it be polite to address your interviewer using his/her first name? No, unless the interviewer gives you permission to do so. Edit: It seems like a lot of HN users have a severe aversion to authority, so I guess I've learned something new today :P
    - maxerickson 10y ago
      teacher (a superior) Because that's stupid. Provisional respect, sure. Continued respect after acting like a buffoon? Nah. Of course, it might be pragmatic to continue the expected ceremonies of respect, but that ain't respect.
bane 10y ago
It may be that other members of the college were in on the graft as well if it was known that the school was in a bad financial situation. Falsified credentials are surprisingly common. I encounter them frequently when trying to staff various positions and have even come across them a half dozen times among co-workers during my career. The reasons for the falsification are quite varied as well, but I've typically encountered them among people going for senior positions for some reason.
- pg_is_a_butt 10y ago
  for $ome rea$on you're all idiots.
throwaway729 10y ago
Fascinating. To this day, it's nearly impossible to find any account of these events. It's really hard to imagine that someone could commit such outright blatant theft and get away without so much as a hit on Google. Was the con artist ever tracked down?
- leephillips 10y ago
  Fascinating indeed: the notion that a college president would hold title to the school's buildings. Etc.
  - nkurz 10y ago
    I'm guessing that by "fascinating" you are implying that it's implausible to abscond with the money from a remortgage of a building one does not own? And by "Etc" that all the rest is wrong too? I don't think anyone believed that he had any sort of legal title, rather that through some combination of forgery and fraud he managed to convince someone that he had the right to make the transaction. If you haven't experienced one personally, you may be underestimating the persuasive power of a talented psychopath.
- nkurz 10y ago
  It's really hard to imagine that someone could commit such outright blatant theft and get away without so much as a hit on Google. The events happened in the early 1990's, just prior to the advent of the internet. The false resume and the firing are the parts of the story that I have personal knowledge of. The financial allegations are third hand, but I believe them to be true. It's possible that recent events have better coverage, but I'd guess that even now there is a lot of crime and fraud that is never reported. Was the con artist ever tracked down? Not to my knowledge, although I'm no longer close to the community. I've occasionally wondered whether this might be because someone took matters into their own hands, and he's dead and buried in the woods somewhere. Googling now, I was surprised to learn that a janitor at the college was recently convicted of a 30-year-old murder of the mother of one of my classmates: http://chippewa.com/news/guilty-verdict-in-old-ladysmith-killing-satisfies-police/article_6c03ff7e-1685-503f-8a61-05ccf9cf29c2.html http://chippewa.com/news/guilty-verdict-in-old-ladysmith-kil.... But I suspect that instead he's likely on to a new scheme somewhere else.
areyousure 10y ago
> Thinking he had solid proof of this, and not being politically savvy, my father presented his evidence to the other faculty who had been on the hiring committee. A few years ago, I could have used some advice from someone who is more politically savvy. I received a tip a while ago that a then-sitting member of the United States Congress did not possess a degree listed on his website on congress.gov (and repeated elsewhere). I looked into it, and sure enough, I do not believe he received the degree in question. The congressman was not incredibly famous, but would make the news now and then. He is no longer in office. What was the correct course of action, if I wish(ed) to stay anonymous? Tip off a reporter? Post on reddit?
- rabboRubble 10y ago
  Suggested courses of action to protect anonymity... 1 - Tip off reporters nationally and most importantly, locally in the Congress person's home district. 2 - Level 23 move, tip off his/her opposition in the campaign both in the primary / general. Also tip off the Congressperson's opposing party heads. Example, if the CP was a Republican tip off the local DNC and if Democrat, tip off the RNC. This is one way the Clinton's got their opposition research.

by nkurz 10y ago

WhiteSource1 10y ago

But wouldn't academics have to at least show framed diplomas somewhere? Or research?

kevinmannix 10y ago
A framed piece of paper? I can make you a graduate of Harvard if that's all it takes.
- jrs235 10y ago
  Some people are willing to pay you thousands of dollars for that!
nkurz 10y ago
Here's an odd part: it was a small enough college community that a "get to know you" type party was held at the president's private residence soon after his arrival. Being an asocial high-schooler dragged along, I noticed a bound copy of his PhD thesis was one of the few books on the shelf. I skimmed through it (something very verbose and academic about the theory of business administration) and found it incomprehensible. So his "research" existed, at least in some form. In retrospect, I'm wondering if it was "real", but from a diploma mill. Or purchased? Or someone else's rebound? Or as real as a thesis on business administration can be, from an earlier time in his life. In retrospect I wish I'd read it a little closer so I had a better clue as to what he actually did.
- tomcam 10y ago
  There's a book in this story. Please write it!

jrs235 10y ago

This is a story about a teacher near where I live who only got outted for a fake degree when he ran for a school board. And from stories I have heard from his students, he got the fake doctorate degree because he wanted to be called doctor. In fact if students in high school called him Mr. Kulas he would correct them (sometimes chew them out) that he is to be referred to as Dr. Kulas. Use imcognito mode to open this link to avoid possible pay wall: http://lacrossetribune.com/news/ex-candidate-cited-degrees-from-nonexistent-school/article_0b208f22-d275-56fb-bf82-aba8760324c8.html http://lacrossetribune.com/news/ex-candidate-cited-degrees-f...

pavel_lishin 10y ago
We had a high school teacher who demanded that we address them as Dr. Whozits on the first day, and would correct us. They learned that you can demand respect all you want, but if you actually want to get respect, you have to earn it from the people you're expecting it from.
- cwingrav 10y ago
  They earned the title so you should show respect by properly addressing them. Go ahead and call a judge "Mr(s)" or an officer "dude" and see how far it gets you. Whether you like them or not, it's up to you do decide for sure, but have some manners, it will help you out in life.
- Cyph0n 10y ago
  He earned that title, and he was your teacher (a superior), so I don't understand why you were annoyed. Most importantly, it was the first day! Think of an interview for example: would it be polite to address your interviewer using his/her first name? No, unless the interviewer gives you permission to do so. Edit: It seems like a lot of HN users have a severe aversion to authority, so I guess I've learned something new today :P
  - maxerickson 10y ago
    teacher (a superior) Because that's stupid. Provisional respect, sure. Continued respect after acting like a buffoon? Nah. Of course, it might be pragmatic to continue the expected ceremonies of respect, but that ain't respect.

bane 10y ago

It may be that other members of the college were in on the graft as well if it was known that the school was in a bad financial situation. Falsified credentials are surprisingly common. I encounter them frequently when trying to staff various positions and have even come across them a half dozen times among co-workers during my career. The reasons for the falsification are quite varied as well, but I've typically encountered them among people going for senior positions for some reason.

pg_is_a_butt 10y ago
for $ome rea$on you're all idiots.

throwaway729 10y ago

Fascinating. To this day, it's nearly impossible to find any account of these events. It's really hard to imagine that someone could commit such outright blatant theft and get away without so much as a hit on Google. Was the con artist ever tracked down?

leephillips 10y ago
Fascinating indeed: the notion that a college president would hold title to the school's buildings. Etc.
- nkurz 10y ago
  I'm guessing that by "fascinating" you are implying that it's implausible to abscond with the money from a remortgage of a building one does not own? And by "Etc" that all the rest is wrong too? I don't think anyone believed that he had any sort of legal title, rather that through some combination of forgery and fraud he managed to convince someone that he had the right to make the transaction. If you haven't experienced one personally, you may be underestimating the persuasive power of a talented psychopath.
nkurz 10y ago
It's really hard to imagine that someone could commit such outright blatant theft and get away without so much as a hit on Google. The events happened in the early 1990's, just prior to the advent of the internet. The false resume and the firing are the parts of the story that I have personal knowledge of. The financial allegations are third hand, but I believe them to be true. It's possible that recent events have better coverage, but I'd guess that even now there is a lot of crime and fraud that is never reported. Was the con artist ever tracked down? Not to my knowledge, although I'm no longer close to the community. I've occasionally wondered whether this might be because someone took matters into their own hands, and he's dead and buried in the woods somewhere. Googling now, I was surprised to learn that a janitor at the college was recently convicted of a 30-year-old murder of the mother of one of my classmates: http://chippewa.com/news/guilty-verdict-in-old-ladysmith-killing-satisfies-police/article_6c03ff7e-1685-503f-8a61-05ccf9cf29c2.html http://chippewa.com/news/guilty-verdict-in-old-ladysmith-kil.... But I suspect that instead he's likely on to a new scheme somewhere else.

areyousure 10y ago

> Thinking he had solid proof of this, and not being politically savvy, my father presented his evidence to the other faculty who had been on the hiring committee. A few years ago, I could have used some advice from someone who is more politically savvy. I received a tip a while ago that a then-sitting member of the United States Congress did not possess a degree listed on his website on congress.gov (and repeated elsewhere). I looked into it, and sure enough, I do not believe he received the degree in question. The congressman was not incredibly famous, but would make the news now and then. He is no longer in office. What was the correct course of action, if I wish(ed) to stay anonymous? Tip off a reporter? Post on reddit?

rabboRubble 10y ago
Suggested courses of action to protect anonymity... 1 - Tip off reporters nationally and most importantly, locally in the Congress person's home district. 2 - Level 23 move, tip off his/her opposition in the campaign both in the primary / general. Also tip off the Congressperson's opposing party heads. Example, if the CP was a Republican tip off the local DNC and if Democrat, tip off the RNC. This is one way the Clinton's got their opposition research.