Diploma Mill Coverage: Unfair?
The Interagency Ethics Council Journal makes the case today that recent coverage of an investigation of an alleged diploma mill based in Spokane, Wash., was skewed to highlight potential malfeasance by federal employees.
"The diploma mill contained about 9,000 names in its customer database," IEC Journal notes. "Though only about a hundred or so of these names could be identified as federal employees, the headline for the USA Today story focused on those few: 'Probe: Fed employees may have bought fake degrees.' By this time, the news media pattern should be clear: Federal employees are favorite targets."
At the risk of being an apologist for the news media in general, I think there's a simple reason for the way this story has been covered. There's not much public interest at stake in the case of someone in the private sector who happens to buy a fake degree. But Americans have every right to be concerned about people who may have padded their resumes to win appointment to federal jobs for which they aren't actually qualified -- or to receive higher pay for higher education they don't actually have. That's defrauding the taxpayers, and focusing on it seems justified to me.
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I once had an MBA working for me in the private sector, yet his reasoning and writing skills were suspect of someone from a prestigious university. In time it came to light that his wife worked in admissions and had created his BS and MBA. He was immediately terminated. The most the taxpayers can hope for is a letter of reprimand and termination is out of the question
dan ketter Posted Monday, August 25, 2008 5:02 PMEven in the federal government, lying on your application for a job is immediate grounds for termination. And I know for a fact that it does and has happened.
Raven Posted Monday, August 25, 2008 7:29 PMMr. Shoop is correct that people have a right to expect integrity from federal employees. Bad public servants are newsworthy. But when a journalist turns one percent of the facts into a headline it is simply bad journalism. Working in an agency that is frequently in the news, I all too often see journalists (and bloggers) go for the easy story. Rather than try to explain something that is complicated, they write the easy story that can be run under a salacious headline. How many accountants, bankers, lawyers, and journalists were on that list?
Ted Posted Tuesday, August 26, 2008 8:39 AMFake degrees in the private sector raise prices for us all. How many employees of banks etc have fake degrees? I bet plenty.
They are quietly let go to avoid embarresing the employer.
Wise Old Owl Posted Tuesday, August 26, 2008 11:25 AMThis story was obviously meant to skew public opinion against federal employees. Why else would the story focus on one hundred names out of about 9,000 names in its customer database? Everyone needs to be careful about where they take classes. If something sounds too good to be true: it probably is.
Suzanne Posted Tuesday, August 26, 2008 11:35 AMI'm not clear on the definiton of Government Employee. Did we count just Civil Servents, or did we count contratcors who had fake degrees who worked under contract for the Federal Government? It would also be interesting to know th percentage of Federal Government fake degress, versus private industry fake degrees. You know, just to see if we're doing better or worse in a most dubious comparison.
US Posted Tuesday, August 26, 2008 12:07 PMFake degrees in the private sector raise prices for us all. How many employees of banks etc have fake degrees? I bet plenty.
They are quietly let go to avoid embarresing the employer.
Wise Old Owl Posted Tuesday, August 26, 2008 12:17 PMFake degrees in the private sector raise prices for us all. How many employees of banks etc have fake degrees? I bet plenty.
They are quietly let go to avoid embarresing the employer.
Wise Old Owl Posted Tuesday, August 26, 2008 12:17 PMIm my federal career, I know of two people who claimed to have earned doctorates and did not have them. One, a staff member, was told that if he did not leave, he would be fired. He got a job in another agency and contiunued to fake his doctorate. The other, an SESer, got away with it because SESers reporting to him invented excuses for his behavior.
Vic Posted Tuesday, August 26, 2008 12:42 PMThe assumption that all 100 (out of 1.87 million civil servants) were committing fraud by having unaccredited degrees seems a stretch. Most online schools require some coursework, however cursory, and claim some accreditation, however bogus. The report does not make clear whether the "graduates" were intentionally trying to cheat the government or were gullible victims of the diploma mill while trying to improve their lot in life. I suggest that it was a mixed bag and case specific penalties probably ran the gamut from terminations on down.
Ted Bean Posted Tuesday, August 26, 2008 1:22 PMIt certainly adds to the reality that having a degree does not make a better or more qualified employee...I think we would be better off hiring/promoting folks based on their work experience and evaluated potential vs. having a framed piece of paper that means next to nothing...Think about this, with the falsification issue aside, what level of knowledge/experience changed when it was discovered that employee x possessed a 'diploma mill degree'...Lastly, I am certainly not defending these employees from their dishonesty, merely pointing out that in many cases, we hire/promote for the wrong reason...
bob s. Posted Wednesday, August 27, 2008 9:04 AMThe usps Postmaster in Elizabeth City lied and padded her resume to get her position. I contacted USPS personel and USPS OIG and they blew me off. Ms. Holifield paid for her bachelor and masters degree from Hamilton University to get into the 2006 Postal Intern program and is now a USPS PostMaster. It must be nice to just lie and pry you don't get caught, she has been lucky. It stated that if you falsify your application you will be terminated...USPS doesn't give a shit'
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