Another Degree Scandal Is Brewing at the University of Louisville

by E Wayne Ross on September 26, 2008

PageOneKentucky.com: Another Degree Scandal Is Brewing at the University of Louisville

Lewis “Sonny” Bass, a very wealthy donor for the University of Louisville, the man who wrote a white wash of a letter to the Courier-Journal in late August, may have wrongly received a degree from the University of Louisville.

His name may be familiar. Bass was a UofL football player in the early 1940s and has given millions of dollars to the University of Louisville over the years. For things like this and this.

Bass, who spent time at UofL during his football years, has decades of successful business and life experience. That’s not to be discounted.

But according to sources at UofL (we can’t reveal who they are, but remember the stories we’ve broken so far– they’re high-level individuals), Mr. Bass was offered an honorary degree over the summer. But he wasn’t satisfied. He wanted an actual, earned degree. So individuals within the College of Education enrolled him in a fast track program that would give him credit for life experience, which has to be documented in the form of a portfolio.

A student was assigned (and paid) to assemble a portfolio for Bass but eventually grew to be uncomfortable with the arrangement. At one point, after complaining, she was reportedly offered more money to appease her worries but eventually backed out of the process. A new student was then assigned.

According to professors we spoke with at UofL, Bass never showed up to classes he was supposed to attend this summer. He never did any of the work required of him. And professors were uncomfortable giving grades to him– that he didn’t earn– since he was never in their classes.