Courier-Journal: Matchbook degrees?
President James Ramsey offered a rather rosy picture of the state of the University of Louisville on Tuesday, and, to be sure, much is going on there to make the faculty, students and community proud.
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However, as the scandal at the College of Education and Human Development continues to widen, there is a stain that glowing words cannot eradicate.
The latest chapter, reported yesterday by The Courier-Journal’s Andrew Wolfson, indicates that ex-Dean Robert Felner turned the school’s Ph.D. program into the equivalent of a diploma mill. Dr. Felner, who is under federal investigation for possible mishandling of federal grants to the university, rewarded a California educator with a doctorate in a matter of one semester, flouting U of L rules and national standards.
It gets worse: John Deasy, the recipient of the degree, was superintendent of a school district that had recently awarded Dr. Felner’s National Center on Public Education and Social Policy a $375,000 contract.
Dr. Felner was a busy man. But what of the U of L college of which he was the steward? How many other doctorates awarded during his tenure were quickies? And what of the hard-working students who earned theirs according to the rules? Has their work been discredited?
Only a few weeks ago, Dr. Ramsey characterized charges against Dr. Felner as a lot of “anonymous crap.” Those hasty words, uttered in anger, indicate that the state of the university, at least in one major aspect, is not rosy at all.
His decision to appoint a blue-ribbon commission to review the Deasy matter is a good step. But correcting the Felner affair and repairing the College of Education’s reputation is going to take much more than that.
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