DL Truth: Distance Learning Truth

Will a physics professor’s “hobby” cost Illinois taxpayers $120 million?  University of Illinois physics professor George Gollin (George D. Gollin, George Dana Gollin) is being sued in a Los Angeles federal court for his part in a Liberian shakedown scheme.

St. Luke School of Medicine was a small, accredited medical school that helped to provide doctors and medical care to the poor and sick in war-ravaged Liberia.  But when they refused to pay a $6,000 a month bribe, George Gollin began a campaign to falsely portray the school as an illegal “diploma mill” to force them to pay the bribe, according to the complaint.


George Gollin’s current employer, the University of Illinois, is also named as a defendant in the complaint.  In 2003 university spokesperson Robin Kaler stated that the university did not support George Gollin’s hobby of stalking and attacking small Christian schools because it was outside the area of his supposed expertise.


But in the face of these admonishments George Gollin continued with his hobby, aided by gay Oregon bureaucrat Alan Contreras.  Contreras was judged to be an anti-Christian bigot and civil rights violator in an Oregon court proceeding, and that judgment was affirmed on appeal.


George Gollin and his wife Melanie Loots, who also is employed at the University of Illinois, have been involved in number of scandalous incidents recently.


George Gollin claims to hold a doctoral degree from Princeton University in New Jersey, whose university policy expressly prohibits collaborative dissertations.  Gollin admits the document he submitted was a collaboration, in violation of university rules.  The dissertation bears a striking resemblance to a research paper purportedly authored by Gollin and 15 other students, and the synopses for both documents are virtually verbatim.


George Gollin used violent imagery similar to that used by the infamous Zodiac Killer to threaten people he believed had posted an embarrassing photo of him on the internet.  He also is alleged to have violated federal law by falsely posing as a government official, and has been caught allegedly posting other people’s social security numbers on his university web site.


Using the code name “galanga,” George Gollin made 1,280 posts on an internet website operated by a pedophile-pandering gay pornographer.


Gollin’s wife, Melanie Loots, served as “Conflict of Interest Officer” for the University of Illnois during the conflict of interest scandal that rocked the university and resulted in the sacking of top administrative officials, including President B. Joseph White and Chancellor Richard Herman.


Loots also was cited by the federal Food & Drug Administration for selling 386 mutant lab pigs to the public for food.   In another incident, religious groups demanded Loots’ resignation when it was discovered she had made bigoted, anti-Catholic slurs and belittled Catholic religious rituals.


Despite these incidents the pair remains employed by the university at taxpayer expense, with George Gollin receiving a $100,000 salary, and his wife receiving $160,000.


Plaintiff St. Luke previously obtained a $120 million judgment against some of these same defendants in a Ghana court, but so far corrupt Liberian officials have prevented them from collecting.  Illinois taxpayers could potentially be on the hook for that amount or more, thanks to George Gollin and his reckless hobby.

Will a physics professor’s “hobby” cost Illinois taxpayers $120 million?  

By Ken Fisher | Last updated May 29, 2007 12:52 AM

When the State of Illinois was tardy in paying its legal bills after attempting to defend a law that regulated the sale of violent and sexually explicit video games, the Entertainment Software Association wondered about the reasons for the delay. Now they know: the state was scouring department budgets, looking for the $1 million it cost to defend the unconstitutional legislation in court. Yes, you read that right—the State of Illinois spent one meeeellion dollars of taxpayer money on the litigation even as the state budget was starved for cash in other, more pressing areas. And worse yet, they spent it on a bill which, when introduced, was plainly unconstitutional.

The grand total was reported this week in a Quad Cities Online article which revealed that "the governor raided funds throughout state government to pay for the litigation. Some of the areas money was taken from included the public health department, the state's welfare agency and even the economic development department." A state representative who attended recent hearings on the issue said that Gov. Blagojevich's staff simply spread the legal bills around by sticking them to agencies which had funds left in their budgets—even if the agencies had nothing to do with the issue or the litigation.

The Illinois law in question was struck down by both a federal court and an appeals court. In the final decision on the case, the justices noted that the law used a set of simplistic criteria to evaluate video games. They even used God of War as an example of the law's failings.

"Because the (Illinois law) potentially criminalizes the sale of any game that features exposed breasts, without concern for the game considered in its entirety or for the game’s social value for minors, distribution of God of War is potentially illegal, in spite of the fact that the game tracks the Homeric epics in content and theme," the judges wrote.

Spending this sort of money on important causes is one thing; spending it on video game regulation approaches that have been repeatedly ruled unconstitutional in other states is quite another. The situation might be more understandable were it not for the fact that Illinois could have easily seen this coming, either by paying attention to what other states are encountering or by opening a dialogue with the likes of the ESA. Instead of taking that cautious approach, the Governor decided to press on, and now the taxpayers will bear that burden. The fact that some of the money was pulled from public health and welfare only makes the situation worse.

Here's how they do it in Illinois.  

by John Bambenek
Posted Apr 11th 2010 at 1:21 pm

The University of Illinois Alumni Association recently awarded it’s “International Alumni Award for Exceptional Achievement” to the current President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa Delgado.  Since the University of Illinois is the premier university for the state of Illinois, let’s see the list of accomplishments President Correa can boast of while claiming this prestigious award:

•Transparency International listed Ecuador as one of the world’s most corrupt countries under Correa.
•He has seized numerous TV and Radio outlets in his country.
•He has jailed reporters critical of his government.
•Organized crime has had a magnificent rise during his reign.
•He has rammed through constitutional changes to increase his power and extend his term of office.
•He was found to have FARC terrorists fund his campaigns.
•Documents found by Colombia show that he has actively worked with FARC terrorists. FARC has also been involved with kidnapping Americans.
•Ecuador has provided a safe haven for FARC terrorists to launch attacks on Columbia, an ally of the United States.
•Ecuador has ties to both Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and has increased ties to Iran.

You could see awarding an individual responsible for the above antics (and more) at, say, Berkeley, but in the midwest? Then again, this is the same university system that employs and granted tenure to Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers.

An interesting connection is that Loren Tayler, the President of the University of Illinois Alumni Association is the son-in-law of Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MA), the Democratic House Majority Leader.

It’s not a stretch to suggest that there is liberal bias in academia. However, to award the leader of one of the world’s most corrupt countries, one that is waging an open war on the free press in his country, who is allied with Iran and openly aiding attacks against an American ally, who is sponsoring a terrorist group that has kidnapped Americans, defies logic.

At a time when the University of Illinois is facing severe budget cutbacks, perhaps its time Illinois taxpayers consider whether or not they wish to fund a University that honors people who are involved in attacking Americans.  This award is the kind of mind-boggling lunacy only possible at a big government university.

Here's how they do it in Illinois.

by Illinois Policy Institute
June 22, 2010

The State of Illinois runs the Upward Mobility Program, which is “a career mobility program designed to give state employees an opportunity to advance to more challenging, higher paying positions.” The Upward Mobility Program should be eliminated. Illinois taxpayers often struggle to fund higher education costs for their own families; they should not be funding higher education for state employees as well.

URL: illinoispolicy.org/uploads/files/UpwardMobility.pdf

The Problem
Wish someone would pay for your continuing education so you could get a higher paying job? If you are a unionized Illinois state government employee, you’re in luck. The State of Illinois runs the Upward Mobility Program, which is “a career mobility program designed to give state employees an opportunity to advance to more challenging, higher paying positions.”  Illinois taxpayers pick up the program’s costs:  

• Illinois state government employees who are union members represented by AFSCME can register for the Upward Mobility Program.  Selection for the program is based upon seniority. Once selected, participants enroll in continuing education and training classes necessary to qualify for their target job title.

• The Upward Mobility Program pays 100 percent of participants’ tuition costs at public institutions. At approved private schools, the program pays as much as $400/credit hour for undergraduate courses and $450 for master’s courses.

• When class time and work hours confict, state employees in the program can qualify for paid time off for half of the time that classes interfere with their work hours.

• State employees enrolled in the program are allowed to take up to eight hours off per week to attend classes, and management can only disapprove of such time off requests because of “unusual operational needs, class availability or untimely submission.”

• Participants may appeal to the Upward Mobility Advisory Committee for additional financial assistance to help pay for items the program does not cover, such as textbooks and non-mandatory fees, if “payment of such costs would impose a serious fnancial hardship on the employee.”

• The program pays for all required college proficiency tests and remedial classes.

• Upward Mobility pays for “required qualifying and licensure examinations, and for any review classes which prepare a participant to take such examinations.”

• Participants receive “paid time off to meet with their Upward Mobility counselor or take a proficiency test.”

• Participants pursue continuing education related to a list of more than 50 job titles, including: accountant, cook, chemist, psychologist, and social worker.

• Upon completion of the program, state employees are given “special consideration in the flling of vacancies” of targeted state job titles.

• Participants who seek titles that require degrees or licenses must fulflll a two-year work commitment with the state. Those who leave before fulflling the commitment must repay the cost of tuition and fees on a prorated basis.

How much does the Upward Mobility Program cost taxpayers? According to Illinois state budget books, taxpayers spend over $4 million per year on this program. Governor Pat Quinn has proposed raising the program’s fiscal year 2011 funding to $4,750,000—$250,000 more than fiscal year 2010 funding levels.

The Solution
The Upward Mobility Program should be eliminated.  Illinois taxpayers often struggle to fund higher education costs for their own families; they should not be funding higher education for state employees as well.

Why This Works
Illinois is in the midst of a massive budget crisis. State government jobs in Illinois are already well paid, offer generous benefts, and come with high job security. Illinois needs to prioritize spending on core government services over union perks.