Gollin Hiding UIUC Connection?

[Winston Smith]

Now that he has brought down a potential $120 million federal lawsuit on his employer, is George Gollin (George D. Gollin, George Dana Gollin) downplaying his connection to the U. of I.?

Or as our esteemed colleague Little Arminius might have phrased it, tension between Gollin and UIUC?

Here’s a news story about a guy who got aced out for a soft government job by a loser named Rufus Walden with a Rochville “degree.”  The guy did the ten seconds worth of internet research to determine that Rochville has no academic credibility, but apparently the government dimwits doing the hiring did not.  

So far so good, but then the guy had to go try to find an “expert,”  and when he couldn’t find one he settled for dumbass butt-scratcher Gollin.  Notice how the article describes him, not as usually occurs, “University of Illinois physics professor,” but rather as “with the Council of Higher Education Accreditation.”  

Did somebody at U of I tell Gollin to stop dragging the university into his sleazy little hobby?  Or did Dr. Dumbass decide he should spread around the blame a little better so that there are more deep pockets for plantiffs to get paid from when they sue him?

The funny thing about this story is that over on the left there is a link to the Rochville student transcript that was obtained through an FOIA request.  Notice that Rufus barely eked out a C+ in his Business Ethics class.  Think Rochville was trying to tell us something?

Former Water Dept. Worker Questions Employee Screening Process

Posted: 11:48 am EDT May 5, 2010
Updated: 10:20 pm EDT May 5, 2010

ATLANTA -- A former security specialist for the city of Atlanta's Watershed Department told Channel 2 Action News investigative reporter Richard Belcher that the department's screening process is so sloppy, one senior manager won a promotion using a bogus college degree. Tonta Draper said that raises questions about the security team responsible for the safety of Atlanta's water supply.

Draper was in contention for the same $68,000 a year promotion. He didn't get it and eventually the department let him and 15 others go during a reduction in workforce. Belcher investigated to see if this was a case of sour grapes, or if there is something into the way Watershed Management hires and promotes.

Draper took Belcher along the perimeter of the city's intake plant on the Chattahoochee River in Northwest Atlanta. He said it's a site where competent security really matters. "If you wanted to damage the water system, this is where it would begin," said Draper.

Belcher didn't find any major security failures at city water facilities, but Draper argued that if the city is sloppy checking out its own security managers, there are some risks.

"I don't think the city of Atlanta wants to be in that position where you have a guy brought through the system, put in a position that's a figurehead, and then you can't do the job," said Draper.

In 2007, Draper said he and fellow watershed security employee Rufus Walden were competing for an important promotion. He said the job posting read that one qualification was a bachelor's degree that has to be from a properly accredited institution. Draper said Walden offered a diploma in business administrator from Rochville University that he had gotten just two months earlier, and got the job. Belcher looked up Rochville University on the computer and discovered that it was bogus. Belcher also called Professor George Gollin with the Council of Higher Education Accreditation who said it was a diploma mill.

Bill Taylor of Watersheld Management told Belcher he could not talk about personnel issues. He said he can't provide any information about Walden or any employee. City officials did provide Walden's letter of resignation dated March 29. That's two weeks after Belcher picked up a copy of his personnel file through and open records request.

Walden's wife told Belcher city officials made him resign. Taylor would not confirm that.  "Nothing has been brought to my attention in that matter for a particular individual missing, as you would say, a check or a background check," he said.

Draper said he believes someone either dropped the ball or intentionally overlooked a fake degree. He said he thinks that's a big deal, especially in a security job. "That's the whole premise of you being there. Your character, integrity, because you're protecting people. People need to know you're an honest broker."

[WilliamW]

He said the job posting read that one qualification was a bachelor's degree that has to be from a properly accredited institution.

...Draper said he believes someone either dropped the ball or intentionally overlooked a fake degree.

Assuming the statement about the job posting is correct, and that by "properly accredited" they mean accredited by a government-recognized agency, it seems like an easy call that Rochville didn't make the grade.  Not because it was a "diploma mill," but simply because it was not properly accredited.  

So why go the extra step and call them a "diploma mill"?    Another instance of George Gollin not answering the simple question, but instead going out of his way to gratuitously slam an unaccredited school.  

If the employer failed to follow its own policies, either through ineptitude or chicanery, how is that Rochville's problem?  It sounds like it's the government agency's problem (and Atlanta taxpayers').  

Where is George Gollin's comment on the corrupt or incompetent Atlanta Watershed Department?  

Not a word, of course, because the physics genius isn't capable of analyzing the situation properly or apportioning blame appropriately.  Just a shrill, knee-jerk spew of "diploma mill!" like a squawking parrot that only knows one answer.  Which is why he's spending his spare time talking to slander lawsuit defense lawyers.