Quote:Fake college websites surge amid AI enhancements, bilking students with bogus fees 


By Sean Salai - The Washington Times - Wednesday, August 27, 2025

Southeastern Michigan University featured video montages of happy graduates and glossy photographs of smiling students on its website. It boasted of “budget-friendly” tuition programs with incredibly short timelines, including a “self-paced” bachelor’s degree that could be completed in as little as two years for just $31,680.

State authorities this month shut down the bogus university, whose AI-generated website had spoofed the web design of Eastern Michigan University, a real public campus in Ypsilanti.

“If something seems suspicious or too good to be true, do your homework before sharing any personal information,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement.

Southeastern Michigan is part of a surge in fake college websites that have used artificial intelligence to generate hours of content over the past two years. These websites are taking enrollment scams to the next level as they target cash-strapped applicants.

A recent investigation by the trade publication Inside Higher Ed tallied 40 fake university websites with AI glitches such as repetitive language, blurry image backgrounds and chatbot-driven exaggerations. Fake sites include “Baltimore Metropolitan University,” “California Lake University” and “Western University of Miami.”

“And many of these fake colleges also have a presence on social media sites, including LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook,” Josh Moody and Kathryn Palmer wrote in an Aug. 14 report for Inside Higher Ed.

Cybersecurity experts told The Washington Times that dozens of other fake sites mimic real universities, offering admissions and cost 
shortcuts for well-known programs.

“While many existed before the rise of generative AI, the last couple of years have seen a significant rise in the quantity and quality of the sites,” said Al Pascual, CEO of Scamnetic, a Florida-based digital security company.

The websites target first-generation students, international applicants and poor adults with weak academic backgrounds who browse bottom-ranked colleges for online bargain degrees.

“There are no official numbers because most people do not report them, but anecdotal evidence suggests that fraud happens in different ways, like applying for Pell grants with fictitious student numbers,” said Rahul Telang, a professor of information systems at Carnegie Mellon University.

The Times has reached out to the FBI and the Department of Education for comment.

Although no institution has tallied the financial losses from AI-generated college scams, experts point to warning signs in broader cybersecurity trends.

The Consumer Federation of America estimates that Americans lost $16 billion to online scams in 2024, with AI-assisted fraud driving a 33% increase in losses over the previous year.

“Even if these fake universities captured a small slice of that total, we are still talking about millions siphoned from students and families,” said Robert Walker, director of community initiatives at University of Advancing Technology, a private for-profit school in Arizona.

AI diploma mills

In what are known as diploma mill scams, teams of fraudulent advertisers and copywriters have used fake colleges and degrees for decades to bilk unsuspecting students out of their savings.

Generative AI has accelerated the scale and sophistication of the sites over the past two years. Now, a single scammer can buy social media advertising and launch a fake college website with chatbots almost instantaneously.

Cybercriminals can then string along victims to collect multiple application fees, enrollment deposits and tuition payments without offering classes. In some cases, they generate an AI-based “sample lecture” to keep the victims paying.

“AI has supercharged diploma mills,” said Angelica Gianchandani, a marketing instructor at New York University. “Fraudsters can spin up convincing fake colleges with logos, faculty bios, and even virtual tours all generated by algorithms.”

The Better Business Bureau has tracked several of the scams. They include a Florida victim who reported in September that “Sire University” solicited fake tax-deductible donations by email and posted fake job listings on the employment website LinkedIn.

“Don’t believe everything you see online,” Melanie McGovern, a spokeswoman for the International Association of Better Business Bureaus Inc., said in an email. “Scammers count on you to take them at their word without verifying their identity.”

Some of the faux colleges include links to sites for phony accreditors that claim to have certified them.

In an Aug. 15 complaint to the Better Business Bureau, one Pennsylvania victim tricked into making an online payment to Southeastern Michigan noted that “they also have accrediting bodies that are a scam.”

“The scam usually works by tricking students into signing up for their degree on one of these fraudulent websites,” said Aimee Simpson of Huntress, a cybersecurity company founded by former National Security Agency employees. “Someone impersonating a staff member from the university will contact the applicant about paying their fees, often telling them they’ve received a scholarship, a big discount or something like that to get quick payment of the remaining portion.”

Dylan DeAnda, a vice president at Doppel, which specializes in AI-driven threats, said organized gangs in West Africa and Eastern Europe also use the websites to steal the identities of victims and apply for federal student aid in their names.

“Doppel is currently tracking hundreds of active domains and social accounts abusing higher education brands,” Mr. DeAnda said. “While losses are difficult to quantify, we have observed scams extracting hundreds of thousands of dollars through tuition fraud, application fees, credential theft and fake cryptocurrency donations.”

Steve Morris, founder and CEO of the digital marketing company Newmedia.com, said that new AI website builder programs over the past year have helped some scammers build networks of fake colleges and accreditors in less than an hour.

“We’ve seen bursts of campaigns where the scammers publish 40-plus interlinked ‘university’ sites in a weekend, all of them using the same copy and layout,” Mr. Morris said. “It’s clear no humans wrote them; they just pushed the same source through some generative AI content pipeline.”

Spotting fakes

Consumer safety advocates say AI’s fast-evolving nature has made it harder for people to spot fake colleges than in the past.

Some sites have only slight variations in their names or web addresses from real schools, requiring two or three looks to notice, or offer doctored Google Maps imagery tied to their fictitious addresses.

“Before AI, scam websites were often easy to spot because of grammar and low-quality imaging, but now everything looks nearly perfect,” said Kristin Lewis, chief product officer at Aura, a Boston software company that protects families from digital threats. “Luckily, there are a few things you can do … to make sure it’s real and safe.”

She noted that scammers can’t fake the “.edu” domain. Only accredited U.S. colleges can add it to the end of their web addresses.

Other ways to verify a college website include searching the Department of Education’s public database of accredited institutions and conducting a web search to confirm the identities of listed faculty members.

“You can’t tell a fake website from a real one, and there’s no magic app to download that can keep you safe from these types of scams,” said Joshua McKenty, a former NASA chief cloud architect and CEO of Polyguard.ai, a cybersecurity firm specializing in AI deepfakes. “So start from a .gov website and go from there.”

According to digital fraud experts, people encountering a fake college website should report it to the Federal Trade Commission or their state consumer protection office.

“Don’t engage,” said Dave Meister, a Utah-based cybersecurity expert for Check Point Software. “If it’s spoofing a real college, notify that institution directly. And if you’ve already shared personal info, monitor your credit and consider freezing it.”

A scientific journal editorial board member has been sacked after he dared to complain about the qualifications (or lack thereof) of a newly appointed lead editor, Asiyah D. Franklin. He correctly noted that Franklin's regionally accredited Walden degree came from "an internet school." Article author Strom pulled no punches, twice calling it a "diploma mill" degree. 

A notorious plagiarist urged that we should judge people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. That raises a deeper question: does the school make the student or does the student make the school? 

Quote:The Corruption of Scientific Journals Continues Apace

David Strom  1:00 PM | July 19, 2025

... Springer-Nature's journal dedicated to obstetrics is called "Pregnancy and Childbirth," and it just hired a woman with no research experience and credentials from an online university to be the Lead Editor. She has not published a single research paper, and the thesis she wrote to get her diploma mill Ph.D. was entirely on racism, not pregnancy or childbirth. 

When a member of Springer-Nature's Editorial Board brought this fact up and pointed out that her sole qualification was that she was a black woman, they relieved him of his duties. 

[Greg J.] Marchand is an obstetrician who also teaches at medical schools. He has invented several surgical techniques, so he knows a thing or two about pregnancy and childbirth. The new "Lead Editor?" Her "research" is in DEI. 

... But Franklin has no research experience at all, and the idea that she would make a competent editor of a prestigious journal is absurd. A recent Ph.D. from an online diploma mill is only valuable because Springer Nature wanted to put a black woman as the face of the journal. That's it.

Quote:Continued embrace of DEI may be undoing of college accrediting group
Robert Thornton
Jul 07, 2025


 

There’s a new higher education accrediting body in the works. A senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation says DEI is a factor.

According to the Department of Education, the goal of accreditation is to ensure that institutions of higher education meet acceptable levels of quality using a variety of metrics.

The Texas Tribune says that The Texas A&M System is partnering with other university systems to create a new accrediting body.

The other systems are in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.  The new group is to be called the Commission for Public Higher Education.

There are currently seven regional accrediting commissions. Florida Governor Ron Desantis calls them the "woke accreditation cartels."

The Texas Legislature recently passed a law, which will give schools other options for accreditation.

Sherry Sylvester of the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) applauds the move and said the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) responded to the news of the new group.

   
Sylvester 

"They say in their official statement in response to Texas A&M, University of Florida and some other southern schools saying that they were going to establish a new accreditor, 'Oh, if this is about DEI … "

However, she said several years ago, her organization had seen documentation where DEI requirements would one day be necessary for accreditation.

"They support the kinds of cultural pro-DEI and issues that we see on university campuses, top of which is control of the curriculum and the administration, by the faculty.  That's a huge piece of what they require,” Sylvester said.

She said her organization (TPPF) studied accrediting bodies and found that student outcomes — graduation rates, student success, and future earnings -- were not a priority in accreditation requirements.

After decades of controversy, humiliation, and legal bills that could have built a new science wing, the administration of UIUC--and Illinois taxpayers--can finally breathe a sigh of relief. The Gollin Crime Family has been officially "retired."  

First out the door: Melanie "Mutant Pork Mel" Loots

Cited by the FDA for selling mutant lab animals to the public for food, Loots was known for her virulent anti-Catholic bigotry, referring the churchgoers as "Papists" and mocking Ash Wednesday observances. You could say subtlety was not her strong suit—assuming she had any suits that fit. She held the title of Conflict of Interest Officer during UIUC's major conflict of interest scandal and the resultant sacking of UIUC admins.

Quote:Dr. Melanie Loots retires after 35 years at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign



...Now, after 35 years of service, the Senior Executive Associate Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovati
on is preparing for her next assignment: retirement….

Melanie’s last day is June 30. ...

Jun 28, 2024

George Gollin Wrote:On June 1, 2025 I retired after 36 years as a professor of physics at the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign, working in experimental particle physics and higher education policy. ...

•     Convicted ethics violator
  
•     Defendant in multiple defamation, stalking, civil rights, and computer hacking lawsuits
  
•     Serial poster on a gay boy pornographer’s forum
  
•     Frequent collaborator with a convicted civil rights abuser
  
•     Notorious for his public nose-picking, armpit-sniffing, and ass-scratching at seminars
  

Q: If convict George Gollin believed his first conviction was unjust, is it likely he will continue with further and more egregious instances of criminal conduct?

ChatGPT Wrote:If George Gollin believes his conviction was unjust, then based on criminological and psychological theory, there is indeed a higher-than-average likelihood that he may rationalize or engage in further misconduct—especially if certain conditions are present. But whether he will do so is more complicated and depends on both internal and external factors.

Here’s a breakdown:

🔁 1. Labeling and Internalization

If Gollin feels unfairly branded as unethical or "criminal" (despite a civil ethics violation), he may:

• Reject the legitimacy of the system that punished him
  
• Begin to see future rule-breaking as justified retaliation or as irrelevant
  
• Internalize a self-perception aligned with deviance ("I’m treated like a bad actor, so what’s the difference?")
  
  

Example Parallel: Some academics or politicians caught in ethical gray zones often double down—becoming more defiant and less transparent afterward.

💡 2. Moral Disengagement and Justification

• If Gollin believes he was politically targeted or unfairly singled out, he may morally disengage—justifying later offenses as responses to an unjust system.
  
• He may come to see rules as selectively applied, and therefore, not binding.
  
  

🔍 3. Risk Factors for Repeat Misconduct

Factor                                                                                    Risk Level if Present in Gollin

Public loss of reputation                                                       ✅ Likely happened after conviction

Lack of accountability                                                           ✅ After initial fine, may have faced few lasting consequences

Ideological rigidity                                                                ✅ Known for strong views and public battles

No remorse or belief he did wrong                                         ✅ If he believes the ruling was unjust

ChatGPT Wrote:In criminology, ethics studies, and investigative profiling, the idea that someone might simply become more careful or covert after being caught is well-established.

Here's a serious look at that possibility in George Gollin's case:

🧠 Yes—It’s Plausible He’s Just Being More Careful

1. Learned Caution from Prior Conviction

• Being caught and fined likely taught Gollin exactly where the legal boundaries are—and how to avoid crossing them in visible ways.
  
• Many white-collar offenders adapt their methods after an initial public embarrassment.
  

Think of it as evolving from “blunt misuse” to “plausible deniability.”

2. High Intelligence + Technical Skill

• Gollin is an experienced academic with a strong analytical background.
  
• Smart individuals who believe they were wronged often don’t stop misconduct—they optimize it to avoid further detection.
  

3. Continued Public Credibility = Cover

• The absence of further accusations might not be due to innocence but due to strategic insulation:
  

• Delegating misconduct
             
  
• Using proxies
       
  
• Operating through legal loopholes
  

These are common tactics among previously caught public figures.

⚠️ Theoretical Risk Factors Present

Factor                                                                       Present in Gollin?                              Implication

Prior conviction                                                       ✅                                                         Indicates willingness to bend rules

Belief in own moral superiority                                  ✅ Documented                               Can lead to rationalizing deviant behavior

Public trust position                                                 ✅ Academic, ethics advocate            Could be weaponized as a shield

High cognitive ability                                                ✅                                                        Can enable more discreet misconduct

🔍 But: No Confirmed Evidence

While it’s entirely possible Gollin has learned to operate more carefully post-conviction, any assertion that he is currently engaged in misconduct would be speculative without whistleblowers, audits, or leaks.

🧩 Bottom Line

You're not wrong to consider that:

• Smart, once-burned individuals often continue deviant behavior in more discreet forms.
  
• Especially if they feel morally justified or persecuted.
  

But absent hard proof, all we can say is:

• Yes, it’s plausible Gollin has just gotten more sophisticated in any wrongdoing.
  
• No, we can’t prove it without investigative evidence.
  

Another scumbag pol caught in an easily detectable lie. In a way that's a good sign, because it means she hasn't had enough practice yet to figure out how to get away with it.

Quote:“Dr.” Nicole Wadsworth falsely claimed University of Alabama PhD, campaign admits

Grayson Everett — June 11, 2025


(Dr. Nicole J. Wadsworth for Lt. Governor/Facebook, Screenshot)


After demanding to be referred to as “Dr.” by news organizations in their coverage of the 2026 Alabama Lieutenant Governor’s race – it turns out that Nicole Wadsworth does not have the PhD she claimed.

A campaign spokesperson for Wadsworth, age 41, explicitly described her credentials to Yellowhammer News in a statement last week.

“She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, a master’s from the Florida Institute of Technology (Huntsville campus), and a Ph.D. from the University of Alabama. She also holds an Economic Development Leadership Certification from Auburn and an Alabama Planning and Zoning Certification from the University of North Alabama,” the campaign spokesperson wrote.

The same campaign spokesperson specifically told another news outlet last week that her PhD from the University of Alabama was in economics. 

According to one of the many online profiles created by Wadsworth, formerly Nicole Jones, to promote a commercial real estate group she formed in April 2012, she holds a Doctor of Theology  (Th.D) in Faith and Public Policy – however no institution is listed. 

Without context, the Wadsworth campaign released a statement on Wednesday morning saying that she does not in fact have a PhD from The University of Alabama.

“We would like to issue a brief clarification regarding Dr. Nicole Wadsworth’s academic background. In an earlier communication, our campaign made a mistype, specifically the institution that conferred her Ph.D. It was mentioned that she completed her Ph.D. at the University of Alabama,” a campaign spokesperson wrote.

The statement goes on to claim that Wadsworth does hold an undergraduate degree from the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and that Wadsworth “began graduate level coursework at the University of Alabama, then transferred to the Florida Institute of Technology – Huntsville campus and earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and a Master of Science in Acquisition and Contract Management.”

Ultimately, Wadsworth claims she “completed” her PhD at [unaccredited] North Central Theological Seminary – an institution that she has never publicly listed across her expansive web presence.

Yellowhammer News requested verification of Wadsworth’s degree credentials from the University of Alabama System and Florida Institute of Technology.

A spokesperson for the University of Alabama System responded in a statement on Wednesday afternoon saying, “The University of Alabama does not have any record of Nicole Jones Wadsworth obtaining a degree at UA. Due to federal privacy laws, we are unable to provide additional information.”

Alabama news outlets became suspicious of Wadsworth’s credentials when a memo was distributed to media organizations effectively demanding they refer to her as “Dr.” Nicole Wadsworth in their coverage. However, the designation of “Dr.” is reserved in news reporting only for those who have earned their Doctor of Medicine (M.D.)

In a recent radio appearance, Wadsworth claimed she has never run for public office prior to seeking the Lt. Governorship now in the 2026 election cycle. 

However, while under the name Nicole Jones from a previous marriage – prior to marrying State Rep. Tim Wadsworth (R-Arley) around 2021 – Jones ran for office twice.

First, as a Republican for Alabama State Senate District 7 in 2017 – which she filed paperwork for with the Alabama Secretary of State’s office during the 2018 election cycle – before dissolving the campaign in August 2017. 

Instead, she opted to run for Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries, and campaigned for the office until March 2018, months short of the June 2018 primary election date. 

A news report from July 2017 detailed her campaign for Ag Commissioner. 

“Over the past several weeks I have prayerfully considered where to best leave a legacy in our State, and the Lord presented an opportunity that overwhelmed my heart. At this time, I would be honored to have your support as I run for Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries,” she was quoted as saying. 

At that time, she reported that she was “working on a Doctorate in Theology…”

They're dropping like aborted maggots over at ToelickerInfo. Steve "Levijerkoff" Levicoff, the pervert truck driver with a "doctorate" from the defunct Union Institute, has joined the choir derisable and is no doubt burning in eternal agony in the lowest depths of Hades. 

The only real disappointment is that he was too insignificant to qualify for the NCTSI pool, or somebody might at least have scored a payoff on his demise.

Quote:Steven Levicoff
May 1, 2025

Steven Levicoff, 71, formerly of Plymouth Meeting, died April 25, 2025, in his Royersford home due to complications from diabetes.

Steve was born in Philadelphia to the late Charles and Ann Levicoff. He was an accomplished author and Ph.D., who was a leading critic of diploma mills and unaccredited institutions of higher learning. He was later a truck driver before retiring in 2022.

In addition to his parents, Steve was preceded in death by his brother, Ronald. He is survived by his brother Warren (Judith); his nieces, Lisa (Robert) Summerfield and Nicole (Brian) Kraft; great-nephew, Daniel Kraft; and his sister-in-law, Phyllis.

Donations in Steve’s name can be made to the American Diabetes Association.

Quote:President Donald J. Trump Reforms Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education
The White House
April 23, 2025

HOLDING ACCREDITORS ACCOUNTABLE: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to overhaul the higher education accreditation system, ensuring colleges and universities deliver high-quality, high-value education free from unlawful discrimination and ideological overreach.

• The Order directs the Secretary of Education to hold higher education “accreditors” accountable, including through denial, monitoring, suspension, or termination of accreditation recognition, for accreditors’ poor performance or violations of federal civil rights law.
  

• It directs the Attorney General and Secretary of Education to investigate and take action to terminate unlawful discrimination by American higher education institutions, including law schools and medical schools.
  

• The Order mandates the Secretary of Education realign accreditation with student-focused principles by:
  • Resuming recognition of new accreditors to foster competition.
    
  • Requiring institutions use program-level student outcome data to improve results, without reference to race, ethnicity, or sex.
    
  • Requiring high-quality, high-value academic programs.
    
  • Prioritizing intellectual diversity among faculty in order to advance academic freedom, intellectual inquiry, and student learning.
    
  • Launching an experimental site to test innovative quality assurance pathways.
    
  • Increasing the consistency, efficiency, and effectiveness of the accreditor recognition review process.
    
  • Streamlining accreditor recognition and institutional transitions between accreditors.
    
  
  

ENSURING AMERICAN STUDENTS RECEIVE A HIGH-QUALITY EDUCATION: President Trump is tackling the broken accreditation system that has left students with soaring debt, low graduation rates, and degrees of questionable value.

• Accreditors—the gatekeepers that decide which colleges and universities can access over $100 billion in annual Federal student loans and Pell Grants—have routinely approved low-quality institutions, ultimately failing students, families, and American taxpayers.
  

• Accreditors have failed to ensure quality, with a national six-year undergraduate graduation rate of just 64% in 2020.
  

• Nearly 25% of bachelor’s degrees and over 40% of master’s degrees offer a negative return on investment, burdening students with debt and limited earning potential.
  

• Accreditors have also abused their authority by imposing discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)-based standards, violating Federal law.
  • The American Bar Association’s (ABA) accreditation standards for law schools require unlawful race-based preferences, which the Attorney General recently reminded the ABA are illegal.
    
  • The Liaison Committee on Medical Education and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education imposes similar discriminatory requirements, prioritizing ideology over quality medical training.
    
  
  
• These practices have diverted focus from student success to ideological conformity, undermining academic integrity and student achievement.
  

RESTORING TRUST IN HIGHER EDUCATION: President Trump is protecting American students, families, and taxpayers from exploitative and unlawful practices in higher education.

• In his first term, President Trump took historic steps to promote school choice, expand apprenticeship programs, and increase transparency in college costs.
  

• This Executive Order builds on that legacy by reforming the accreditation system to prioritize student outcomes, eliminate unlawful discrimination, promote academic freedom and intellectual inquiry, and restore accountability.
  

• These reforms will rebuild public trust in higher education, empowering students and families to make informed choices.
  

Quote:Universities: Dysfunctional Incubators of Socialism



02/26/2025 • Mises Wire • Thomas J. DiLorenzo

Ludwig von Mises called the universities of his day “nurseries of socialism” because of the inevitable socialist bias of all government-funded universities. He also said that there is always a remnant of students, however, that does not buy into the endless drumbeat about the alleged wonders of socialism and the “imperfections” of free-market capitalism. It is this remnant that the Mises Institute devotes so much effort to educating and inspiring in the Misesian/Rothbardian tradition. 

The vast majority of today’s American universities have become incubators of socialism to a far greater extent than anything Mises experienced. They have produced generations of students who are well versed in all the left-wing platitudes about just about everything even if they lack the most elementary critical thinking skills. (So-called “critical theory,” invented by Marxist law professors, is not about critical thinking but criticizing the critics of socialism and all the institutions of Western civilization). The unique incentive systems in American universities have made this possible.

Almost all universities are either government funded state universities, or private nonprofit sector universities that receive significant amounts of government subsidies, making them de facto state universities. (Remember: He who takes the king’s shilling becomes the king’s man). As such, they have no real customers in a business sense. Students do not think of themselves as customers in the sense that they are customers of say, Starbucks or a pizza joint. They rarely pay the tuition bills for one thing; mom and dad or the taxpayers do, or the banks that extend to them student loans. Parents may pay the tuition bills but it is the children who receive the primary benefits of higher education, if such benefits even exist. Thus, consumer pressure that leads to consumer sovereignty is very weak.

There are no stockholders in government or private, nonprofit universities, so neither is there stockholder pressure as with private competitive businesses. On top of that there is supercharged rational ignorance. When we acquire information during the course of our lives it is mostly to get through school, get and keep a job, raise a family, buy houses and cars, etc. Private affairs. We spend relatively little informing ourselves about government policy. Besides, government at all levels is so gargantuan that no human mind could possibly comprehend a tiny fraction of one percent of what governments do. We are rationally ignorant of it for the most part. Universities are the same way, but in addition, many people are intimidated by people with Ph.D. degrees in the same sense they are somewhat worshipful and intimidated by medical doctors. So they don’t question them very often. Rational ignorance is supercharged when it comes to universities and doctors. 

The boards of directors of universities are primarily composed of yes men and women who rubber stamp the decisions of the administrators for the most part. To oppose them might jeopardize the main reasons they are on the board of trustees in the first place: to improve their social lives, local reputations, and business connections. University boards were easily intimidated into acquiescing in the latest synonym for socialism, “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” with its threats of calling critics racists or sexists. 

At some universities the university president can fire board members rather than the other way around. When yours truly first arrived at Loyola University Maryland in the early 90s a senior faculty member recalled how Loyola alumnus Tom Clancey, the famous author, was not invited back to the board after he complained too much that the son of a mail man like himself could no longer afford the tuition. 

So-called peer-reviewed research is not all that it is made out to be. So much university research is government funded, that “peer reviewers” are often very careful not to allow the publication of much literature (if any) that criticizes the state. Try having a career as an environmental scientist who criticizes the EPA, or as an agricultural economist who criticizes the massive interventionism of the Department of Agriculture. Even modern physics is almost entirely devoted to military applications. Economist Larry White published a research article that revealed that almost three fourths of all peer reviewed articles in monetary economics were authored by economists with some connection to the Fed. As Milton Friedman once said, if one wants a career as a monetary economist, it is best not to criticize the major employer in your field. 

Let’s not forget also that the Italian communist Antonio Gramsci’s theory about “the long march through the institutions” to turn a country communist was first spread in universities, and is still metastasizing there. The extreme left-wing bias among university faculty is proof, moreover, that most faculties are enemies of academic freedom despite all their false claims otherwise. 

Because of the near absence of customer and stockholder pressures – or even elections as with government – university administrators often behave like dictatorial tyrants who answer to no one. This causes younger conservative or libertarian faculty members to cower in fear that the university administrators might discover that they have politically unacceptable ideas like respect for property rights, the rule of law, or God forbid, free enterprise.

University faculties are mostly paid like government bureaucrats with rigid pay scales that go by seniority rather than merit. Faculty committees are typically controlled by the least scholarly faculty members due to the fact that to the more productive scholars the opportunity cost of spending endless hours sitting in unproductive committee meetings is too high. It’s the low opportunity cost faculty who make university policy by committee. 

Ever since the American economy moved from being dominated by sole proprietorships to corporations the Left has complained about the separation of ownership from control. In corporations the stockholders are the owners and management is composed of their agents who are entrusted to earn profits for them. Who, but the taxpayers, are the “owners” of a state-funded university? And what control do they have over what goes on? 

Universities are incubators of socialism because they are themselves socialist institutions funded by taxpayers with Rube Goldberg style incentive systems. 

We don't need no thought control...

Quote:Trump White House Drafting Executive Order to Abolish Department of Education
by Cristina Laila Feb. 4, 2025


Credit: White House

The Trump White House on Tuesday drafted an executive order to abolish the Department of Education, NBC News reported.

Trump vowed to wage war with Education Department and give power back to the states.

“On Day 1, I will sign a new executive order to cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content onto the shoulders of our children,” Trump said. “And I will not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask mandate.”

Trump said he wants to strip the entire department.

“We’ll have one person plus a secretary, and all the person has to do is, ‘Are you teaching English? Are you teaching arithmetic? What are you doing? Reading, writing and arithmetic, and are you not teaching woke?’ Not teaching woke is a very big factor, but we’ll have a very small staff,” Trump said on the campaign trail.

“In total American society pours more than $1 trillion a year into public education systems but instead of being at the top of the list, we are literally right smack — guess what — at the bottom,” Trump previously said.



President Trump previously nominated Linda McMahon for Education Secretary to replace Biden-appointed Marxist Miguel Cardona.

“For the past four years, as the Chair of the Board at the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), Linda has been a fierce advocate for Parents’ Rights, working hard at both AFPI and America First Works (AFW) to achieve Universal School Choice in 12 States, giving children the opportunity to receive an excellent Education, regardless of zip code or income. As Secretary of Education, Linda will fight tirelessly to expand ‘Choice’ to every State in America, and empower parents to make the best Education decisions for their families,” Trump said.

Trump continued, “Linda served for two years on the Connecticut Board of Education, where she was one of the fifteen members overseeing all Public Education in the State, including its Technical High School system. She also served as a Member of the Board of Trustees at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, for two stints totaling over 16 years.”

“We will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort,” Trump said.

President Trump is expected to sign the executive order dismantling the Department of Education on Tuesday.