Quote:In Ammons' corner are such Democratic stalwarts as . . .congressional candidate George Gollin . . ..

Quote:Carol Ammons is running in Illinois to be the Democratic nominee for the House of Representatives in the 103rd District, home of the University of Illinois. Ammons is quite sure all this talk about her Walsingham University degree being bogus amounts to "the elites" smearing her for being a woman of the people, but so far, try as he might, Erik Jakobsson has not been able to find any evidence that Walsingham is anything other than a scam.

"When I thought about the relationship between what she had done and the possibility that she would represent the district that has Parkland College and the University of Illinois in it, that seemed to me to transcend politics as usual," he said.

"One of the reasons I feel so strongly about this is because I've spent my whole career at the university, and diploma mills totally undercut and undermine and devalue what real institutions of higher education do, like Parkland and the University of Illinois. We just can't have someone in Springfield who doesn't value that."

Quote:Walsingham University, according to its website (http://www.walsingham.ac/ABOUT_US_2.html), was founded in 1954 and offers "home-study correspondence courses to students wishing to pursue a programme in liberal arts studies," and that it provides "courses in a distance learning format. We currently service international students from 26 countries around the world."

Eric Jakobsson said Walsingham "has all the earmarks of a diploma mill.

"It's not like a legitimate correspondence school or online course at all. Typically these diploma mills don't exist as educational institutions at all," he said. "The fact that they have the .ac domain, which is the favorite domain for many, many diploma mills. The fact that they have same telephone number in the UK as Stafford University, which was a notorious diploma mill. The fact that when I tried to Google the administration and faculty who were named on their website I couldn't find any evidence that these people actually existed. All of these things together, it has all the earmarks of a diploma mill."

Quote:From WILL - News - February 12, 2014

Candidate Ammons Questions Her UK Degree, Rep. Jakobsson Backs Opponent
By Jeff Bossert, Scott Cameron and Jim Meadows


Carol Ammons, Democratic candidate in Illinois' 103rd District House race
(Carol Ammons for State Rep Facebook page)


A candidate for Illinois' 103rd House District seat says she's now questioning the degree she received from an online university based in the United Kingdom.

Democrat and Urbana Alderwoman Carol Ammons issued a statement Wednesday on her campaign website, saying she's contacted Walsingham University asking them to explain what she called their 'misrepresentation.'

Questions about the school were raised by fellow alderman Eric Jakobsson, husband of retiring 103rd District representative Naomi Jakobsson. He called the school a diploma mill.

Ammons said she completed online and correspondence coursework in business administration and earned a degree in 18 months. She says representatives from Walsingham told her it was fully accredited.

"What they represented to me is obviously something different than what has presented by Mr. Jakobsson," she said. "And I have just have to continue to look into it to see what the matter of the institution is."

In her statement, Ammons said she hopes to use her experience to raise awareness of predatory higher education institutions.

Meanwhile, Naomi Jakobsson Wednesday endorsed Ammons' primary opponent, Democrat and attorney Sam Rosenberg of Champaign, saying the first-time candidate has the right ethical standards, and understands how the legislature works.

She said the questions raised by her husband about Ammons' education also played a role in that decision.

"I do believe that when someone puts out credentials that you can't figure out where a university is--or does it exist--I think those kind of things play an important role," she said. "It's just very inappropriate, it's wrong to say something about yourself that isn't true."

Rosenberg Wednesday also picked up the endorsements of Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing and Champaign Mayor Don Gerard.

Kristin Williamson of Urbana is the only Republican in the 103rd House district race.

Quote:Initially, I thought that because I did not relocate to another community and had a new, permanent address in Urbana by election day, my being without residence for 3 weeks and 3 days would not matter. When others objected that the interruption in residency, no matter how short, disqualified me, I forfeited the election win on the night I would have taken office. Another person was appointed to fill the seat.

There was no dishonest intent or action on my part.

Quote:College Degree

I visited London in 1997, on a trip sponsored by a group of African American small business owners in Chicago. As part of this international business conference, there were vendors providing information about business and education opportunities. I spoke with a representative from Walsingham University, who shared literature about their business administration degree program, and represented it as an accredited program designed to allow low-income and working adults to pursue higher education. The vendor explained that their program accepted credits earned at other institutions and also that I could have work and life experiences assessed by faculty for college credit. As a mother of two young children who was running my own business from home, and the first person in my family to pursue a higher education degree, I decided to enroll in this program.

I enrolled in Walsingham in 1997, taking out a loan to pay for college. I was able to transfer credit for general education requirements from Joliet Junior College. I also completed a portfolio process, in which I had to detail my business experiences and then received course credit based on that portfolio. For my Walsingham coursework, I worked through assigned course packets, which included completing assigned readings, completing workbooks and worksheets, and writing papers. I then submitted my completed materials both by mail and online. For example, I took a course on federal and state taxes, which included an assignment that required me to research Illinois tax code applicable to business administration. I completed my required coursework in 18 months and graduated in 1999.

I have contacted Walsingham University to express my concerns about their misrepresentation of their organization and to ask for an explanation. I have not yet received an answer.

This experience has led me to redouble my commitment to opening doors for higher education in Illinois, especially for underserved and lower income populations. I intend to share my experiences with young people in our area who want to pursue college degrees, and to raise awareness of predatory higher education institution. [sic]

(02-23-2014, 08:42 AM)Albert Hidel Wrote: Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha! That's just too funny.

The diploma mill "carpbuster" who endorses the diploma mill carp running for office. What a sleuth.

(03-02-2014, 05:02 PM)Virtual Bison Wrote: If I am not mistaken the current mayor of Los Angeles holds a degree from and unaccredited college as well. Funny how that was never made an issue.

Quote:Garcetti was raised in the San Fernando Valley and earned his B.A. and M.A. from Columbia University. He studied as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and the London School of Economics and taught at Occidental College and USC.

Quote:About those endorsements
...

- Big Debbie - Monday, Mar 3, 14 @ 12:11 pm:

Also, here is a recent unsurprising dodge by George Gollin's campaign about Ammons' degree issue:

===Gollin's campaign manager Monica Biddix responds: "George isn't going to comment on that. It's an unfortunate situation."=== http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2014-02-28/toms-mailbag-feb-28-2014-ellen-buffalo-and-henson.html

It is widely suspected in C-U that Gollin is not just endorsing Ammons, but that they are coordinating campaigns together.

For example, Callis recently went on a radio show hosted by Carol Ammons' husband where he grilled her about the drug war - since she is a former judge - and took a series of not very friendly telephone calls.

Gollin has money, Ammons doesn't - and Ammons has an organization and Gollin at least didn't at the beginning. So the coordination was a smart move, at least at first.

But now with the "diploma mill" allegations, it has put Gollin in a really weird position. Basically he has to ignore that he devoted a decade of his life fighting against diploma mills through his endorsement of Ammons.

Personally, I don't really care too much about the issue. Most likely, Carol was a victim of some sophisticated fraud, and I won't fault her for that. But this is a real problem for Gollin now.
...

- wayward - Monday, Mar 3, 14 @ 1:43 pm:

In a 2008 WaPo article, a co-director of an association for registrars and admissions officers says, "People who buy diplomas from diploma mills are not victims; they are co-conspirators."

The article and quote were included in Gollin's anti-diploma mill website:
http://www.hep.uiuc.edu/home/g-gollin/pigeons/

Big Debbie Wrote:George, you've already sold out a decade's worth of your life's work on diploma mills for some minor political advantage. Now you are going to go out as a liar, too.