Is the University of Louisville a degree mill?

The Louisville Courier-Journal reported yesterday that John Deasy, a superintendent in California and one of Robert Felner's cronies, received a PhD from the University of Louisville after completing only 9 units of coursework never completing the residency requirement, both of which are violations of university policy. Felner is the former education dean at U of L who is currently under investigation for misusing federal grant money.

The story came just as U of L President James Ramsey was trying to put the quietus on the negative PR the university had been receiving by making a long overdue public apology.

At some point someone is going to have to start questioning why it was that President Ramsey and Provost Shirley Willihnganz didn't have any clue about this until others from outside the university started snooping. The board too is going to have to start asking hard questions about how their university is being run before its reputation is irreparably harmed.

Oh, and it doesn't help that U of L's name is being dragged through the mud by national publications like the Chronicle of Higher Education either.

Ramsey finally apologizes

U of L President James Ramsey has finally offered apologies for the people hurt by Robert Felner, the former education dean at the school, a man Ramsey, until very recently, ardently defended. If Ramsey had a clue about PR, he would have at least just shut up since there was an investigation going on. If he had been a competent administrator, he would have taken care of the situation before it became public. And if he and Provost Shirley Willihnganz had had a clue about how to recruit deans for their departments, they would have seen the red flags in his background.

The people close to this case refer to Felner as a "psychopath" who routinely engaged in sexual harassment and intimidation. As one person described it to me, "the financial fraud is the least of his offenses."

We're glad Ramsey has apologized, but why in the world did it have to wait until way after everyone else in the known world had figured it out?

Oh, and how many other incompetent deans do we have at U of L because Ramsey and his underlings can't distinguish a competent administrator for a psychopath?