I haven’t watched the show yet, but this is inpired by a synopsis of the new show “Community” where a lawyer (I think) goes back to a community college to teach after his (presumably law-)degree is revoked.
Which got me to wondering, can a college revoke a degree once it is awarded? Imagine whatever circumstances you want, but I thought once a degree was conferred, it was…well, conferred.
I could see having some kind of notation put in one’s transcript like “earned the B.S., but under fradulent conditions” or something.
(I know, don’t take anything on television too much as any sort of fact)
So, does anyone know if there is a procedure for doing this? Thanks!
I have no close knowledge about US colleges, but Doctorate degrees from universities, it was always my understanding that if they later discovered you cheated (faking results) or plagiarized, the title could and would be revoked, no matter how many years had passed.
Why should you keep a title you didn’t earn correctly?
As far as my understanding goes, most educational institutions will withdraw a qualification if there is any evidence of cheating.
I’d guess there’s nothing to stop them; a qualification is basically a document that says “I think this guy can do so and so” (anyone can give a certificate out, it’s a matter of whether they can be trusted; i.e. be an accredited institution) so they presumably have the right to say “hang on, we’ve realised that this guy cannot really do so and so”.
Interesting question. It appears that there’s actually legal precedent on in this issue. Every university is slightly different, so slightly different internal procedures might be used; however, it probably wouldn’t be much different from the process described in the 1986 Michigan case Crook v. Baker:
As to the rationale behind why degrees can be revoked, see Waliga v. Kent State. The rationale is pretty much that postulated by Bisected8:
Everyone has made good points, and I largely agree, but I would also add that as more time passes, it becomes more and more difficult to retroactively revoke the degree.
You’re probably not going to get your Bachelor’s degree yanked from you when you’re 40 years old if they found out you cheated on your Psych 101 midterm, even if the University wanted to.
They sent me back at the end for 1 credit, because I “repeated” a 4-credit Incomplete in a discontinued class with its 3-credit replacement course.
I made up the credit in a summer “immersion course” in 3 weeks. I had the diploma and cap and gown, and yearbook picture, but not a matching transcript until the last credit was in.
I have this nightmare that my alma mater is going to do a record review and find out that I missed some deadline or didn’t sign in the right place, or whatever, and rescind my degree, which would then cause me to lose my job since it requires a degree.
HH, who didn’t cheat in college but did fudge the font size on more than one term paper. :eek:
For one thing, unlike in Germany, a degree is not a title. Curiously, I could be arrested in Germany for calling myself Dr. Seldon, even though it was a fully earned degree but it wasn’t awarded by a German university. I think I read somewhere that nowadays other EU are recognized.
It is not clear in my mind what revocation actually means. I still have the piece of parchment and, in my career I have never been asked to show it to anyone anyway. Once I got my first job (thanks to my thesis advisor) all the rest depended only on my subsequent accomplishments.
At the University of California, degrees, once awarded, can be rescinded by vote from the Academic Senate. If a diploma has been issued, it’s obviously not possible to get that back, but the degree can no longer be verified and it is removed from the transcript.
This happens quite frequently, both for rare/exceptional circumstances, and much more mundane administrative reasons.
Until I was about 30, I had a similar, but even worse recurring nightmare. About once a month, I’d dream that my old high school contacted me about some credits I missed (usually something stupid like PE). I’d be sent back to repeat a whole year of high school. Some people might actually enjoy that dream, but I hated everything about high school even the first time.
I don’t know if they got around to revoking the honorary degree they gave him, but the University of Alabama gave an honorary doctorate to Richard Scrushy (CEO of Healthsouth)
The fact that nobody has asked to see the piece of parchment doesn’t make revocation less meaningful, it makes it more meaningful: if the piece of paper was what people were interested in seeing, then your degree is effectively irrevocable short of the school sending ninjas to raid your file cabinet. But if a prospective employer calls up the school to verify your degree and the school says you don’t have a degree, then for all practical purposes you don’t have one.
