… to see that this stinks.

[T]he lead scientist on the [California Air Resources Board's] controversial study recommending sweeping new diesel emission rules got his Ph.D. by mail for $1,000. … Hien Tran admitted Dec. 10 [2008] to CARB that he lied about having a Ph.D. in statistics from UC Davis. Instead, Tran said, his Ph.D. was from “Thornhill” [a notorious diploma mill whose campus is a New York City United Parcel Service office]. Nevertheless, the air board still voted unanimously to adopt the rules based on his research Dec. 12 — without acknowledging Tran’s deception. Months and months later, Tran was demoted, but he still has a key role. Academic fraud, you see, is no big deal. The air board is on a mission. The normal concerns about making huge decisions based on tainted/flawed/untrustworthy/suspect research? The board couldn’t be bothered.

Yes, ol’ UD continues to be baffled by the odd ways in which schools and boards and governments and police forces respond to cynical ignorant liars in their midst — people who have often used funds from the school or the government to buy their bogus degrees.

Talk about being screwed every which way to Sunday. Yet so often the response to such people is… what? Embarrassment. Suppression of the information. Belligerent indiffference.

It’s really not hard to identify and eject frauds. And you’d think an organization interested in its own integrity would be eager to do so. Yet CARB, like the Freehold New Jersey school district, and like many other organizations, stonewalls and hides and does its own prevarication. Why?

UD thanks Shane for the link.