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UD’s as scandalized by the reporter’s quotation marks as she is by the professor’s theft.

A former Western Kentucky University professor pleads “guilty” to federal program fraud.

The U.S. Attorney’s office says Katrina Phelps entered into a “plea agreement” today, where she admits intentionally misapplying $27,087.20 from Western Kentucky University.

[“Guilty”? “plea agreement”? Why the quotation marks? Did she not really plead guilty? Is it not really a plea agreement? Am I living in Upper Volta where we don’t use terms like guilty and plea agreement, so you have to put them in quotation marks to introduce them to me?]

Phelps admits from March 2005 to December 2007, she took the proceeds from 16 checks from a justice department grant, and misapplied the funds.

As part of her plea agreement, Phelps agrees to pay full restitution to WKU, prior to her sentencing.

The maximum potential penalties for Phelps’ offense, include ten years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and supervised release for up to 3 years.

Adds piquancy that these were from the justice department… “Background” “here.”

Margaret Soltan, February 10, 2009 9:17AM
Posted in: professors, Scathing Online Schoolmarm

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4 Responses to “UD’s as scandalized by the reporter’s quotation marks as she is by the professor’s theft.”

  1. Christopher Vilmar Says:
    February 10th, 2009 at 3:13PM

    "Am I living in Upper Volta where we don’t use terms like guilty and plea agreement, so you have to put them in quotation marks to introduce them to me?"
    You’ve been peripatetic ever since you went on sabbatical–maybe YOU should be telling US if you’re in Upper Volta?

  2. theprofessor Says:
    February 10th, 2009 at 3:41PM

    You must have conniptions when you visit the BBC web pages, UD. They seem to put quotes around the final 2-3 words of every headline, regardless of whether it makes sense or not.

  3. Margaret Soltan Says:
    February 10th, 2009 at 3:57PM

    Well, I’m not in Upper Volta, which turns out to be Burkina Faso, and William Safire has something to say about this:

    http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE4DD143EF931A15753C1A96F948260

    I’m on my way from Garrett Park to Key West. I think I’ve found an apartment – at the southern end of the historic district, Old Town. Haven’t formalized things yet, but it looks likely. I should be there in a few days.

  4. dave.s. Says:
    March 6th, 2009 at 9:54AM

    You like the "scare quotes"? Have I got "scare quotes" for YOU!

    http://kerryhowley.com/2009/02/12/fun-with-ancient-fda-transcripts/

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