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Friday, March 19, 2004
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HOW LONG, OH LORD? HOW LONG?
The ink's barely dry on Pore Jud's resignation papers; Kerri Dunn is only just being fitted for handcuffs; the University of Southern Mississippi's President Thames is about to flow gently out of his job -- things, in short, seemed to have quieted down on the academic scandal front. Some of us even thought we might be able to turn our attention to substantive questions - curricula, grading standards, whatever. AND NOW THIS! Editor's Note [New York Times, 21 March 04] A report on Feb. 15 about the wedding of Riva Golan Ritvo and Alan Bruce Slifka included an erroneous account of the bride's education, which she supplied. Ms. Ritvo, a child therapist, did not graduate from the University of Pennsylvania or receive a master's degree in occupational therapy or a Ph.D in neuroscience from the University of Southern California. Though she attended Penn for a time, her bachelor's degree, in occupational therapy, is from U.S.C. The Times should have corroborated the credentials before publishing the report. KEEryst. If you can't trust the New York Times wedding announcements, what can you trust? Sure, Jayson Blair damaged the credibility of their FRONT page, but those of us who pounce each Sunday upon their wedding announcements (as Veblen, Vidal, Fussell, Brooks, and other class mavens could tell you, these pages are RIFE) have always considered their data - specially the university stuff - sacred. Can it be that even one young bride is capable of such extensive fraud (note that she awarded herself not merely a master's and a Ph.D., but a Ph.D.in neuroscience, far more glamorous than o.t.)? And can it be that the Weddings fact checkers are too starry-eyed to wonder whether people desperate to impress me with their academic credentials might lie about them? Your bloggeure begins to despair... |