Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-11
CLOSED DIPLOMA
. MILL STILL ACTIVE
Trade Board ProberS Find
"OrientaI University" Busy
Despite Suppression.

Oriental University" presumably
put out of business here In 1925 when
it's president. Bishop" II. p. Holler,
was sentenced to two years in FED
eral prison for using the mails to de-
fraud, still Is issuing degrees under
authority of the Government of the
United States" it was revealed yes
terday at a meeting of the un1Ver-
stiles and private schools committee
of the Board of Trade, where methods
for combating diploma mills were
considered.
David Allen Robertson of the Amer
lean Council of Education told the
committee he had received only last
week a complaint from a clergyman
in Sweden who recently had bought
an Oriental University" degree. The
university" is chartered under the
laws of the District of Columbia, but
Mr.. Robertson was unable to say
where its office now is located.
Mr.. Robertson brought up this case
to illustrate the difficulty of fighting
diploma mills through the courts. The
activities of Oriental" were stopped
only temporarily after revelations in
court of it's activities in selling de-
grees in the United States and Europe,
including a great many medical de-
greeS, on the AUTHORITY of which the
holders actually were practicing as
physicians.
Joint Activity Approved.
The committee, of which Dr. William
Mather Lewis, president of George
Washington University, is chairman,
acted favorably on joining the activi-
ties of the Board of Trade with those
of other civic and scholastic organiza-
tons to devise means Of running low
grade degree-issuing schools out of the
District of Columbia by legislation. A
subcommittee, consisting of James
Drawn, F. c. Daniel and Edgar F.
Fowler, was appointed to confer with
similar committees of other organiza-
tons as soon as the authority of the
Board of Trade exc "utive committee is
secured.
The situation here, DIR. Lewis said.
had been we'll illustrated by a recent
series of articles in The Evening Star,
and formed a proper subject for ac-
ton by a business organization.
"A store In Washington selling
worthless goods or doing business
under false pretenses," DIR. Lewis
said, quickly could be put ou. o.
business by machinery which has
been developed. Unfortunately, how
ever, there are concerns here selling
worthless educational goods and op-
Grating under false pretenses which
1t is difficult to reach. The District OF
Columbia obviously Is very greatly
injured by such concerns. All worth
less educational goods sold out of
Washington discredit what we have
to offer that is worth while.
Situation Called Tragic.
There is a certain amount of
tragedy to the situation. Some young
men and women have bought these
worthless goods with honorable in
tentions and have been defrauded.
Others, of course, have bought them
with their eyes open"
DR.. Lewis said the most tangible
proposal at present was to request
public hearings on the question by a
congressional subcommittee, from the
outcome of which legislation could
be framed. The Gibson subcommit-
tee. he said, probably already has
authority TO hold these hearings IL
1t so desires.
Mr.. Robertson told the committee
that there had been no Improvement
here in the past few years in respect
to these diploma mills and that they
were bringing discredit not only on
the name of the District of Columbia,
Out upon the entire country.
In India" he said, where so
many of these worthless degrees
have been sold, I am informed that
1t has become customary to consider
all American degrees in the same
category-worthless Only the other
day | received a letter from Czecho-
slovakia complaining of worthless
degrees being sold there. These
people are operating in France. Ger
many and England Sometimes thew
do not use the American mails al
all, so that it is impossible to trap
them under the fraud laws. Organi-
cations have been formed abroad to
combat them. For instance. the
American Institute in Berlin recently
has been doing some very good work.
Combine In England.
I'm England the holders of these
degrees, mostly rural clergymen,
formed an association of their own,
complaining that the doubts cast upon
their doctorates obtained from Ameri.
can universities by British educational
authorities were causing Anglo-Ameri-
can friction. So skillfully did they
present their case that some very
distinguished persons in England
joined with them, believing the move.
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