Evening star., 1927-11-18
DIPLOMA MILL
BILL IS PLANNED
Measure Would Limit Activi-
ties of Fake Universities
in District.

Legislation designed to end for all
time the diploma mill" situation IN
the District of Columbia has been
agreed upon by the education commit
tees of the Chamber of Commerce and
Board of Trade.
A set of proposed amendments to
the corporation code Of the District
has been drafted and efforts will be
made to obtain passage in the next
Congress. These amendments. which
originated with the Chamber of Com
merce committee. were approved yes
terday afternoon by the Board of
Trade committee after Miss Pearl Nc
Call, assistant United States attorney.
had told the members of the latest
developments in the practice of low
grade schools here. which were eX.
posed several months ago by The
Evening Star.
The salient feature of the proposed
amendments is one requiring that any
institution incorporated in the Dis
trict shall first secure a license from
the Board of Education before grant.
ing any academic degrees and that
this license shall ge granted only
after a thorough examination of the
qualifications of the applicants.
Six Universities Exempted.
This shall apply. it is stipulated. to
all institutions granting academic
degrees except those already in exist
ence which operate by special act of
Congress. Georgetown, George Wash
ington. Catholic, American. Howard
and National Universities thus are
e. empted from the provisions of the
act.
The requirements for establishing
colleges and universities with fun de.
gree granting powers are ridicuIously
easy to meet as they now stand, Miss
Mccall pointed out. Any five per.
sons. who need not even be Ameri.
can citizens or residents of the United
States, need only to file with the
recorder Of deeds a certified paper
stating their intention to establish
such an institution. The recorder has
no authority to refuse the paper, how
ever ridiculous 1t may appear to him,
so long as it is made out in proper
form. Once this statement has been
placed on record the institution has
full power to grant degrees. even
medical. and to sell them without re.
quiring any qualifications. except
mere formalities.
A search Of the records of the re-
corder of deeds shows that this loop.
hole in the law has been taken full
advantage OF by all sorts of persons.
Scores Of universities, colleges. in.
stitutes, sanitariums, hospitals, etc."
n We been incorporated in the last
10 years, many of them specifying
that they will grant degrees in medi.
cine and surgery.
Most of Them Hidden.
Most of these institutions never are
heard of by the general public. The
universities" are hidden away in dusty
attics around the city or may consist
only of post office boxes where money
orders can be received in exchange for
degrees. Others never are set up in
Washington at all. but operate under
authority of the Congress of the
United States" in other States or in
foreign countries.
An especially profitable business in
degrees has been carried on between
the District of Columbia and various
foreign countries and, according to
David A. Robertson of the American
Council on Education, who has made
an intensive investigation of the situa.
tlon, this traffic has had a serious eff.
feet in cheapening all American de-
grees abroad among reputable
scholars. The reputable institutions
of the District continually have found
the value of their degrees discounted
because of the activities of these
pSuedo universities
The proposed amendment to the cor.
pora ton code provides first that a fee
of S25 shall be paid to the recorder of
deeds for filing such Incorporation pa
pers. In the past this has cost about
81. Last Winter a rather pretentious
university" was Incorporated, in an
enort to expose the situation, for SO
cents.
Must Provide Facilities.
1t provides further that before the
Board of Education shall issue any
license 1t shall be presented with sat.
ls1actory evidence that the persons
making the application are qualified
TO conduct an institution of learning.
that the required work shall be of Il
standing. that degrees will be
granted only after a required resi-.
dence period. that standard admis.
sion requirements will be set up and
that reasonably large faculty. with
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