List of animals with fraudulent diplomas

Animals have been submitted as applicants to suspected

diploma mills and, on occasion, admitted and granted a
degree, as reported in news and magazines. Animals are
often used as a device to clearly demonstrate the lax stan-
dards of awarding institutions. In one case, a cats degree
helped lead to a successful fraud prosecution against the
institution which issued it.
1 Cats
1.1 Colby Nolan
Colby Nolan is a housecat who was awarded an MBA
in 2004 by Trinity Southern University, a Dallas-based
diploma mill, sparking a fraud lawsuit by the Pennsylvania
attorney generals oce.
[1]
Colby Nolan lives with a deputy attorney general. In look-
ing to expose Trinity Southern University for fraud, some
undercover agents had the then six-year-old Colby Nolan
obtain a bachelors degree in business administration for
$299. On the cats application, the agents claimed that the
cat had previously taken courses at a community college,
worked at a fast-food restaurant, babysat, and maintained
a newspaper route. Then the school informed Colby that,
due to the job experience listed on his application, he was
eligible for an executive MBA for $100 more. The agents
then sent for Colbys transcript, which claimed that he had
a GPA of 3.5.
Jerry Pappert, Pennsylvanias attorney general, led a
lawsuit against Trinity Southern University upon learn-
ing that the cat had received the degree.
[2]
In the lawsuit,
Pappert also told the diploma mill, which had used e-mail
spam to sell degrees, to provide restitution to anyone who
had ordered a degree from them.
In December 2004, the Texas attorney general obtained
a temporary restraining order under the Texas Decep-
tive Trade Practices Act against Trinity Southern and its
owners, Craig B. and Alton S. Poe. The court also or-
dered the schools assets frozen.
[3]
In March 2005, the
Poes were assessed penalties of over $100,000 by the
court and were ordered not to market or promote fraudu-
lent, substandard degree programs or to represent their
university as being accredited or aliated with legiti-
mate universities.
[4][5]
It was reported that the Poes also
were associated with Wesleyan International University
and Prixo Southern University.
[5]
Trinity Southern Uni-
versitys website has been oine since 2005.
[6]
1.2 George
In 2009, George, a cat owned by Chris Jackson (pre-
senter of the BBC show Inside Out North East & Cum-
bria), was registered with three professional organiza-
tions: the British Board of Neuro Linguistic Program-
ming, the United Fellowship of Hypnotherapists, and the
Professional Hypnotherapy Practitioner Association, se-
curing Georges accreditation as a hypnotherapist.
[7][8]
1.3 Henrietta
Ben Goldacre, a UK-based physician and science jour-
nalist, wrote in 2004 that his cat, Henrietta, had obtained
a diploma in nutrition from the American Association
of Nutritional Consultants; Goldacre had been investigat-
ing allegations about the qualications claimed by Gillian
McKeith.
[9][10]
Goldacre said, its a particular honour
since dear, sweet, little Hettie died about a year ago.
[9]
1.4 Kitty O'Malley
In 1973, the Lakeland, Florida newspaper The Ledger
obtained a high school diploma from Washington High
Academy for Kitty O'Malley, a cat also known as
Spanky. While the diploma was deemed insucient to
gain Kitty admission to local colleges, the state attorney
generals oce planned to investigate the institution.
[11]
1.5 Oliver Greenhalgh
On December 10, 1967, The Times reported that Oliver
Greenhalgh had been accepted as a fellow of the En-
glish Association of Estate Agents and Valuers, after a
payment of eleven guineas (his two references were not
veried). Oliver was a cat belonging to Michael Green-
halgh, a cameraman with Television Wales and the West,
who was pursuing an investigation of bogus professional
associations.
[12][13]
1.6 Oreo Collins
Oreo C. Collins (born around 2007) is a tuxedo cat who
gained notoriety when she received a diploma from Jef-
ferson High School Online in 2009, although her age
was misrepresented in order to qualify.
[14]
The sting was
1
2 2 DOGS
an investigative operation by the Better Business Bu-
reau of Central Georgia headed by Kelvin Collins, Oreos
owner.
[15]
1.7 Tobias F. Schaeer
In 1986, Rhode Island real estate appraiser Roy Schaef-
fer obtained a Certied Real Estate Appraiser designation
for $75 from the Scottsdale, Arizona-based National As-
sociation of Real Estate Appraisers (NAREA) for his cat,
Tobias F. (for Feline) Schaeer. He mounted Tobias
certication above his litter box. NAREA sued in fed-
eral court for fraud and for disparaging remarks about
the organization to members of Congress, other apprais-
ers and the media. After two years and $70,000 in legal
costs, the judge ruled that no fraud or defamation had
occurred.
[16][17][18]
1.8 Zoe D. Katze
Dr. Zoe D. Katze (Zoe the Cat in German) was a
housecat owned by Steve K. D. Eichel. Around 2001,
Eichel was able to obtain several well-known hypnother-
apy certications for his cat. The ease with which Dr.
Katze obtained these credentials became the subject of an
article by the American Bar Association and a news re-
port by CBS News.
[19]
The certication of Dr. Katze
has been cited in several books and articles on cre-
dentialing scams, and has appeared in psychology and
forensic curricula. Eichel also served as the consultant
to the BBC investigation that ultimately led to the cer-
tication of George the cat by various U.K. hypnosis
associations.
[7][20]
2 Dogs
2.1 Lulu
In 2010, Mark Howard, a member of the legal team for
the claimants (BSkyB) in BSkyB Ltd & Anor v HP Enter-
prise Services UKLtd &Anor [2010]
[21]
obtained a degree
for his dog Lulu from Concordia College and University.
Lulu graduated with higher marks than the defendants
key witness, who lied that he had attended classes for his
Concordia MBA.
[22][23]
In the legal community, the story
of the witnesss MBA is described as infamous,
[24]
and
a supervisory management cautionary tale.
[25]
2.2 Molly
In February 2012, in a story on local diploma mills by
Houston television station KHOU, the reporters got a
high school diploma and ocial transcript from Lincoln
Academy for their photographers basset hound Molly
for $300 after lling out a laughable, easy take-home
test.
[26]
According to a homeschooling advocate, Lin-
coln Academy and other schools were improperly taking
advantage of a Texas law which prohibits discrimination
by public colleges and universities against homeschooled
students.
[26]
2.3 Pete
The American University of London oered Pete, a four-
year old male short-haired Lurcher
[27]
in Battersea Dogs
and Cats Home, London, an MBA for 4,500 without re-
quiring any course work. The BBC current aairs pro-
gram Newsnight reported in 2013 that the dog, named
Peter Smith on the faked CV for a management consul-
tant, was oered an MBA by the universitys Accredita-
tion of Previous Experiential Learning board based on his
made-up work experience and a ctitious undergraduate
degree just four days after applying for the course.
[28]
2.4 Sassafras Herbert
In 1984, Time Magazine reported that Sassafras, a female
poodle belonging to a New York City physician, had re-
ceived a diploma from the American Association of Nu-
trition and Dietary Consultants. Her owner had bought
the diploma for $50 to demonstrate that something that
looks like a diploma doesn't mean that somebody has re-
sponsible training.
[29][30]
2.5 Sonny
The May 30, 2007 episode of the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation comedy show The Chasers War on Every-
thing documented host Chas Licciardello applying online
and obtaining a medical degree for his dog Sonny from
the diploma mill Ashwood University. Sonnys work
experience included signicant proctology experience
sning other dogs bums.
[31][32]
2.6 Wally
In 2004, the Albany, New York television station WRGB
ran a report in which reporter Peter Brancato applied to
and received an associates degree from Almeda Univer-
sity on behalf of his dog, Wally.
[33][34]
On the applica-
tion, Brancato listed, Plays with the kids every day ...
teaches themto interact better with each other ... Teaches
them responsibilities like feeding the dog. Almeda Uni-
versity granted Wally a life experience associate degree
in Childhood Development. After the report aired,
Almeda University protested that Brancato perjured him-
self by creating a false identity using a fabricated name
and date of birth. In a public statement, an Almeda
3
University representative wrote, He completed an ap-
plication that included a background of the following:
Eight-years tutoring pre-K children, curriculum design
and development, teaching coping skills, and volunteer
coaching.
[35]
In March 2008, Wally was featured in a
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin mayoral campaign political car-
toon, with a dialogue bubble reading, I graduated with
Bill Chesen, referring to candidate Chesens Almeda
University bachelors degree. Chesen took the cartoon
to the police, who passed the defamation complaint to
the District Attorneys oce, which six months later de-
clined to prosecute, since negative campaigning is legal,
and Chesen had publicly detailed his educational back-
ground in his campaign literature.
[36]
3 See also
Diploma mill
F.D.C. Willard, a cat in whose name scientic pa-
pers were published
List of unaccredited institutions of higher learning
Non-human electoral candidates
Whos Who scam
4 References
[1] Cat Gets MBA DegreeKitty Also Had A 3.5 GPA.
NBC10.com Money. NBC10. December 6, 2004.
Archived from the original on October 26, 2007. Re-
trieved March 31, 2010.
[2] AP (December 6, 2004). School that awarded MBA to
cat sued. MSNBC. Retrieved March 31, 2010.
[3] Texas Freezes Assets of Online University. Consumer
Aairs. December 18, 2004. Archived from the original
on January 15, 2010. Retrieved March 31, 2010.
[4] Internet 'university' that gave cat a diploma is ned. Fort
Worth Star-Telegram (Texas). March 18, 2005. p. 6B.
(subscription required)
[5] Diploma Mill Operators Hit With Court Judgments.
Consumer Aairs. March 18, 2005. Retrieved March 31,
2010.
[6] Trinity Southern University website history at Web
Archive, showing it oine as of 2005, and the domain
for sale since 2006. Retrieved April 7, 2010
[7] Cat registered as hypnotherapist. BBC. October 12,
2009. Retrieved November 6, 2009.
[8] Women can enlarge breasts through mind power, claims
hypnotist. The Telegraph (London). October 12, 2009.
Retrieved January 14, 2010.
[9] Goldacre, Ben (September 30, 2004). Dr Gillian McK-
eith (PhD) continued. The Guardian (London). Re-
trieved March 31, 2010.
[10] Walker, Tim (November 27, 2010). Gillian McKeith:
Rumbled in the jungle. The Independent (London). Re-
trieved January 14, 2010.
[11] Erlick, June (November 1, 1973). No College Wants
Kitty. The Ledger. Retrieved November 6, 2009.
[12] Cat becomes an estate agent. The Times (London). De-
cember 10, 1967. p. 3.
[13] Jackson, J. A. (2010). Professions and Professionaliza-
tion: Volume 3, Sociological Studies. Cambridge Univer-
sity Press. p. 12 (Footnote 4). ISBN978-0-521-13647-1.
[14] Collette, Christopher (August 13, 2009). Georgia cat
gets GED. WTSP, courtesy WMAZ. Archived from the
original on October 28, 2011. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
[15] Popkin, Helen A.S. (August 14, 2009). Clever cat earns
'high school diploma' online. Today Money. MSNBC.
Retrieved August 21, 2009.
[16] Moss, H.W. (October 14, 1990). Appraiser Certicate
Really the Cats Meow. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved
November 6, 2009.
[17] Sign Here and Watch the Paws. New York Times.
April 3, 1988. Retrieved November 6, 2009.
[18] Rakowsky, Judy (June 1, 1990). Cats diploma not a case
of fraud, judge rules. Providence Journal (Providence,
R.I.). p. A-03.
[19] Cosgrove-Mather, Bootie (January 16, 2004). Is Your
Psychotherapist Qualied?". Jim Acosta Reports. CBS
News. Retrieved December 4, 2009.
[20] Eichel, Steve K. D. (2002). Credentialing: It May Not
Be the Cats Meow. DrEichel.com. Retrieved March 31,
2010.
[21] 2010 EWHC 86 (TCC)". British and Irish Legal Infor-
mation Institute. January 26, 2010.
[22] Spence, Alex (January 27, 2010). EDS employee lied
to win 50m BSkyB contract. The Times (London).
Archived from the original on January 11, 2011. Re-
trieved June 2, 2013.
[23] Young, Tom (January 29, 2010). Key EDS witness
bought internet degree. iTnews. Haymarket Media. Re-
trieved March 31, 2010.
[24] Jones, Simon (June 7, 2010). United Kingdom: How
The Dog With The Degree Led To A Contract Without A
Cap. (Barlow Lyde & Gilbert LLP.) Mondaq Ltd.
[25] Buyers, John; Choe, Caroline (March 3, 2010). United
Kingdom: BSkyB v EDS: Avoiding Joe Galloway
Syndrome. (Stephenson Harwood). Mondaq Ltd.
(registration required)
[26] Rogalski, Jeremy (February 8, 2012). Dog gets high
school diploma as so-called 'degree mills ourish under
Texas law. KHOU TV.
4 4 REFERENCES
[27] Pete the Lurcher becomes the rst Battersea dog to earn
a Masters degree. Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. 2013-
10-24. Retrieved 2013-10-24.
[28] Reed, Jim; Deri Smith, Mike (October 23, 2013).
American University of London sells study-free MBA.
BBC Newsnight. BBC. Retrieved October 24, 2013.
[29] McGrath, Cauley, Myers (April 2, 1984). Education:
Sending Degrees to the Dogs. Time Magazine. Retrieved
June 13, 2010.
[30] Barrett, Stephen (November 27, 2007). AANC: Who
and What Does It Represent?". Quackwatch. Retrieved
June 13, 2010.
[31] Brazao, Dale (August 31, 2008). Big Promises, Broken
Dreams. Toronto Star. Retrieved May 29, 2010.
[32] The Chasers War on Everything. Series 2. May 30, 2007.
Event occurs at 3:26. http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=2Nz3Y_ArpKY&feature=player_detailpage#t=206s.
Retrieved June 13, 2010.
[33] Degrees for Sale (transcript)". I-Team. WRGB. Febru-
ary 19, 2004. Archived from the original on March 6,
2012.
[34] Schultheis, Emily (January 30, 2010). Degrees of doubt:
PUC hire has unaccredited sheepskins. Philadelphia
Daily News. Archived from the original on January 30,
2010. Retrieved June 2, 2013.(subscription required)
[35] Perjury to Prove a Point?" (Press release). Almeda Uni-
versity. February 8, 2006. Retrieved March 27, 2010.
[36] Bunge, Kayla (September 19, 2008). No charges in Lake
Geneva election ap. Janesville Gazette (GazetteXtra).
5
5 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses
5.1 Text
List of animals with fraudulent diplomas Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animals_with_fraudulent_diplomas?oldid=
631482694 Contributors: Dreamyshade, Daniel C. Boyer, Kwantus, Phil Boswell, Dale Arnett, Pigsonthewing, David Gerard, Fys, Dragon-
ySixtyseven, Jokestress, Jules991, Orlady, Alansohn, Blahma, Philip Cross, SlimVirgin, Fawcett5, Idont Havaname, Shogun, Stemonitis,
Frankie1969, Daniel Lawrence, Koavf, 1wheel, Quiddity, HappyCamper, Sherefong, Hibana, Random user 39849958, Tone, Ksyrie,
GeeJo, Dtrebbien, Kyle Barbour, A bit iy, True Pagan Warrior, SmackBot, Ohnoitsjamie, Criacow, Seduisant, Imagodoc, BullRangifer,
Arbustoo, NEMT, Holkingers, J Milburn, I'clast, AndrewHowse, Cydebot, Gogo Dodo, Bzpx, Ning-ning, Hit bull, win steak, Shot info,
M0x, Fayenatic london, Golgofrinchian, Skomorokh, The Moai, SlamDiego, JaGa, Mvp15, Sam Blacketer, Lexein, Seb144, AllGlory-
ToTheHypnotoad, Anthrcer, Gillyweed, Milowent, Hmwith, Smashville, ClueBot, Gingerscot1961, Drmies, Cirt, Ktr101, Three-quarter-
ten, Sun Creator, Millionsandbillions, Newhampshirefarms, Cloning jedi, Secret, Error 128, Norse AmLegend, JBsupreme, Fluernutter,
Glane23, Yobot, The Earwig, AaRH, Jim1138, Materialscientist, Craftyminion, FrescoBot, HamburgerRadio, Pinethicket, Jmc200, Full-
date unlinking bot, VEO15, Throwaway85, Lotje, Anupriykanti, Fraudulentcat, Sebacca, Dammshar, Nivekin, Ecoforums, Immaletunish,
The Blade of the Northern Lights, JosJuice, Blutonu, Morphine2546, ResidentAnthropologist, ClueBot NG, Dopplegangbanger, Dot-
carly, Helpful Pixie Bot, ACtalkradio, Lowercase sigmabot, Mark Arsten, The Determinator, MrBill3, BattyBot, Prof. Squirrel, Khazar2,
Lugia2453, Irbananaking, Allisonpblue, J9002, Suchknowledge and Anonymous: 97
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