- Colby Nolan
Colby Nolan is a
housecat who was awarded an MBA degree in2004 by Trinity Southern University, aDallas, Texas -baseddiploma mill , sparking afraud lawsuit by thePennsylvania attorney general 's office. [cite web | url = http://www.nbc10.com/money/3975070/detail.html | title = Cat Gets MBA Degree—Kitty Also Had A 3.5 GPA | work = Money—NBC10.com | publisher =NBC | date =2004-12-06 ]Colby Nolan belongs to a deputy attorney general. In looking to expose Trinity Southern University for
fraud , some undercover agents had the then six-year-old Colby Nolan obtain a bachelor's degree in business administration for $299. On the cat's 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 Colby'stranscript , which claimed that Nolan had a 3.5grade point average .Jerry Pappert , Pennsylvania's attorney general, filed a lawsuit against Trinity Southern University upon learning that the cat had received the degree. [cite news | url = http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6664906/ | title = School that awarded MBA to cat sued | publisher =MSNBC | date =2004-12-07 ] In the lawsuit, Pappert also told the diploma mill, which had usede-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 Deceptive Trade Practices Act against Trinity Southern and its owners, Craig B. and Alton S. Poe. The court also ordered the school's assets frozen. [ [http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/tx_tsu.html Texas Freezes Assets of Online University] , ConsumerAffairs.Com, December 16, 2004] In March 2005 the Poes were assessed fines and were ordered not to market or promote fraudulent, substandard degree programs or to represent their university as being accredited or affiliated with legitimate universities. [http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/diploma_mill.html Diploma Mill Operators Hit With Court Judgments] , ConsumerAffairs.Com, March 18, 2005.] It was reported that the Poes also were associated with the names Wesleyan International University and Prixo Southern University. Since 2005 Trinity Southern University's website at www.trinitysouthernuniversity.org is offline.
imilar events
On
December 11 ,1967 , "The Times " reported that Oliver Greenhalgh had been accepted as a Fellow of the English Association of Estate Agents and Valuers, after a payment of eleven guineas (his two references were not taken up). Oliver Greenhalgh was a cat belonging to Michael Greenhalgh, a cameraman withTelevision Wales and the West who were investigating bogus professional associations.Ben Goldacre , a UK-based science journalist, obtained a diploma in nutrition from theAmerican Association of Nutritional Consultants for his dead cat, Henrietta, while investigating allegations about fake qualifications.Goldacre, Ben. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/badscience/story/0,12980,1315472,00.html "Dr Gillian McKeith (PhD) continued"] , "The Guardian", September 30, 2004.]ee also
*
Diploma mill
*List of unaccredited institutions of higher learning
*Who's Who scam References
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