Last night, Amy Robertson resigned as incoming principal of Pittsburg (KS) High School amid revelations that her graduate degrees came from a unaccredited diploma mill. After she was hired, the high school newspaper staff researched Robertson’s claims that she had a master’s degree and a doctorate from Corllins University, an unaccredited entity which gives degrees in exchange for life experience and a fee. Now she isn’t going to be principal at PHS.
Enter David Barton
Almost seven months ago, David Barton posted a video in which he claimed to have an earned doctorate. He ridiculed “progressives” for saying he didn’t have the degree. Although he didn’t say where he earned it, I quickly discovered it came from Life Christian University, a diploma mill in Florida. Barton didn’t even have to attend the school. The president of the “school” confirmed that Barton was given a doctorate without taking any classes. The day after I identified the degree as coming from Life Christian University, Barton took the video off of his You Tube and Facebook pages.
Since then, Barton has not commented or replied to Facebook questions about the doctorate claim. Apparently, Barton’s supporters don’t care.
Moral High Ground
There is something profoundly disturbing about a public school system getting it right and the evangelical celebrity complex getting it so wrong. Here we have a public school district, you know a school evangelicals-against-common-core love to hate, acting with integrity. However, those who support Barton, such as Glenn Beck, don’t hold him accountable for his academic fraud.
Shouldn’t Barton come forward, admit he tried to pass off a diploma mill doctorate as earned, and apologize? As it stands, David Barton is chairman of the Board at Mercury One and will get to be the head of Glenn Beck’s history museum while Amy Robertson is now looking for another job.
In the case of Amy Robertson, public high school students possessed the moral and intellectual integrity to seek the truth while Christian media have done little (here’s a notable exception) to dig into the subject of Christian celebrities and academic fraud.
I bet Amy Robertson wishes she was a Christian celebrity.