NOTES

Higher Ed

Phony Internet degree providers grow in number

Phony Internet degree companies are growing at the fastest rate ever according to internet degree watchdog John Bear.

The 2000 edition of "Bears' Guide to Earning Degrees Nontraditionally," will include 481 phony schools, an increase from 320 listed in the 1998 edition. The phony diploma mill industry exceeds an estimated $200 million a year.

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, from 1983 to 1986 the FBI, through the DipScam project, shut down 39 so-called colleges that made false claims about degrees and offered them for high sums. The crackdown slowed down the appearance of new institutions for a few years, but now with Internet access, the fake diploma industry has boomed.

Although DipScam no longer exists, the FBI, postal inspectors and some crusading state agencies are still actively working to keep fake schools from operating.

There are several legitimate nontraditional universities that are trying to establish themselves on the Internet; but a university with a ".edu" Website address does not imply a college is accredited because there are no prerequisites to register for the address.

Medical students fight hypochondria

Medical Students and physicians at the University of Utah are noticing a phenomenon among second-year medical students becoming hypochondriacs, a condition referred to as "second-year syndrome" or "sophomoritis."

Second-year medical students are exposed to disease, their principle thrust of study, for hours every day through classes and shadowing physicians. Through their studies, the students begin to believe that everything they learn is real in themselves or family members, one medical student said.

When they see sick, bed-ridden people, identify their symptoms, and learn how diseases start, medical students begin thinking they don't want to see themselves or anyone close to them in that situation, another medical student said. When students know how a disease could eventually progress, minor symptoms can assume a foreboding quality, scaring many of the students, the student added.

To one degree or another, sophomoritis affects at least one half of second-year students, guessed another student.

A homeless man interrupted an exam at Harvard University on Jan. 11, when he entered the auditorium and threatened to blow it up. Students started a panicked stampede to leave the auditorium and police arrested the homeless man without any altercations.

A mandatory make-up exam is currently scheduled for Feb. 3, the first Saturday of the new semester. Many students feel it would be unfair to take the exam after the trauma they experienced from the bomb threat and after the intersession between their fall and spring semesters.

Students panicked by bomb threat

The Registrar, Dean of the College and Core office has the power to decide whether the class can offer an optional final, but has not commented on that option yet. The office has decided that the exam will not be held in the same room.

- Compiled from U-Wire reports by Daily Staff Reporter Jane Krull.