ESPN's Chris Berman likes to say "no one circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills." He might add "or the Boston Globe." Its editorial of today, A telling admission, heaps of paeans of praise on Marilee Jones, who resigned her position as MIT Dean of Admissions after an investigation revealed that she earned none of the academic degrees she had claimed.The Globe quickly gets out of the way its acknowledgement that "no doubt, Marilee Jones did the wrong thing." But you'd hardly know it from the rest of editorial:
- "I misrepresented my academic degrees when I first applied to MIT 28 years ago," she said in a statement, "and did not have the courage to correct my resume when I applied for my current job or at any time since." Admitting to that lack of courage means being brave enough to be oneself, even if one is short on credentials but long on potential.
- She deserves credit for her straightforward apology.
- This forthright admission stands in contrast to others who have denied, delayed, or justified. Last year, David Edmondson, chief executive of RadioShack, said he planned to stay in his job even after it was revealed that he had not earned two college degrees listed on his resume. Days later he resigned.
- Jones has had to face her own messy truth. She has done so in a commendable way.
Lower on the career chain, some people argue that applicants have to lie to get first jobs or to go back to work after months or years of being unemployed. They say it's a matter of financial survival. But a better solution would be an aggressive national public policy that creates many more programs for working adults to earn college degrees.Yes, it's all dog-eat-dog capitalism's fault. And the solution of course is "many more" government programs.
Is it feminist solidarity that put the Globe in such a forgiving mood? After all, Jones was originally hired for the specific purpose of recruiting more women students at MIT. Was the paper riding to the defense of a right-thinking [meaning left-thinking] college administrator, perhaps? Would the Globe have been so understanding if, say, a Bush administration official were similarly caught out?
Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net
—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.
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But a better solution would
April 28, 2007 - 06:40 ET by motherbeltBut a better solution would be an aggressive national public policy that creates many more programs for working adults to earn college degrees.
So they are saying that there aren't enough programs for working adults to get degrees? Come on, there are programs everywhere. Many employers even pay for them. What do they expect...classes brought to the workplace during lunch hour so they don't have to make the effort to go somewhere on their own time?
So it's "brave" to
April 28, 2007 - 06:57 ET by sublight68So it's "brave" to admit you didn't have the courage to be honest about the lies you told? What?!
And how do you "misrepresent" degrees? That's not like embellishing and exaggerating your day-to-day experience and accomplishments, something subjective -- with degrees you have them or you don't. What kind of background checks did they run at MIT?
I wish I had $100 for every r
April 28, 2007 - 07:20 ET by Gat New YorkI wish I had $100 for every resume I have seen with something phonied up: from degrees to work history. How do you misrepresent degrees? Obviously put something down on a resume and application and hope nobody checks it - which they generally don't. What makes this incredible is that you would think academic degrees and credentials would be of primary importance to the hiring of a person in an academic institution - especially one of the top universities like MIT. The person who hired this person should also resign for incompetence.
Wow. Sounds like something Ma
April 28, 2007 - 07:06 ET by pbdmillerWow. Sounds like something Maureen Dowd would write. Like when she referred to Bill Clinton's shennanigans as "endearing." There is always a double standard.
Jones has had to face her own
April 28, 2007 - 07:22 ET by ding7777Sounds more like the Globe is glad Marilee resigned immediately before MIT's prestige was muddied with non-stop calls for her resignation.
It's time to look at MIT itse
April 28, 2007 - 08:05 ET by jdhawkIt's time to look at MIT itself. Perhaps, it isn't the prestige institution that it touts itself to be.
For example, in the banking industry where I work, Only nine Fortune 500 firms - three of which are financial companies - call the Bay State home today, compared to 17 a decade ago. The issues are manifold, for example, high costs, rising consolidation, complicated regulations and taxes, and tough competition for back-office jobs from low-cost areas in the U.S. and overseas.
So, if large companies are fleeing Taxachusetts in droves, why wouldn't faculty and students also flee?
Perhaps, Marilee Jones is the best that MIT could hope for. And, the Boston Globe knows it! So much for the state of education in the land of the leaky "big dig" tunnel that only cost 6 times its original cost, was started in 1982, was funded in part over a Reagan veto and has yet to be finished!
So for...
April 28, 2007 - 08:47 ET by Guy Arthur ThomasSo for 28 years she was a liar, theif and coward. Hmmm, magically by being forced to admit what was uncovered and put in your face you are suddenly brave and have potential? Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Sandy Berger won't you please come home.
Shut up and blog! If you claim to be a conservative, please don't disgrace yourself and conservatism by thinking and arguing like a liberal. Go Rudy!
Lemme get this straight...thi
April 28, 2007 - 09:39 ET by americaneagleLemme get this straight...this lady lies on her resume...28 years ago...finally gets caught, has to resign and she's a hero, a picture of bravery? And the way to keep people from lying on their resumes is for the government to create progams for adults to get college degrees? How about you get your degree on your own, like I am currently doing, and then you won't have to lie to get a job! Is there nothing that liberals don't think the solution to is "more government progams"?
The next step
April 28, 2007 - 15:41 ET by nkviking75Get her a job at the New York Times!
When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.
If your child was rejected fr
April 28, 2007 - 19:33 ET by Tony SIf your child was rejected from MIT, you should be filing a lawsuit against both the university and this woman, because your child was judged by an unqualified person.
That's what the story should have said.
It was kind of the Boston Glo
April 28, 2007 - 20:43 ET by dahliatraversIt was kind of the Boston Globe to allow Ms. Jones' mother to write this editorial.
All she had to do to get ou
April 30, 2007 - 12:55 ET by MilesDAll she had to do to get out of this one was tell her employer, "Look, I'm on the Hillary 08 committee so just shut about it, okay???"