Free Republic

Defiant Columbia University graduates wore zip-tie handcuffs, brandished pro-Palestinian signs and even went as far as tearing up a diploma on stage during the Ivy League’s first commencement ceremonies last week. The protesting students were caught on camera storming across the platform on Friday to accept their degrees during ceremonies that were significantly pared after weeks of violent anti-Israel demonstrations on campus. In one of the most belligerent displays, Tarsis Salome, a Columbia social work graduate, charged forward with her zip-tied hands above her head as those in the audience cheered her on.

A massive, coordinated scheme to sell false and fraudulent nursing degree credentials has been brought down by a joint federal law enforcement operation, Justice Department officials said Wednesday. As first reported by ABC News, officials said the scheme involved peddling more than $100 million worth of bogus nursing diplomas and transcripts over the course of several years -- fake credentials that were sold to help "thousands of people" take "shortcuts" toward becoming licensed, practicing nurses. Officials said the forged diplomas and transcripts were sold from what had been accredited schools to aspiring nurses, in order to help candidates bypass the...

Let them work at Taco Bell. Maspeth High School created fake classes, awarded bogus credits, and fixed grades to push students to graduate — “even if the diploma was not worth the paper on which it was printed,” an explosive investigative report charges. Principal Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir demanded that teachers pass students no matter how little they learned, says the 32-page report by the Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools, Anastasia Coleman. “I don’t care if a kid shows up at 7:44 and you dismiss at 7:45 — it’s your job to give that kid credit,” the principal is quoted...

A group of alumni from one of the country's most influential evangelical Christian universities is condemning their school's president for his continued alignment with President Trump. A small but growing number of Liberty University graduates are preparing to return diplomas to their school. The graduates are protesting university President Jerry Falwell Jr.'s ongoing support for Trump. They began organizing after Trump's divisive remarks about the deadly white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Va. Chris Gaumer, a former Student Government Association president and 2006 graduate, said it was a simple decision. "I'm sending my diploma back because the president of the United...

With high school graduation season out of the way, countless families are facing the hefty price tag of sending their children to college. Over the past five years, tuition rates for private four-year colleges have risen 14 percent, while rates for public colleges have risen 27 percent. If you look back thirty years, tuition has risen a shocking 1200 percent. There is plenty of speculation about the reasons for these rising costs, which have outpaced inflation for decades. But far more important to millions of parents is how to minimize and manage them. According to the National Center for Education...

Dear Friends, In order to understand how a college student could attend an undergraduate college for 4 years without ever being seen by any of his classmates taking the same major degree classes to graduate from university. Today, that claim was made by one of his classmate; Wayne Allyn Root.

Though the U.S. is indisputably a first-world nation, this is not the typical human condition. Far more commonplace are the billions of people who, in the words of political philosopher Thomas Hobbes, live lives that are nasty, brutish, and short -- the third world. Here things work sporadically, if at all. Third-worldism might be viewed as a communicable illness, a situation often witnessed when nice neighborhoods almost overnight slide into crime-infested, trash-filled slums. So how can we spot the early warning signs of creeping third-worldism? Diligence is required, and while some outcroppings are clear -- e.g., crushing government debt to...

A chart in last Sunday's New York Post revealed that only 35% of Americans could name even one member of the U.S. Supreme Court, and only 1% could name all nine members. That night Baby Stewie on Fox's The Family Guy admonished viewers who in a mock poll failed to attribute a famous quote to Henry David Thoreau. Though Family Guy is merely a silly, often crude cartoon, Stewie's point about the clueless nature of most Americans, and his view that this speaks to our decline relative to other nations is a popular one, particularly among the political elite. For...

WASHINGTON - The percent of Army recruits with a high school diploma dropped last year, continuing a trend that has worsened since the start of the Iraq war, according to a report released Tuesday. National Priorities Project, a research group that analyzes federal data, found that nearly 71 percent of Army recruits graduated from high school in the 2007 budget year. It based its findings on data it obtained from the Defense Department through a Freedom of Information Act request. All troops must have a high school diploma or an equivalent degree. The military prefers that they have a high...

Diploma Saga Takes Turn - Denied Students Lawyer Up GALESBURG, Ill. (June 7) - Five students will get the diplomas they were denied when cheers erupted for them at a high school graduation, and school officials said Wednesday they would review a get-tough decorum policy. The school imposed a no-cheering policy in an effort to restore decorum at its graduation ceremony. Galesburg High School officials had said they would not hand over the keepsake diplomas unless they received apologies. But the stalemate over the diplomas and the media attention it attracted have taken valuable time and energy, they said. Gayles...

GALESBURG, Ill. - Caisha Gayles graduated with honors last month, but she is still waiting for her diploma. The reason: the whoops of joy from the audience as she crossed the stage. Gayles was one of five students denied diplomas from the lone public high school in Galesburg after enthusiastic friends or family members cheered for them during commencement. About a month before the May 27 ceremony, Galesburg High students and their parents had to sign a contract promising to act in dignified way. Violators were warned they could be denied their diplomas and barred from the after-graduation party. Many...

More than 50,000 blank high school diplomas will be recalled by the Louisiana Department of Education because of a chance that was not approved by Superintendent Cecil Picard. A department committee made a change in the date, switching A.D. to C.E., the nonreligious “common era.” "I think it's a good tradition to keep, to have A.D. on it," said Lee High senior Rebecca Robert. "I like tradition." Graduations at Baton Rouge schools begin next week on May 11 and continue until May 20. The Department of Education is working to have the diplomas reprinted. "We are moving forward with the...

Veterans receive overdue diplomas By Michelle Dynes rep2@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - It took more than 40 years, but Frank Wilhelm finally got his high school diploma Tuesday. The Vietnam War veteran earned his Wheatland High School diploma along with three other veterans. Wilhelm entered the armed forces in 1959, just a year shy of graduation. While he was never able to wear a cap and gown, he said his life turned out just fine. "If I had to live my life over again, I'd do it the same way," he said. The honorary diplomas are part...