Christine O’Donnell’s Educational Lies

Filed in Delaware by on September 29, 2010

Several media stories came out yesterday about Christine O’Donnell’s academic fudging. On her LinkedIn profile she lists three universities:

  • Fairleigh Dickinson University
  • Claremont Graduate University
  • Oxford University

As far as Fairleigh Dickinson goes, she’s pretended for years that she had graduated. When it was discovered that she hadn’t actually graduated her story was that she completed the coursework but was presented a Bursar’s bill at the graduation ceremony and that it took her a long time to pay off her student loans. It’s true that it took her a long time to pay off her loans (2003) but she wasn’t awarded her degree in 2003 either. She got her degree just this summer (quietly) because she only finished her coursework this year.

Scott Giglio, assistant director of public relations at the Madison, N.J., university, told POLITICO the Tea Party Express-backed Senate hopeful was officially awarded her bachelor of arts degree in English literature on Wednesday.

Citing privacy reasons, Giglio could not explain the reasoning behind the timing, but O’Donnell’s campaign manager said Friday the candidate met a final course requirement this summer.

“She’s gone through the process to receive her degree, that’s not the story. She fulfilled the last course requirement this summer. It was just a general elective course,” said O’Donnell campaign manager Matt Moran.

I’m sure Fairleigh Dickinson is proud to have such a famous alumnae.

Yesterday Claremont Graduate University said they had no record of her attendance either.

Turns out O’Donnell (R-DE) did receive a fellowship from a conservative think tank named the Claremont Institute, also in Claremont, Ca. but not affiliated with Claremont Graduate University. The think tank is listed properly on her campaign site, sort of.

O’Donnell’s bio reads:

Christine was awarded a 2002 Abraham Lincoln Graduate Fellowship in Constitutional Government from the Claremont Institute in Claremont, CA

But the phrase ‘graduate fellowship’ — which suggests graduate coursework — seems to be O’Donnell’s own creation. The Claremont Institute refers to the program as the “Lincoln Fellowship” here.

So, it sounds like the Claremont Graduate University listing could have been a simple mistake but the Lincoln Fellowship isn’t any kind of study, it’s another wingnut welfare program. Her bio at the Claremont Institute site also falsely lists her as a graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson.

The biggest résumé puffing comes in her listing of Oxford University as a school she attended.

In another move that will raise further questions about Christine O’Donnell’s embellishment of her education record, she claims she studied at the University of Oxford — but a look at her actual record shows this is at best an exaggeration and at worst an outright falsehood.

O’Donnell’s LinkedIn bio page lists “University of Oxford” as one of the schools she attended, claiming she studied “Post Modernism in the New Millennium.” But it turns out that was just a course conducted by an institution known as the Phoenix Institute, which merely rented space at Oxford.

What’s more, the woman who oversaw Phoenix Institute’s summer program at Oxford tells me O’Donnell’s claim about studying at Oxford is “misleading.”

Also, in her lawsuit against the Intercollegiate Studies Institute she listed that her mental anguish prevented her from attending graduate classes at Princeton University. I guess that’s true because she didn’t attend Princeton either.

I guess O’Donnell’s many college experiences allows her to share this bit of wisdom:

Check out this passage from a 2003 Washington Times article on the scourge of coedization in colleges. At the time O’Donnell worked for the conservative Intercollegiate Studies Institute (which she later sued for discrimination).

Dorm life has evolved into a blending of the sexes, from coed buildings to coed floors, coed bathrooms and now even coed rooms.

“What’s next? Orgy rooms? Menage a trois rooms?” asked Christine O’Donnell, spokeswoman for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in Wilmington, Del., which publishes a college guide.

All this coedness is outside normal life, said Miss O’Donnell. “Most average American adults don’t use coed bathrooms – if they had the option of a coed bathroom at a public restaurant, they wouldn’t choose it.” Coedness “is like a radical agenda forced on college students,” she said.

I lived in a coed dorm when I was a college student, but no one ever gave me a key to the orgy room. I’ve also used coed bathrooms many times without issue. (But guys put the toilet seat down when you’re done, please.)

Tags: ,

About the Author ()

Opinionated chemist, troublemaker, blogger on national and Delaware politics.

Comments (45)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

Sites That Link to this Post

  1. The Christine O'Donnell Thread | October 5, 2010
  1. MJ says:

    I once used a men’s room at Harvard University and Northeastern University, and I also rode my bike through Yale University. So, using the COD precedent and standard, may I now list those schools on my resume?

  2. anon2 says:

    Her lawsuit against ISI states, on page 6:

    “…although she was provided with minimal time to attend courses towards her Master’s Degree, she ultimately had to withdraw from that program due to the workload she was given at ISI.”

    O’Donnell wanted $6.5 million in damages from ISI, and part of that money was lost future income from not getting her master’s degree.

    The only problem is that you can’t get a Master’s Degree at Princeton when you’re 7 years away from getting your undergrad.

    She belongs in jail, not the US Senate.

  3. Auntie Dem says:

    So, does anybody know if ISI got punked on the lawsuit. Did they end up giving her money to settle?

  4. Jason330 says:

    I think ODonnell dropped the case because she could not afford the lawyers. I read that somewhere.

  5. MJ says:

    You’re correct, Jason.

  6. heragain says:

    Yes. We were joking last night that my husband will sue his employer because, due to their bizarre insistence on his going to work to collect his salary, he hasn’t been able to become an astronaut and get his own reality TV show & personal speaking contracts.

    We figure it’s worth millions.

    And as to “not being able to pay the lawyers”, sure, we know she never pays no one. But I suspect the lawyers finding out she didn’t have a degree and the case was therefore unwinnable entered into it.

  7. Auntie Dem says:

    Too bad. I was hoping some of that Koch Bros money went to pay for Christine’s bowling habit.

  8. She couldn’t get a graduate degree at Princeton because she didn’t have an undergraduate degree.

  9. MJ says:

    And she couldn’t get the undergraduate degree because she was busy making war on masturbation.

  10. Aoine says:

    at this point I have something that WOULD be a headline – if it ever happened

    “CHRISTINE O’DONNELL CAUGHT – TELLING THE TRUTH”

  11. Her defense is that she didn’t make the LinkedIn profile. It certainly doesn’t explain why she was falsely representing herself as a college grad.

  12. pandora says:

    Nothing is ever this woman’s fault. She’s one big excuse machine – I didn’t make the Linkedin profile, I was young, and who didn’t dabble in witchcraft when they were young, the dog ate my diploma. So much for personal responsibility. Actually, I can’t think of a better representative for the face of the tea party.

  13. MJ says:

    This makes you wonder what O’Whack-a-Mole is actually doing everyday -http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/30/us/politics/30bai.html?hp

  14. Aoine says:

    she denied making the profile – ok Linkedin certainly can pull the ISP of whoever did
    IF COD files a complaint – coz I certainly would if it was me

    but then again she said her phones where tapped and people where hiding in her bushes – but no complaints were ever made

    things that make you go hmmmmmmmm

  15. anon says:

    Remember Sarah Palin and Lieberman both complained about mysterious hackers as the voters closed in on them. It is a wingnut tradition.

  16. anon says:

    Thanks for the link MJ–I can’t help but laugh at this ongoing saga. I am still willing to put money on that she bails on the UD debate to be televised on CNN, with some excuse that CNN is not a local tv company or she wants the questions ahead of time, or UD would not honor her request for bowls of only red M&Ms for her and her staff….

  17. Dana Garrett says:

    When and what time is the UD debate? I’d love to watch that…if she does show.

  18. It’s on October 13, Dana.

  19. Aoine says:

    Don;t forget about the televised WHYY debate as well!!

    go to http://www.whyy.org for more info

  20. anon says:

    No doubt her M.O. right now is to lay low and keep her mouth shut and let all the PACs take their shots at Chris and she can claim she is running “an honest campaign”

  21. MJ says:

    The “big Texan” mentioned in the NYT piece was also with Evan Q at Whitestock when they were intimidating people who were videotaping O’Whack-a-Mole. His parents are listed as donors to her campaign.

  22. anon says:

    From the NYT piece:

    Mostly, Mr. Merola repeated my questions as if I were speaking in an unintelligible accent. “Will there be events later this week?” I asked.

    “Will there be events later this week?” Mr. Merola answered slowly. And so on.

    Durn fast-talkin’ city slickers with their New York accents.

  23. Aoine says:

    BTW – just where is Evan Q lately??? they scrub her campaign of him too??

  24. anon says:

    Bush patrol.

  25. MJ: Did you attend classes at Harvard and receive a certificate of completion from a graduate program held at Harvard?

  26. Les Ismore says:

    Lay low???Hahaha…have you seen her moronic tweets? She is a riot!

  27. anon2 lied: “The only problem is that you can’t get a Master’s Degree at Princeton when you’re 7 years away from getting your undergrad.”

    But you CAN attend a Master’s program when you have already completed 100% of your bachelor’s degree, gone through the graduation ceremony, but are simply paying off your final bill.

    OUCH! BURN! Wow liberals are like shooting fish in a barrel.

  28. Unstable Isotope also lied: “She couldn’t get a graduate degree at Princeton because she didn’t have an undergraduate degree.”

    Wrong. Christine completed her undergraduate degree in 1993. She went through graduation.

    She simply had an unpaid bill.

    OOOO!! Another fish in the barrel eats a bullet!

  29. MJ says:

    So is there anyone out there that is feeling a bit of pity for Jonathan Moseley, Ambulance Chaser at Law, and his faulty arguments? I mean, c’mon, Jonathan. How much of that O’Whack-a-Mole kool aid have you been drinking? It’s a FACT that your candidate did not finish her course work until this summer. It doesn’t matter if she put on a cap and gown and attended a ceremony, if she didn’t complete the coursework, then she didn’t graduate. And that story about the unpaid tuition loan is just pure and utter bullshit, much like what you’ve been writing over here the past few days.

    You’ve hardly shot any fish in a barrel. What you have done is shown us that you are a complete fool and someone who is in need of some serious psychological treatment. Maybe the Virginia state bar can help you with getting help.

    Listen, dipshit, I only used the same “logic” your candidate did to buck up her flimsy resume.

    And stop using the Gary Hart scenario – you got pwned on that once, must I do it again?

  30. Hmmm…according to O’Donnell’s own spokesman she didn’t finish her coursework until this summer.

  31. I totally don’t get the Gary Hart obsession.

  32. jconnorjr says:

    maybe this is the connection. Hart did not have a masturbation issuse he did his monkey business with Donna Rice. Then Donna Rice becomes an anti porn advocate. Now I ask you can’t we all see God at work here?????

  33. MJ says:

    He referenced Gary Hart on another thread when we were discussing the people hiding in COD’s bush(es). I pulled a Lloyd Bentsen on him.

  34. I consider myself very deeply read in American political history. I’m also very engaged in current American politics. My level-of-caring meter is exactly zero if somebody compares Gary Hart to anybody. He’s beyond irrelevant at this point. This kind of politically ancient reference is almost as pointless as people (including my dad who was a Dukakis partisan) bringing up Joe Biden’s 1987 plagiarism in 2007.

    There are a lot of times candidates and their campaigns claim that voters don’t care about some line of attack from their opponents, when in fact they do and the response is pure spin. Something like this is just hilariously out-of-touch. Because Delawareans struggling paycheck to paycheck *totally* feel like trying to remember an extremely obscure reference to a 1980s presidential candidate from the other side of the country, in order to make a tenuous mental comparison to a campaign now, even as a large percentage can’t even remember who the lieutenant governor here was less than two years ago.

  35. jconnorjr says:

    Bill with all due respect you are taking this stuff far too seriously:)

  36. Point taken, though I actually thought it was such a random reference that it amused me. I wasn’t born when this incident happened, so I found it particularly out-of-nowhere.

  37. Boxwood says:

    MJ- I mean, c’mon, Jonathan. How much of that O’Whack-a-Mole kool aid have you been drinking?

    I think Moseley’s one of the O’Whack-a-Mole kool aid brew masters.

  38. Joe Cass says:

    Hey, Johnny! I called you the other night but you must have been instigating a slip & fall. You never answered my question:
    When did you speak to O’Donnell regarding her 2010 run? I only ask because you didn’t make it clear. Surely, a fine upstanding law talking guy such as yourself would want to clarify.

  39. cookie says:

    This might explain the kool-aid drinking Moseley “Criminal defense when all else fails.”

    Bio of Jonathon Moseley

    Moseley & Associates Law Firm

    1818 Library Street, Suite 500
    Reston, VA 20190
    (703) 656-1230
    http://www.InstantLawPartner.com

    Criminal defense that works when all else fails: DWI, reckless driving, possession of illegal substances, misdemeanors, felonies. All types of Criminal Defense in collabor …More

    Areas of Practice Administrative Law
    Business Law
    Consumer Law
    Credit, Debt and Collections Law
    Criminal Law
    Drunk Driving & DUI Law
    General Civil Litigation
    Legal Ethics & Responsibility
    Personal Injury Law and Tort Law
    Probate, Trusts, Wills & Estates
    Real Estate and Real Property
    Traffic Law

    States of Practice Virginia

    Countries of Practice United States

    Additional Information Criminal defense that works when all else fails:

    DWI, reckless driving, possession of illegal substances, misdemeanors, felonies. All types of Criminal Defense in collaboration with criminal defense expert, the famous Northern Virginia legal consultant “THE DWI GUY” NORM BRADFORD (a legal expert not licensed in Virginia, but assisting my law firm through our licensed attorneys). If you are serious about criminal defense, you need to call.

    Criminal dfeense work requires payment in advance, based on a flat fee schedule.

    For 11 years, I have performed General Litigation and most areas of law in Northern Virginia down to the Richmond area and in between.

    I have often advised people who want to represent themselves, giving advice, strategy, help on pleadings with payment by the hour. While I am willing to do it all, and usually have, I also think it is the client’s right to acquire as much or as little outside help as they choose. I don’t believe in charging you for things that you want to do for yourself, whether investigation, etc.

    My fees for Civil litigation are $150 per hour.

    Licensed only in Virginia. Not currently practicing in Federal Court or Bankruptcy Court, though planned in the near future. Not licensed before the patent office.

    I do not currently handle capital murder cases (death penalty) or appeals.

  40. heragain says:

    Bill, I know you think politics began when you got your braces off & discovered the newspaper had pages besides the comics. And you don’t have to care about Gary Hart. Few people do.

    But people talk about what interests them. Even when you don’t relate to it.

  41. Joe Cass says:

    Cookie! He wrote a book! He wrote a thriller! I went into it the first time he came around but Mr. Moseley esq. had dun bin published

  42. @heragain: Wow. Gotta love judgment calls people boldly make not knowing anything about the other person.

    Seriously, why the hell would you say something like that anyway? Where did that come from? I’m not making any statements about you without knowing anything about you. For all I know you’re an expert on political history, or you know less than I do. Neither of us has enough information about the other person to know.

    But yup, even though off the top of my head I can rattle off detailed information on the Republican presidential primaries of 1964 or 1968, just as an example, you somehow assume I started following politics in high school and don’t know anything about political history. Good guess. I’ve been reading the news since I was 7 and American history books since at least that far back. First election night I watched was November 1994 (when I was 3). So you really captured me with that snap assessment.

    And the best part is that you act like I’m telling people not to discuss Gary Hart. All I did was point out how irrelevant he was, and that it was a stupid reference for an O’Donnell partisan to make if he hoped to make any point with it.