Campus Free Degrees
John B. Bear
Regarding this new book, which has been mentioned several times here
(favorably by Rita Laws, unfavorably by Marcie Thorson), I am sharing,
herewith, my rather urgent message to the publisher.
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D. Vitale, President
Umpqua Education Research Alliance
(sent by fax, and also by certified mail)
Dear Mr. or Ms. Vitale
Re: Campus Free Degrees by Mark Wilson
Many years ago, my copyright attorney advised me to put some fictitious
information my my book, Bears’ Guide to Earning College Degrees
Non-Traditionally, so that if someone else copied that information
without permission or credit, there would be clear and incontrovertible
evidence that they did so copy from me. Three times in the past, that
has been sufficient to secure an injunction to prevent books that copied
mine from being distributed.
The purpose of this letter is to notify you that your Mr. Wilson fell
into more than one of these ‘traps.’ They range from small and simple
(e.g., his copying some figures on the value of a degree, which I
slightly adjusted, on page 7) to rather larger (e.g., listing, on page
207, a non-existent accrediting association which I invented and
included in my book).
Although Mr. Wilson’s book is full of many horrendous errors*, I would
hope that his copying from my book, without credit, was somehow an
oversight, and there may be a way of resolving this situation in a calm
manner.
Your prompt response will be most welcome.
Sincerely,
John Bear, Ph.D.
Copy to: Attorney Sheldon Greene
_________
* For starters, here are a few problems out of many
Back cover: there are no accredited law degrees completely by home study
Page 30: CORPA does not recognize individual schools
Page 30: No state requires ownership of a building as a condition for
licensing
Page 46: The DETC does not accredit courses
Page 189: Louisiana licensing is automatic, and certainly not “Other
accreditation”
Rita Laws
Hi, John. I had only glanced at the book and had not yet read it or
reviewed it for the Booklist. I am aware of the controversy now and will
not be including Mr. Wilson's book on the DL Booklist until the
controversy is resolved with fairness to all. Thanks for the info, Rita