Asking a university to revoke your degree

[advancedatheist]

Has anyone ever heard of a case where an alumnus asked a university to revoke his degree because he felt dissatisfied with the product?

[Suezoled]

Has anyone ever heard of a case where an alumnus asked a university to revoke his degree because he felt dissatisfied with the product?

No, but if you want, I'll buy your degree off you if you don't like it.



Kidding.

[sphenisc]

Has anyone ever heard of a case where an alumnus asked a university to revoke his degree because he felt dissatisfied with the product?

not exactly what you asked but....

On 29 November 2004, Kroto annouced he was to return his honorary degree from the University of Exeter, in protest over the closure of their Department of Chemistry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Kroto

[westphalia]

Not the same thing, either, but I'd like to ask whoever gave Gary Schwartz a degree to have their credentials revoked.

[advancedatheist]

Actually I had something in mind analogous to a divorce or the renunciation of citizenship. It doesn't change the past, but it does signal alienation and separation from past relationships.

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Blow up the diploma with a cherry bomb. That would be so ... high school.

~~ Paul

[Aurelian]

I've heard of a student or two try to get out of paying for tuition using the ruse of "the course wasn't up to snuff" - which didn't work, ever. I doubt it would've worked if a lawyer was involved, either, of course this is brick & mortar, accredited stuff. Lots of professionals have certified the courses and the path that leads to accreditation. And the Lone Voice competes with the fellow alums that may literally crowd out the opinion that a degree needs to be revoked.

The question really is - is your university degree public information if you choose to keep it private? Especially if you are embarassed to be known as a graduate of that institution.

[advancedatheist]

And the Lone Voice competes with the fellow alums that may literally crowd out the opinion that a degree needs to be revoked.

It looks to me that the university would benefit by granting the alumnus's request. Universities already "cherry-pick" successful alumni to promote themselves, even though the unsuccessful ones have equally valid experiences. (To me this practice resembles the kind of bias that leads to belief in unsubstantiated claims: People remember the "hits" and forget the "misses." And don't get me started on that nonsense about eHarmony's "successes" in match-making.) By "reverse cherry-picking" the alumni who haven't turned out well and who want their degrees revoked, universities could improve the quality of the remaining alumni population.

[bjb]

I think if you could prove that you cheated your way through college, you could admit your guilt and have your degree revoked.

[advancedatheist]

I think if you could prove that you cheated your way through college, you could admit your guilt and have your degree revoked.

I don't see why you should even have to do that. If you have property rights in your degree, you should have the right to have your "alma mater" revoke it, no questions asked.

[Mercutio]

I am surprized my university has not pulled mine yet.

[Tricky]

I am surprized my university has not pulled mine yet.
Yeah. Good thing they don't count off for speling.

[Mercutio]

I actually went back and changed that for dramatic effect.

No, there is no reason to believe me, but in the words of Amy Wilson...

It's true. :)

[Tricky]

I actually went back and changed that for dramatic effect. I suspected as much.

[drkitten]

I don't see why you should even have to do that. If you have property rights in your degree, you should have the right to have your "alma mater" revoke it, no questions asked.

I don't think that this follows. I have "property rights" in my lawnmower, but that doesn't mean I have the right to make any demands on the shop that sold it to me. I can't ask them to take it back -- well, I can ask, but they can also blandly refuse -- and I certainly can't demand that they adjust their records to indicate that they never sold it to me.

[advancedatheist]

I don't think that this follows. I have "property rights" in my lawnmower, but that doesn't mean I have the right to make any demands on the shop that sold it to me. I can't ask them to take it back -- well, I can ask, but they can also blandly refuse -- and I certainly can't demand that they adjust their records to indicate that they never sold it to me.

Eh, not quite the right analogy. How about comparing degree revocation with a divorce? A divorce doesn't pretend that you never married the other person, only that you have legally dissolved the conjugal relationship you used to have with her, along with all the rights attached to that relationship.

Or maybe degree revocation resembles asking your church to excommunicate you because you no longer accept its world view.

[Rasmus]

Eh, not quite the right analogy. How about comparing degree revocation with a divorce? A divorce doesn't pretend that you never married the other person, only that you have legally dissolved the conjugal relationship you used to have with her, along with all the rights attached to that relationship.

Doesn't hold, either, since a University doesn't have any rights after you graduate, right?

Or maybe degree revocation resembles asking your church to excommunicate you because you no longer accept its world view.

That's more like it; and, I guess, equally pointless. If you don't belive anymore, then what difference does it make to you if they don't excommunicate you?

Rasmus.

[Ducky]

Tell you what, stop paying your student loans and see if they repo your diploma...

[clarsct]

No. The repo your HOUSE!



Honestly, they will garnish your wages. And of course, ensure that you get no credit at all forever and a day.

[drkitten]

Eh, not quite the right analogy. How about comparing degree revocation with a divorce?

Only if this is a better analogy than your "property rights" analogy earlier.

.... which is (ahem) not established.

The real question is why anyone would care enough to ask something silly like this, and what possible benefit they could hope to obtain....

[chance]

A bit off topic, but I have heard of war veterans returning medals as a form of protest.