University of Kansas Has No Record of Verification of Shins Diplomas

The American university, a key to the "faked" doctorate scandal of a local professor, did not receive the document that Dongguk University claimed it had sent to verify her chool diplomas, it was revealed Tuesday.

As a result, questions have been flared about the contention of Dongguk that it had sent document asking the University of Kansas to verify that assistant profesor Shin Jeong-ah, 35, got bachelor's and master's degrees when she was recruited by the local university.

Todd Cohen, director of the university relations, the University of Kansas, told Yonhap news agency in an interview that there were no records that Dongguk requested for the verification at the U.S. National Student Clearinghouse, with which the university has entrusted management of academic affairs.

The clearinghouse is a non-profit organization providing agent service for academic affairs, such as verification of degrees and enrolment of students and transcripts, from some 2,900 colleges and unversities representing more than 91 percent of the total in the United States.

Yonhap quoted Cohen as saying that if Dongguk requested that the university verify academic achievements he could confirm it at the clearinghouse. But there was no such record there, Cohen was quoted as saying.

Dongguk has maintained that it has made efforts to verify Shin's academic performance, saying, "In early September, 2005, our university sent the documents asking Yale and the Kansas to confirm the academic achievements via air mail.

But the registered mail receipt Dongguk claims to preserve has no registration number and no address of the mail, except for the name of the country which might receive the document. As a result, there is no record left to neutrally confirm whether it sent the mail to Yale and Kansas.

Dongguk did not confirm even whether the document reached the universities in due time at that time.

"We have had no stones unturned but we have been unable to confirm it. It is true that the mail was sent to the U.S. but without address. As a result, it is impposible to force Yale to confirm (whether it received the document in 2005)," said an Dongguk official, who refused to be identified.

"In our university record, the U.S. was only put down as the country which received the registered mail, whchthe chief of the faculty affairs signed to send to Yale, to verify her doctorate. Although there is no address of the receiver, we believe that it might be sent to Yale," said the official.

The doubt has been growing whether Dongguk sent the document to verify bachelor's and master's degree she claims to get from the Unversity of Kansas due to remarks different by officials of the Korean university.

"We could not confirm (Shin's diplomas) as we did not receive answer to the inquiry we sent to the University of Kansas in early September, 2005," Lee Sang-il, chief of the academic affairs department of Dongguk told reporters in an official press conference on July 11, in the wake of the doctorate-fake scandal.

But Prof. Ahn Hyung-taek, who was the chief of the personnel affairs team between February and September, 2005, made a remark quite different from Lee's. "We did not send a mail to Kansas inquiring into her academic achievement at the outset but sent a mail to Yale, where Shin obtained her final academic degree or doctorate, for the final academic degree" Ahn said.

"At that time, we told the school that it needed more documents as there were no transcripts and others. However, 'top level' told us to wait a little," he said. However, he refused to disclose who was the 'top level.'

Meanwhile, Lee said that the university has no plan to call in the prosecution to investigate Shin's case.

"It is our basic position that we would settle down this scandal on the outcome of the investigation by ourselves rather than bringing the case to the prosecution," said Lee, adding that the media is leading the case to the prosecution's investigation.

"It is too much embarassing what to to do in the current circumstances. But there has been nothing we have decided on," he said, concerning question that Shin eventually fleed out of the country to New York. The prosecution would ban Shin from overseas trip if the university brought the case to the prosecution, critics said.

" Official papered document arrived from Yale yesterday (Monday), which will prove whether Shin's doctorate has been falsified or not," he said.