Anthony Defends

His Resumé

By M. D. Drysdale

Joe Anthony of Chelsea responded this week to a news report that he misrepresented his academic credentials while running for public office.

Anthony is one of four candidates for Orange County assistant judge, two of whom will be elected Tuesday. The others are Prudence Pease of Tunbridge, the incumbent, and John Upham and Dawn Sprague, both of Chelsea.

In his campaign brochure, Anthony lists "BS and MS degrees in criminal justice management." In a handwritten resume he gave The Herald, the Chelsea man stated that he "is a graduate of Hamilton College, and holds a BS and MS degree in criminal justice management."

However, in a long story Saturday, the Valley News of West Lebanon reported that those degrees were not granted from Hamilton College, which is a prestigious liberal arts college in New York state, but from Hamilton University of Wyoming.

Hamilton University, the Valley News reported, is a notorious "diploma mill" that has been investigated by the federal Government Accountability Office, in connection with Hamilton "degrees" granted to federal employees.

Anthony this week confirmed that his degrees were from the Wyoming school, and that he knew the school was unlicensed. The school claimed it didn't need to be licensed because it had a religious affiliation. It has now moved offshore.

Though he knew it was unlicensed, he thought the school was legitimate, Anthony said this week. He had heard about it in an advertisement in "Time" magazine, he said.

He said it was his understanding that the school granted degrees based on a candidate's life experience. He confirmed that he never did much academic work for Hamilton in order to get the two degrees. He sent them several thousand dollars and verified his experience for them, he said.

Hamilton does not have "a working faculty or college-level requirements," the Valley News reported.

Still, Anthony said, he thought his 30 years of experience in police work, which included various courses, was enough to qualify him for the two degrees.

"Now, I feel like I was duped," he told The Herald. "But I'm a victim, not a perpetrator. I know what my intentions were."

He said that he did not try to mislead The Herald by indicating his degrees were from Hamilton College, since he did not know of that institution.

Anthony is a former police chief in Vergennes and, more recently, in Thetford. He confirmed reports that the Thetford experience was not a happy one, as he and the selectboard took different approaches to the job. He was chief there only 10 months.

He currently works at the Brookhaven School for Boys in Chelsea.