Not UA graduate, lawmaker learns

LITTLE ROCK — For the past 12 years, state Rep. Stephanie Malone, R-Fort Smith, thought she had a college degree, but officials at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville say she doesn’t.

The university has no record of Malone applying for graduation, spokesman Steve Voorhies said. Malone completed the requirements for a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 2000, he said.

Students must apply for graduation. Otherwise, officially they don’t have a degree, Voorhies said.

Malone, who has served two terms in the state House, said it’s a paperwork glitch that she is getting corrected.

“We’re just all kind of dumbfounded by it,” Malone said Tuesday. “We’re fixing the glitch. It’s been fixed, technically. The paperwork is being filled out.”

The question concerning Malone’s degree came up when the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette received an anonymous letter Monday. The letter included a “degree verify certificate” from National Student Clearinghouse indicating that Malone had no degree from the university. For a fee, the clearinghouse provides degree and attendance information from most U.S. educational institutions, according to the company.

The registrar’s office confirmed by telephone that Malone did not have the degree.

Doris Tate of Fort Smith, Malone’s Democratic opponent in the race for House District 77, said she hadn’t heard anything about the situation regarding Malone’s degree.

“I have enough problems without being negative,” said Tate, who is executive director of the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce. “I try hard not to do that.”

The name of the person who requested the information from National Student Clearinghouse was redacted from the letter that the newspaper received. Malone asked the company for the name of the requester and learned that it was Ramiro Gabriel Hinojosa, a research analyst with Stanford Campaigns in Austin, Texas.

According to its website, oppresearch.com, Stanford Campaigns is one of the “goto opposition research firms for Democratic campaigns.”

Hinojosa didn’t return telephone calls seeking comment Tuesday.

When asked about Stanford Campaigns, Tate said, “They are doing work for me on behalf of a Northwest Arkansas firm, First Rogers Group.” Tate said she had paid Stanford Campaigns to match telephone numbers for automatic telephone calling, but she was unaware of any degree check that the firm had done.

“I have not talked to these people about any of those things,” she said.

Voorhies said the normal procedure is to file an appeal with the dean’s office of the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, which would then petition the provost’s office to grant the degree retroactively. Malone said she has begun that process.

The appeals process can take a week, Registrar Dave Dawson said.

Malone, a niece of U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., said she remembers filling out a card pertaining to graduation and paying the $25 fee, but she has no proof of payment 12 years later. The graduation fee is now $75, and Malone said she’ll pay that to get the matter cleared up.

Malone said she didn’t walk in a commencement ceremony after graduating in December 2000.

Dawson said some students get commencement and graduation mixed up.

“Commencement is a ceremony,” he said. “Graduation is actually conferring the degree.”

Dawson said he occasionally hears from people who think they have graduated but didn’t fill out the paperwork after doing all the course work.

“It’s really not very common but it comes up - probably two or three a year,” he said.

The university has had 4,590 graduates so far this year, said Voorhies.

Some students think graduation is automatic, but it’s not, said Ro Di Brezzo, vice provost for academic affairs at the university. Di Brezzo said she doubts that university officials lost Malone’s graduation application.

“There are things that we probably could do better, but this is not one of them,” Di Brezzo said. “When a student submits it, it’s in the system.”

Dawson said the application can be filled out online now.

“Before the last few years, the process was a paper process,” he said. “Now it’s online. This is a much quicker and more efficient process for [students]. So hopefully we’ll see fewer of these cases.”

Di Brezzo said most of the $75 fee goes to pay for the diploma, but some of the money also covers cap and gown.

Malone said she never received a diploma from the university.

“I had been there for four years and was ready to move on,” she said. “I don’t need a piece of paper.”

Malone said she expects to receive a diploma after university officials approve her appeal.

Lisa Summerford, assistant dean in the Fulbright College, sent Malone a letter that was provided Tuesday to the Democrat-Gazette.

“This letter is to confirm you successfully completed all requirements for a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in journalism as of August 11, 2000,” the letter states. “It is my understanding that there has been some error that prevented the diploma from being processed at that time and that steps have been taken to remedy this matter. In the meantime, I hope that this letter will clear up any confusion for concerned parties.”

Malone works as marketing director for the FortChaffee Redevelopment Authority in Fort Smith.

Tate, who served for 20 years as county clerk in Sebastian County, doesn’t have a college degree. Tate said she attended Conners Junior College in Warner, Okla., for a year and Oklahoma State University for a semester.