Sunday, Nov. 08, 2009

Should county assessor be called 'Dr. Bush' based on honorary doctorate?

BELLEVILLE -- Despite agreeing four years ago not to list an unaccredited doctorate from a California diploma mill on his resume, St. Clair County Assessor Gordon Bush is still calling himself, "Dr. Bush."

A former two-term mayor of East St. Louis, Bush was inducted in September into the Alumni Hall of Fame at Southern Illinois University, where he obtained bachelor's and master's degrees in the early 1970s.

In the online description of the 2009 SIUE honorees, Bush is listed as "Dr. Gordon Bush," although he has not been awarded an academic doctorate. He stated he is entitled to refer to himself as "doctor" based on an honorary doctorate he received in 1996 from Wiley College in Marshall, Texas. Several Web sites also list him as "Dr. Bush."

An ethics expert from Washington University in St. Louis said the practice of using an honorary doctorate to call oneself a "Dr." is, "Absolutely dishonest."

Bush would respond only to written questions sent via e-mail. However, he ignored all four questions sent by the News-Democrat and instead responded entirely by sending, via Google, a portion of an article that describes honorary degrees that he obtained. Part of the same article, which Bush did not include, stated that "honorary doctorates" should be listed in resumes as an "award" and not under "education."

But Bush is in good company when it comes to calling himself a "doctor" based on an honorary degree. Benjamin Franklin began calling himself "Dr." after 1762, when he received his fourth honorary degree, a "doctorate" from England's Oxford University, which honored his scientific achievement.

University spokesman Greg Conroy said Bush asked that he be called "Doctor," in the online Hall of Fame program description.

"We saw no harm in it," Conroy said, "because it's not an academic setting." Conroy said that if Bush were to address students, or participate in some form of "academic" activity, he would not be allowed to call himself "Doctor."

Using an honorary doctorate that requires no class time to call oneself "Doctor" is prohibited at most reputable universities and colleges, said Stuart Yoak, executive director of the Center for the Study of Ethics and Human Values at Washington University in St. Louis.

Yoak, an adjunct professor of ethics and himself a Ph.D., was asked generally about the relevance of an honorary doctorate but was not provided Bush's name. He said that the term "Doctor" indicates that a person has completed a certain course of study, was examined by university or college professors on that study, and successfully produced and defended a written dissertation that advanced the course of study. Yoak said that this usually takes eight or 10 years of intense work. Online sites show that Yoak does not use the term "doctor" for himself.

"It's a matter of integrity and how you represent yourself," Yoak said, "Because the person to whom you say, 'I have this doctorate' is going to impute to you a certain level of training and expertise. ... No question about that. It's a form of dishonesty."

In a Nov. 2, 2005, article in the News-Democrat, Bush agreed to drop any reference to a "doctor of philosophy" degree he obtained by paying a sum he would not disclose in return for a doctorate. He said the only requirement was that he tell his "life story" to a person online, who listened for several hours.

"It is an unaccredited Ph.D., and to avoid further confusion in the future," Bush said. "I will remove it from my resume and I will not use it."