Potti Probe: Version #7 of Resume Raises Questions about Hospital Training.

✔Loyal Readers can already recite much from Potti's resumes: the fake Rhodes Scholarship, the fellowship at an Australian university that does not exist mentored by a professor who never heard of him.

Fact Checker can now report on another: the man with at least eight versions of his resume lists the following on #7:

June 1, 1995, through April 1, 1996, University of Medical Sciences and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital in New Delhi.

Potti says he was an intern / resident after Medical School. For which we have three different graduation dates.

Problem #1. This is not the institution's name although he is close. Correct name: the University College of Medical Sciences. Now FC does not want to make a mountain out of a mole hill, but Curriculum Vitae , which I insist on calling resumes since I do not speak Latin, are typically prepared with great precision.

Problem #2. While Potti says he was at this hospital, he sent another resume version to the University of North Dakota and never mentioned where he was currently. Moreover, his application was for the exact same training he was already undergoing, supposedly, at the hospital.

✔✔The President's Office at Duke made two announcements this morning:

A ) There is widespread faculty and alumni support for Brodhead's request for stakeholders to delay forming an opinion on cracks in Potti's resume, taking care to ascertain "whether the allegation was true or whether the allegation was false or if there is some intermediate explanation..."

As every Dukie knows, as part of Orientation Week, incoming freshmen are given substantial exposure to the honor code, The Duke Community Standard. This year, in addition to teaching truth and lies, the Class of 2014 will be told how to use "intermediate explanation" if they are ever called upon the carpet.

The Divinity School and U S Agriculture Department are planning an interdisciplinary course tentatively entitled "Deep Readings in Ethics." At the Law School there are plans to assign one or more of the professors who do not have law degrees or any background in the law to teach a similar course.

Great Hall and Marketplace are going to serve special desserts called "intermediate explanation." Last semester this was sold as fudge.

B) Duke is going to franchise its system for vetting applicants, the current processes that are working so well that Brodhead told the Herald-Sun he does not see need for review or change.

Late last week BP -- the former British Petroleum -- contacted Brodhead because it wants to use The Duke Way to screen engineering applicants for work on its oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

The prospectus that will be sent to sales targets includes Brodhead's ringing words: "The university will in general continue to accept credentials on their face as presented by the people who present them...."

✔OK I had my fun. More seriously. Duke's human resources office announced that it will vet all the people receiving Duke medical insurance -- all enrollments of spouses, domestic partners and children for both active employees and retirees.

This is surprising since just last week, evaluating the Potti hire, Brodhead said our vetting processes were working well, that no changes were needed.

There is no information available from Duke on how many cheats are suspected, what the annual cost might be, and if employees deliberately falsifying information will be fired.

Speaking of vetting, the Brodhead Administration still owes us an explanation of the vetting process for Police Officer Webster Delenn Simmons. He was arrested in Alabama for and S and M rape of a woman, complete with his Duke badge, Duke gun, Duke handcuffs, Duke uniform, whips, enema bag and over-sized butt plug. Key question: Simmons left the Raleigh Police, and its rank of Master Patrolman (seriously) after almost ten years, leaving behind pension credits and taking a lesser salary. Hmmm.

Back to Brodhead. It is relevant to look at the Chronicle editorials last semester, brave, seminal editorials blistering him for lack of leadership in the budget crisis:

"...active communication from Brodhead has largely disappeared. He has not sent out even a University-wide e-mail since March of last year....

"...Brodhead should speak openly and candidly to the Duke community as a whole. We need to know the specifics of how the administration is moving forward and how it plans to finally close the budget shortfall.

"But more than that, we need to know how the University’s strategic goals have been affected by the crisis, how the administration is adapting and how they will move Duke forward despite the difficult financial times. We need active, clear and consistent communication from our president that the future of our University is strong."

The only communication since the Potti crisis exploded has been one E-mail from Chancellor Dzau to the medical faculty. This was intended to be sent a day later to all medical personnel only, but it wound up in Duke Today, the on-line employee newspaper not by design.

Thus, Mr. Brodhead and his administration have not addressed the Potti-Nevins scandal with most members of the faculty, any members of the student body, nor any alumni.

✔✔Watch for more Check Fact Checker after Thursday. Some good stuff coming through the pipeline.

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