[quote]
As she put it in a 2004 interview with the Boston Globe: "They are just doing, doing, doing, and they don't have three minutes to think about what they are doing and why they are doing it."
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</p>
<p>This is my gripe in a nutshell. I'm pretty sure this woman would take one look at my son's list of activities and challenging course load and say 'look at this kid, just staying busy to impress me! What a bore. In the can you go, guy.' Nothing could be further from the truth. Some really good students--and I include my son here--stay busy because they have a burning desire to DO things, to discover things, to challenge themselves and to hang out with other kids who like to be busy doing the same things. </p>
<p>I can't help but wonder what Jones did with her time in high school. I suspect it was a lot of sitting on her rear, resenting energetic and successful students.</p>
<p>By the way, the Albany Post article includes the e-mail address of the writer, in case anyone wants to encourage him to find out if Jones is actually from Albany.</p>
<p>This thing just gets stranger and stranger. </p>
<p>The Boston Globe editorial is flat-out bizarre (I can think of a couple explanations I'll skip since they're more political than relevant to this particular issue, but talk about a paper that can't distinguish right from wrong - THIS is supposed to be responsible journalism and/or an arbiter of public opinion? Good grief...). The Albany paper's story confirms/adds nothing, despite having a scandal with a local angle in spades. </p>
<p>Is there NO paper in the country concerned about the college admissions scene who can do any investigative journalism and get to the bottom of this? It's like no paper wants to even touch it - or are her tracks that thoroughly obscured that it'll take weeks (if ever) to be uncovered?</p>
<p>The Boston Globe article was right on the money. It's good to see that journalists can recognize the positive influence she has had at MIT and university admissions in general.</p>
<p>I am also happy to see that there are over 450+ MIT students in the facebook in support of Marilee.</p>
<p>Sorry, but 'supporting' Marilee The Pathological Liar is proof positive that we are being strangled by PC. (This issue is going to turn me into Bill O'Reilly if I'm not careful!!!)</p>
<p>Sorry, but 'supporting' Marilee The Pathological Liar is proof positive that we are being strangled by PC. (This issue is going to turn me into Bill O'Reilly if I'm not careful!!!)</p>
<p>Obviously you are either not aware of her work, or have an ax to grind against AA in general.</p>
<p>The 450+ MIT students are just a small showing of the support for the good work she did. The Boston globe obviously recognized that, and so do many college adcoms across the country.</p>
<p>colleguy, I am aware of Marilee's work, I am a supporter of AA, I am in favor of women going to MIT and I want to save the whale, but I STILL maintain that Dr. Jones' longtime lie has done irreparable damage to MIT's reputation. I believe that she should have been fired, not allowed to resign, and if she has broken any laws she should be prosecuted. </p>
<p>She was a master of the art of deception, indeed. Even after her exposure, her charisma surrounds her like a magic cloak. People who refuse to see the lying, the hypocrisy, plain-out WRONGNESS involved here are equally delusional.</p>
<p>I think like many imposters she became increasingly bold in the way she flaunted her false credentials under the noses of people who are paid to evaluate others' worth. Where were the famous BS detectors of all those admissions officials who invited her to conference after conference? </p>
<p>She believed that she was untouchable and her supporters enabled and encouraged her. They were shnookered and now they are trying to justify their mistaken evaluation by saying "yes, but. . ." </p>
<p>Okay, they didn't know. Now they do. It's time to admit that this is one sick puppy.</p>
<p>I mostly agree with momrath, though I don't think she has done irreparable damage to MIT's reputation.</p>
<p>Still, I am not surprised by the support Ms. Jones is getting from students and her colleagues. It can be very difficult for people to believe that a charismatic leader who had gotten many awards also is a liar,.</p>
<p>I saw this first hand when the charismatic, award-winning advisor of a student newspaper at a college that I was very familiar with was arrested for embezzling from the student paper. There was no question that the advisor did this. He literally was caught red handed and admitted the thefts.</p>
<p>To my surprise, the students rallied around him,and some of them even wanted to use their money to try to keep him out of jail. Among the people considering donating their money was a low income single mom who was working her way through college.</p>
<p>People who are charismatic can metaphorically cast spells over their followers -- spells that can be difficult to break.</p>
<p>But, then let's think about this. How easy would it be for any of us to quickly change our opinion about a highly respected person whom we'd happily worked for for several years. For at least some of us, it would be hard to switch our opinions quickly after years of looking up to the person.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, however, I wish that the newspapers would do their jobs and publish follow-up stories about how she managed to deceive so many people, how deep her deceptions went, and what her actual background is.</p>
<p>NSM, Okay, I'll tone it down to "severe" damage instead of irreparable. </p>
<p>I agree that there's more to this story than has come out. Who knew and when did they know? The husband's involvement is especially intriguing. As I said a few hundred posts back it will make a great movie. Starring? Susan Saradon? Kathy Bates? Catch Me if You Can Goes to College.</p>
[quote]
Jones is married to Steven R. Bussolari, an engineer at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory.
MIT Lincoln Laboratory, also known as Lincoln Lab, is a federally funded research and development center managed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and primarily funded by the United States Department of Defense. Lincoln Lab is located at Hanscom Air Force Base in the town of Lexington, Massachusetts, and was founded in 1951.
[/quote]
Our speculation on his "involvement" is that, he had to have known about her fraud and kept her secret for 28 years.
Since the Lab he works for is managed by MIT, will his complicity in the fraud affect his employment?</p>
<p>It may boost the husband's employability by the DOD - ability to keep a secret for at least 28 years (and he might not have been the one to let the cat out of the bag.) Maybe it's as simple as Marilee's divorce attorney arguing for spousal support because his client merely had a high school diploma. </p>
<p>I think the Globe writer protests too much. Time to look into his/her credentials.</p>
<p>I feel bad for Marilee the person and am outraged by Marilee the fraud. This does not damage MIT as an academic institution, just muddies its organizational reputation, and who knows what that reputation was before? I'd be very surprised if they don't adopt changes to prevent this kind of thing from happening again.</p>
<p>
[quote]
She was a master of the art of deception, indeed. Even after her exposure, her charisma surrounds her like a magic cloak. People who refuse to see the lying, the hypocrisy, plain-out WRONGNESS involved here are equally delusional.
[quote]
Many of us have known Marilee Jones personally and had many close interactions with her. Marilee is a wonderful person who has given so much to the MIT community. She knows many of us by our first names. The way her case was dealt with is very sad to say the least. It hurts to see a total neglect to all the good things Marilee has done to our tight-knit MIT community. We are all very sad to hear this and are very upset with the way the media has been portraying her case.
We'll always cherish and remember Marilee with her positive impact and her wonderful contributions to many aspect that define MIT today.
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</p>
<p>There are (currently)12 posts from students expressing their sense of loss and sadness and a post from Ben Jones.</p>
<p>Resume "Misrepresentations" and "Untruths" from others in high profile positions:</p>
<p>
[quote]
In February 2006, the CEO of Radio Shack (nyse: RSH - news - people ), Dave Edmondson, resigned after 11 years at the helm when an investigation by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram had turned up overstated qualifications on his academic record.</p>
<p>In 2002, TheStreet.com (nasdaq: TSCM - news - people ) discovered that Bausch & Lomb's (nyse: BOL - news - people ) CEO Ronald Zarrella had claimed an M.B.A. from New York University, which he didn't have for a decade or so. He kept his job but lost his bonus.</p>
<p>Michael Brown, the former head of FEMA, much-criticized in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, found himself at the sharp end of an investigation by Time magazine, which indicated that he had padded his experience in emergency management prior to his appointment.
<p>
[quote]
A story in MIT's online news, The Tech, mentions Jones's book, where she writes that parents should "insist on integrity."</p>
<p>And they quote her: "But just remember that 'what goes around comes around,' If you do not live honestly, you will draw suffering into your life because you will always be afraid of getting caught."
<p>coronax2: W/regard to the CEO, Ronald Zarrella, who had claimed an M.B.A. from New York University, which he didn't have for a decade or so . . . that "sounds like" he actually did earn one, but much later than when he first claimed he had one. This is what I don't understand about Jones. In those 28 years, she could have gone to school part-time and received those degrees. (MIT would have probably paid for all or a portion of the tuition.) At least, in the end, she would have had them-- but getting those degrees takes hard work, diligence, dedication, and willingness to learn.</p>
<p>MIT is not world renowned because of the 'spin' its admissions director puts on the admissions process.</p>
<p>MIT is world renowned as a center of innovation and meaninfgul engineering and science instruction.</p>
<p>No matter what Ms Jones did 28 years ago, no matter what she has done in the past 10 years (or however long she has been at the helm) her work, her ideas, her lie, her spirit, her influence is limited. In spite of any anecdotal reports in this or other threads, the majority of applicants accepted are MIT material through and through. The reality is, the issue of the 'changing MIT' as influenced by changes in admissions policy completely predated her. </p>
<p>The issue with her lie is the sad irony of a person who told 16 year olds to be true to themselves and then could not do it herself. The issue is not any irreperable(or even serious) damage she did to MIT. </p>
<p>It's not that admissions is an irrelevant function. In the days I camped out in 7-103 there were professors wanting to read folders so that the student body would be selected based upon the input of the faculty, as well as admissions staff. This is the inevitable tension in having professional admissions staff(many of whom are not technically educated) at a school like MIT. Admissions matters, of course, but only to a point. </p>
<p>The Globe editorial was disappointing. Nothing that Ms. Jones did since the lie in any way changes the fact that she lied and that she perpetuated the lie.</p>
<p>
[quote]
The way her case was dealt with is very sad to say the least. It hurts to see a total neglect to all the good things Marilee has done to our tight-knit MIT community. We are all very sad to hear this and are very upset with the way the media has been portraying her case.
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I find this both disturbing and sad. IMHO, these kids have little sense of the unethical nature of what MJ did or the egregious hypocrisy surrounding her insistence on "integrity." In addition, I think the treatment of her by the school and in the press has been much more gentle and dignified than she deserved, given the level of her deception. Obviously these kids (and Ben Jones) think that if someone is appealing as a person, they should not have to pay the price for wrongdoing of this magnitude.<br>
~berurah</p>
<p>
[quote]
MIT would have probably paid for all or a portion of the tuition.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That would have required her to tell MIT that she didn't have those degrees in the first place, wouldn't it? And if she had done that, this whole debacle could have been avoided.</p>