History
Since it had no real students and no faculty and was housed in buildings which had once been a Motel 6, Hamilton was widely thought to be a diploma mill. The school issued degrees based on "life experiences." Candidates for a degree were required to answer a few questions and write a small project of 2,000 words (about seven typed pages). The school issued Bachelors, Masters, and even PhDs. The presence of a small church built in the parking lot had served to make the activity tax free due to federal and state laws, even though the church building had no pews; people in Evanston had never seen services there.
CBS News reported in 2004 that Hamilton was operated by Rudy Marn of Key West, Florida. Marn, an art collector and philanthropist, has a history of running diploma mills. In 2008, Marn plead guilty to tax fraud and was sentenced in October 2008 by Casper federal court to two years in prison and ordered to pay $620,000 in restitution to the IRS. Marn, Bureau of Prisons # 10728-091, served time in Federal Correctional Institution, Beaumont Low in the Federal Correctional Complex, Beaumont, and was released in September 2010.
The website used the .edu domain, because before October 29, 2001, unaccredited institutions were allowed to use such domains.
Read more about this topic: Hamilton University
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