Is Mallya Also From Mars?!

Recently, we at the 108 Sullu World H.Q. were reading an article by our favorite writer Mr.Vishveshwara Bhat. An article about Mr.Vijay Mallya. The following lines in that article intrigued us.

"ಕೆಲ ವರ್ಷಗಳ ಹಿಂದೆ ಸದರ್ನ್ ಕ್ಯಾಲಿಫೋರ್ನಿಯಾ ವಿಶ್ವವಿದ್ಯಾಲಯ ವಿಜಯ ಮಲ್ಯಗೆ ಗೌರವ ಡಾಕ್ಟರೇಟ್ ಪದವಿ ನೀಡಿದಾಗ ನಾವೆಲ್ಲಾ ಜೋಕು ಮಾಡಿ ಅವರನ್ನು ಆಡಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದೆವು."

We at 108 Sullu World H.Q. are not journalists. So, if something intrigues us, we don't joke around. To be fair, unlike a real newspaper with paying customers and numerous employees, we are a lonely bunch. To be specific ours is a single-man operation.

Since we couldn't joke around, what did we do? We tried to do the next best thing. We tried to find the whereabouts of this "Southern California University".

Having lived in US for the past 16 years and having studied there we know a little bit about the universities in US. Not a whole lot. Just a little bit.

Having never heard of "Southern California University", we thought about the possibility of Mr.Bhat having his facts wrong. If you are a regular reader of our blog, not exactly an illogical conclusion.

So we decided to check. And check, we did. We visited some of Mr.Mallya's websites. Examples: this and this. And they also said that Mr.Mallya got his honorary Ph.D. from "Southern California University".

Having satisfied with Mr.Bhat's possible sources on this matter, we then started searching for this "Southern California University". We found no such university.

The closest we found were "Southern California University of Professional Studies" and "Southern California University of Health Sciences". While the second one is a small school that teaches Acupuncture and Chiropractice, the first one is a for profit trade school that is "100% Online" requires "No Attendance". Hardly the schools a billionaire would brag about.

More interestingly we also found a "Southern California University" in a document prepared by the Michigan state government. Here is what the document says about "Southern California University" (as well as the "Southern California University for Professional Studies") among other such colleges and universities:

"This is a listing of colleges and universities which are not currently accredited by an accrediting body of the Council on Higher Education Accreditation. Degrees from these institutions will not be accepted by the Department of Civil Service as satisfying any educational requirements indicated on job specifications. Please note that this list is not all inclusive; unaccredited schools will be added as we become aware of them."

A bit more looking around yielded this reference to the "Southern California University":

"DipScam's largest case came to its grand finale in a federal courthouse in Charlotte, North Carolina, in October 1987, with John present as an expert witness and observer. On trial were the seven perpetrators of a long string of degree mills, most recently including Roosevelt University, Loyola University, Cromwell University, University of England at Oxford, Lafayette University, DePaul University, and Southern California University, as well as several fake accrediting agencies."

While Mr.Bhat and at least some of Mr.Mallya's own websites say that Mr.Mallya -- or should we say Dr.Mallya?-- got his honorary doctorate from "Southern California University", there are other websites which say that this award was conferred on him by the "University of California, Irvine". Examples: Forbes.com and SECINFO.COM

However, when we contacted University of California, Irvine about this degree, here is what we received from them:

"Please be aware that the University of California, Irvine does not award honorary degrees, nor does is (sic) award a Ph.D. in Business Administration."

As per UB Group's corporate website, Mr.Mallya was awarded this honorary degree by yet another university. This time it is the prestigious University of Southern California (USC).

We contacted USC. We also contacted the P.R. department of the U.B. Group. But, till now we have not heard anything back from either one of them.

Is there a simple explanation for all this confusion? Or, is this just another case of Martian Syndrome à la "Dr." John Gray? Or, -- since the same information is also used in some government filings -- an attempt to mislead investors and other business folks?

We are just asking questions.