An historic hoax in Philadelphia academia

Long before modern technology availed itself of sinister online aspects that allowed for chilling hoaxes like what was perpetrated during new student orientation at Villanova University, Philadelphia knew the true nature of a hoax.

This month, investigators identified who they believe is the group behind two false reports of an active shooter on Villanova’s campus as originating from the online group “Purgatory,” which is part of a threat network on the web called “The Com.” Threats were also made at Bucknell University and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

The first false threat on Villanova’s campus occurred last month as students and parents were attending some of the welcome events on campus-prompting a five-county emergency response from the surrounding area. A second alert occurred on Villanova’s campus the following Sunday, as well.

It was during the American Civil War when another hoax perpetrated in our city that involved a Philadelphia institution of higher learning. The Eclectic Medical College of Pennsylvania (known also as the American University of Philadelphia) first opened for classes in 1851 and followed the eclectic model of medicine. With its building between Race and Arch Streets on Haines Street, the Eclectic Medical College of Philadelphia even educated Arkansas State Senator Anthony Stanford.

Sometime during our American Civil War — around 1864 — a need for revenue led the school to become a diploma mill. In a modern-day-like utilization of marketing — deceptive marketing practices at that — the school offered bulk discounts as well as employing a sales force to inflate endowments as well as enrollment. The result was the sale of fraudulent medical degrees sold for a fee. Finally in 1880, the School was closed and the Dean was arrested.

At its most influential the Eclectic Medical College scam was even international. An 1878 edition of the scientific journal Nature detailed someone in Berlin, Germany, who had purchased one such diploma and faced a financial penalty for utilizing it.

Michael Thomas Leibrandt lives and works in Abington Township, Pennsylvania.