The College Fix

I’m a graduate of Vassar College, class of ’77. This week, the Vassar Quarterly, the alum magazine, assigned me to write about Susan Osborne, the liberal mayor of Boulder, Colorado.

As I didn’t know anything about Osborne,  the first thing I did was to check her official government website, where it said that she had a BA from Vassar College. I took that to be truth–until I had a conversation yesterday with Liz Randolph, editor of the Quarterly. She told me that  according to Vassar records, Osborne had never graduated from Vassar and had dropped out in her sophomore year. At this point, Randolph and I were puzzled and weren’t sure what the truth was about Osborne’s academic career at Vassar. Randolph thought that perhaps the Vassar registrar had made a mistake on this matter.

So, I did a bit more sleuthing.

On Osborne’s personal Facebook page I saw that she had listed “Vassar College Class of 1966- English” as the only place where she had attended college. I then asked Randolph to double-check with the Vassar registrar. The registrar told Randolph once again that Osborne had never graduated from Vassar.

I then contacted Heath Uriah, a reporter for the Daily Camera in Boulder, who had done a profile on Osborne in 2009, as well as his city editor, Matt Sebastian.  As Uriah’s story had said that Osborne had “attended Vassar” I asked them to check  if Osborne had said she had graduated from Vassar. I also informed them that although Osborne stated on her official website that she had graduated from Vassar, this  was in fact false.

Heath then did an independent investigation. He found out that Osborne had in fact graduated from the University of Colorado — and not until way down the line, in 1974. He then contacted Osborne about her false statement about Vassar. He posted his findings in “Boulder Changes Mayor Susan Osborne’s Online Bio After Discrepancy Found.”

The story states:

“Although she admitted that she hadn’t graduated from Vassar, she said according to a story Heath wrote today that she “thinks of Vassar as her primary college.”

“I feel as though it’s where my allegiance is,” she said. “The reality is it’s the college that I claim as my own. But my actual BA degree is from Boulder.”

The paper went on to say that, “The city changed Osborne’s profile on Tuesday afternoon following inquiries by the Camera about the discrepancy. The profile now states that she received a bachelor’s degree from ‘Vassar College, University of Colorado/Boulder.’ ”

Osborne also added “University of Colorado at Boulder” to her undergraduate education on her Facebook profile on Tuesday afternoon.

The story goes on to say that Osborne “doesn’t recall writing the profile on the city’s website, but said she didn’t mean to mislead anyone.

“If I haven’t been (clear), then I’m sorry about it,” she said.

Judging from the angry comments from readers of Heath’s story, nor does it pass the smell test with the citizens of Boulder. Many are angry that Osborne is now listing that she got a BA at both Vassar and the University of Colorado on her government page, and have pointed out that she can’t seem to let go of this fantasy that she graduated from Vassar.

Frankly, if I were a graduate of the University of Colorado, I would be insulted that Osborne has tried to hide the fact that she graduated from there. And for those  of us who actually slogged through four years of Vassar and managed to graduate, we’re just plain perplexed.

Victoria Balfour is a 1977 graduate of Vassar College.

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