It's Friday, so obviously there's another Tim Walz claim from his biography we have discovered is a lie. According to a new report, the latest fiction from Walz involves his academic credentials. Despite his claims of almost becoming “Dr. Walz,” official records paint a different picture.
"As recently as 2011, Tim Walz claimed in official biographies for his campaign and congressional office that he was on the verge of completing a doctorate in education, a decade after he enrolled in a doctorate program at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota in the small town of Winona," reports The Washington Free Beacon. "The university, however, told the Washington Free Beacon that its last records indicating Walz was an active student are dated to 2004."
"We can confirm that Governor Walz attended Saint Mary's from 2001-2004 in our doctorate level Ed.D. program," Ashly Bissen, the communications director for St. Mary’s University, told the Free Beacon. "He did not complete the degree program."
Related: Did The Harris Campaign Even Vet Tim Walz?
"Governor Walz was enrolled as part of a cohort doctoral program from 2001-2004 and has not taken classes at Saint Mary's since that time," Michelle Rovang, the school's vice president of communications, added.
Did that stop Walz from claiming for years that he "nearly finished with his doctorate at St. Mary's University in Winona, Minnesota," in his congressional biography? Nope.
That claim, like so many others Walz has made about his biography over his political career, was at best a stretch and at worst a lie, the same sort of résumé padding characteristic of other fibs and misrepresentations Walz has made throughout his political career.
But academic dishonesty stands out, including exaggerations. Rep. Andy Ogles (R., Tenn.) last year apologized for stating he had a degree in economics when he’d only taken one economics class and gotten a "C." The CEO of Yahoo was forced out in 2012 after it was discovered he lied about majoring in both computer science and accounting in college. He only majored in accounting.
Walz, who’d been teaching high school for over a decade, started a course of study at St. Mary's in 2001, enrolling in a "cohort doctoral program," a second spokeswoman told the Free Beacon. He stopped taking classes at St. Mary's in 2004 and never earned a degree, the spokeswoman said.
The report explained that in 2002, Tim Walz earned a master's degree in "experiential education" from Minnesota State University, Mankato, a requirement for his acceptance into St. Mary’s doctoral program. Pursuing a doctorate typically involves years of study, research, teaching, and defending a dissertation.
However, when running for Congress in 2006, Walz portrayed himself as "nearly finished" with his doctorate even though he had left the program two years earlier. His congressional website continued to claim that he was working on the degree until 2011, but by 2012, the site removed all references to the doctorate. His opponent, Gil Gutknecht, accused Walz of exaggerating his academic credentials.
I have to ask again whether the Harris campaign vetted Walz at all. He has misrepresented his military rank, fabricated claims about being in a combat zone, lied about an award from the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce, and now we find out he exaggerated his education credentials.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member