DR. OF NOTHING
Trenton council candidate Dr. Shirley Gaines is not a real doctor, ‘college’ president says >>
TRENTON » West Ward Council candidate Shirley Gaines regularly touts that she has a doctorate, even placing “Dr.” in front of her name on May’s election ballot.
But the ministry she earned this distinction from believes Gaines should take the title off the ballot.
“We are strictly honorary degree,” Shepherd’s Care College President Samuel O. Kirkland Sr. said Wednesday in a phone interview. “So let’s not try and misrepresent ourselves. Just run on the merits of who she is and what she’s accomplished.”
Shepherd’s Care is an unaccredited college in Tampa Bay, Fla. and its website can be classified as amateur at best, encouraging prospective students to contact the “president himself” about tuition.
“As far as being accredited to any particular accreditation, no sir, we’re only accredited by the members of our board and the members of our community,” Kirkland admitted. “We’re not accredited.”
Kirkland said the school “strictly” only grants honorary degrees.
“We don’t charge anything for the degrees,” the college president said. “The degrees are strictly recognizing them as a member of the believer’s community or Christian community, although we don’t require that they be Christians. They can come from any faith. We’re nonsectarian, nondenominational.”
Gaines and her husband both proclaim to have earned doctorates at Shepherd’s Care. Gaines said she received a doctorate in Clinical Religious Counseling, one of the programs Shepherd’s Care claims to offer.
But the pseudo college does not offer any programs.
“We do have courses that we can provide through a second entity,” Kirkland said, noting tuition would be paid directly to the associate schools that offer degrees. “No funds would be paid directly to Shepherd’s Care. We don’t charge anything for our services.”
Nor can students technically attend the college.
“Everything is done by outreach here by way of phones or by computer,” Kirkland said. “At one time on our website, we had a qualifier to state that they are receiving an honorary degree from Shepherd’s Care.”
As with Gaines’ and her husband’s case, some money was exchanged to the college that bears the slogan “A School For Extra-Ordinary People.”
“I think there was a very minimum donation to show their appreciation to the school,” Kirkland said. “They can donate but there is no tuition charge.”
Kirkland said he did not recall how much the couple donated, but called them “very upstanding folks.”
“They worked hard for many years in the ministry and even wrote a book,” Kirkland said. “I think that if there’s any kind of confusion, I think that she would even be willing to take the doctorate off of her name if it’s brought to her attention, if it’s interpreted as being disingenuous for her to have that there, then I think she’ll take it off. And if she calls me, I would definitely recommend that she take that off.”
Shepherd’s Care’s leader said “some people just become a little bit enthusiastic about the title and inadvertently” use it.
“We tell folks who are massage therapists, if they come and get an honorary degree, we say, ‘Please don’t advertise yourself as being a chiropractor because you’re not and you can’t go near the spine,’” Kirkland said.
Gaines did not return a message seeking comment.
Her husband, Sidney Gaines, called back twice to say they were waiting to hear back from Kirkland. Sidney Gaines doubled down that his wife earned a valid degree.
“They’re legitimate,” Sidney Gaines said of Shepherd’s Care. “That’s what she accomplished. She has a diploma.”
Shirley Gaines has aligned herself closely with mayoral candidate Paul Perez in the upcoming election. She is regularly seen with him at events and Perez appeared at her campaign announcement.
“I’m in a place where I can barely hear you,” Perez said when he was told about Gaines’ doctorate. “Can you call me back in a few minutes? I’m just leaving a place right now.” Perez did not return a message seeking comment a few minutes later.
Instead his press secretary, William Rovner, called back.
“I think we’ll pass on this one,” Rovner said. “I don’t want the campaign to comment on someone else’s credentials.”
Coincidentally, another candidate for West Ward was also outed for having a degree from an unaccredited school.
In 2014, the newspaper reported that Trenton Council President Zachary Chester earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Madison University, a unaccredited distance learning college located in Mississippi. Madison is an entity not authorized to operate in Mississippi, according to a list posted on the state’s Commission on College Accreditation website.
Chester, who is running for reelection, did not return a message seeking comment about his opponent’s alleged doctorate.
Atalaya Armstrong, another West Ward council candidate, declined comment about the situation when reached by phone. Robin Vaughn, the fourth candidate on the West Ward council ballot, did not respond to a message seeking comment.
On Wednesday night, Trenton Clerk Dwayne Harris said Gaines “did not request” that “Dr.” be removed from her name on the ballot.