Anthony Cupaiuolo recently got a letter from Columbia University offering him a Ph.D. for $600.

To be clear, Mr. Cupaiuolo already has a graduate degree from Columbia—a doctorate of social work, also known as a D.S.W. The letter was an announcement of the School of Social Work's D.S.W.-to-Ph.D. conversion plan, which would allow those who graduated with a D.S.W. from 1967 to 1992 to convert their degrees to the better-known Ph.D. (Columbia replaced the D.S.W. with the Ph.D. in 1993.)

According to a university document, holders of the D.S.W. had been pushing for the option to convert their three letters to three different letters for at least a decade.

That wasn't what bothered Mr. Cupaiuolo, who is a professor emeritus of public administration at Pace University. It was what he would have to do in order to get his Ph.D. In addition to the 600 bucks, he would have to provide four copies of...

For every generation, there is a dude. And for every pop-culture phenomenon, there is an academic trying to analyze it to death.

A new book, The Year's Work in Lebowski Studies, features essays on the Coen brothers’ 1998 slacker hit, The Big Lebowski, which is, without a doubt, the definitive film on the concept of dudeness. It was edited by Edward Comentale, a professor of English at Indiana University, and Aaron Jaffe, an associate professor of English at the University of Louisville.

The book, which includes essays by scholars and fans, grew out of a festival held in honor of the movie, according to The Indiana Daily Student. The editors received 200 essay proposals, which they had to winnow to 21. The authors examine the film’s connection to the first Iraq war, grail legends, and college culture.

It’s hard to know for sure what the scruffy, lazy anti-hero of the film would think of...

A new TV series about what it’s like to be a community-college student will make its debut next month on NBC. It will tackle serious topics like academic preparedness and financial aid.

Wait … strike that. It’s a comedy featuring Chevy Chase in a turtleneck.

The show is called Community, and judging from the online clips, it may not offer the most sensitive portrayal of our nation’s community colleges. It may also not be particularly funny.

If you like your college-themed comedy delivered with a tad more subtlety and a lot less Chevy Chase, check out the underappreciated, Web-only mockumentary Dorm Life.