Honor society letters spark investigation

The Kensington Achievement Foundation letters asked more than 1,500 students to send $15 to apply. More than 1,500 University students were praised for their "academic success" in a mysterious letter from the "Kensington Achievement Foundation" last weekend that is under investigation by University Police as a possible fraud. Promising students the "opportunity to partake in a broad range of activities" and "numerous employment and scholarship opportunities," the letter sheds little light on the goals of the society, while asking interested students to send $15 and an application to 3741 Walnut Street -- the address for Mailboxes Etc. And although the letter is on Penn stationery, it is signed by Nathan Gierke, who doesn't work at or attend the University. He doesn't even live in Philadelphia -- or on the East Coast, for that matter. Gierke is a junior at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, who, along with College junior Brian Deshur and a few friends from Milwaukee, is trying to form a national honor society with chapters at each of their schools. "There are no honor societies on a macroscopic level here," Deshur explained as his reason for starting the foundation, adding that Gierke's name is on the letter because of his valuable "advice." But with Penn serving as the foundation's first testing grounds, the budding honor society has gotten off to a dubious start. "I think a lot of people tend to be suspicious at this school," said Assistant Director of Student Activities Beth Hagovsky, noting that she and the Office of Student Life have received many inquiries regarding the foundation in the past few days. "It was literally just, 'We're a club, please send us money'," said College junior Emily Lieff, one of those on the mailing list. "It gave absolutely no details as to the purpose of the group, what I could gain from being a member or what qualifications had to be met in order for me to be a member." Other students were similarly confused -- but because only Gierke's name is on the letter, they had no one to contact. A few bewildered recipients searched for the foundation on the University's World Wide Web pages and found Deshur on the student activities contact list. University Police Det. Gary Heller was one such person. "He was concerned that it was some sort of scam," said Deshur, adding that the distrust surrounding his venture is getting "frustrating." University Police officials were unavailable for comment yesterday. "I put a lot of effort into this and the last thing I want is to rip people off," he said. Despite the concern from students and University Police, Deshur's tactics for approaching the University have been completely legitimate from the beginning, according to Hagovsky. "He's never been afraid to tell us who he is, [he did] all the right things," she added. She said Deshur registered with her office earlier in the year and was persistent about obtaining a mailing list of likely candidates. Although she advised him against approaching the University Registrar for a mailing list, stressing their high cost, Deshur paid up. After requesting the names and addresses of all sophomores and juniors with grade point averages of 3.3 and above -- about 1,500 students -- Deshur individually mailed each one a letter with an application to join the society. Deshur explained that the application fee will cover the costs so far: the mailing list, postage and KAF logo design. Any leftovers he receives will "go right back into the organization," he said.

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