Ther are all sorts of other angles to this too. First of all, what was MIT's Personnel Dept doing 28 years ago? Why did they no check on her credentials? MIT itself bears some guilt, too.

And how about those other applicants that never got the job because she did under fals pretences? Could they raise a court claim for lost opportunity and potentially lost earnings through her fraudulent action - or through MIT's own incompetence?

I don't feel sorry for her, because as BillD pointed out, she profited from the fraud (and let's call a spade a spade, this was not a "mistake" - whoops, forgot! -, it was intended and premeditated fraud). Not only that, she built pension rights for 28 years, which she will now enjoy, so she will keep profitting!

I do not doubt that she is capable of fulfilling her function, after all this time. But she was right to resign, and MIT was right to accept her resignation. If she was kept on, and you had a son or daughter studying in MIT under such a dean, how would you feel? She is lucky she doesn't have to return all that income! And now she can apply for other jobs on the strength of her experience (whether legitimately gained or not, lucky her), but also with the stain of a very public dishonesty.