KW"E" Called a "Diploma Mill" and a "Sham"

Link to Miami Herald Article

Routine article about a commissioner who falsely claimed a bachelor's degree from Queens College. But it goes on to say more.


From the article:

Most credential disputes lately involve schools of a more ethereal nature, existing only in cyberspace. Last spring, CBS News revealed that Florida State Rep. Jennifer Carroll of Green Cove Springs had received her master's degree from Kensington University, an unaccredited, online sham operation that has been chased out of California and Hawaii.

Carroll was shocked, shocked to learn that her master's in business administration was from a diploma mill.

 

Unless I am mistaken, the article doesn't mention Kennedy-Western and the relevant material refers to Kensington.

Do you know of any connection between Kensington and Kennedy-Western?

 

Plantagenet:

The Miami Herald article (see below) does mention "Kennedy-Western" under the sub-heading "Laughing Matter."

It states that "Another school, Kennedy-Western University, was the focus of a U.S. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee investigation last year. At the school, only an open-book, multiple-choice test with 100 questions was required in a course on hazardous waste management; the same with environmental law and regulatory compliance."

The article also states:

"Because of loose state requirements, more online schools are popping up in Wyoming than anywhere else, according to Steven Crow, executive director of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, the regional school accreditation agency."

See here:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/10851063.htm?1c

Thanks.

Text of article is provided below (for anyone having difficulty signing/logging in to and viewing the MiamiHerald website):

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Posted on Wed, Feb. 09, 2005

EDUCATION

Wyoming's plethora of 'diploma mills' not getting much credit

Defenders of Wyoming's mail and Internet educational programs say they're a great way for adults to get degrees, but some educators mock the state.

BY MEAD GRUVER

Associated Press

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - The campus of American Capital University has no tree-shaded quadrangle, no stately old buildings or libraries, no classrooms, no fraternity houses -- not even a student curled up with a book in a quiet corner.

There's just a middle-age man who sits at a computer in a tiny, undecorated, windowless office in the basement of a downtown building.

But in a sense, this fellow -- Bill Allen, American Capital University's chief academic officer -- has lots of company: Wyoming licenses 10 other online schools that are not accredited by any mainstream organization and maintain only a token physical presence in the state.

Defenders of such schools say Wyoming is forward-thinking for accepting a relatively inexpensive way for working adults to get degrees in their spare time through mail and Internet courses.

But others say the state has become a haven for diploma mills.

LAUGHING MATTER

'People start to giggle if you say `Wyoming-licensed school,' if you know about accreditation,'' said George Gollin, a University of Illinois physics professor and crusader against diploma mills, schools that offer degrees for little or no academic work.

Because of loose state requirements, more online schools are popping up in Wyoming than anywhere else, according to Steven Crow, executive director of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, the regional school accreditation agency.

''Most other states have enough rigor in how they determine who can operate as a college and grant degrees that it's not as easy for places to get started,'' he said.

Cheyenne alone is home to six distance-learning schools, five within a few blocks of one another. A typical example is Paramount University of Technology, with a couple of offices in the basement of a sleepy downtown mall. At the end of the street, American City University occupies a couple of rooms in an ornate, Victorian-era building that once housed a brothel.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

Another school, Kennedy-Western University, was the focus of a U.S. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee investigation last year. At the school, only an open-book, multiple-choice test with 100 questions was required in a course on hazardous waste management; the same with environmental law and regulatory compliance.

''With just 16 hours of study, I had completed 40 percent of the course requirements for a master's degree,'' said Claudia Gelzer, a committee staff member.

Kennedy-Western spokesman David Gering said the committee did not invite the school to defend itself, and did not note that Kennedy-Western requires final papers, theses and dissertations of 100 to 200 pages.

Moreover, 80 percent of Kennedy-Western's professors hold doctorates from accredited universities, while the rest have master's degrees from accredited schools, Gering said.

In December, state lawmakers abandoned a bill that would have required private schools to have proper accreditation by 2010.

 

The stories I could tell you about Jennifer Carroll. She's never done a thing without knowing exactly what she was doing.