St. Regis on TV

Yep, its true! CNN interviewed Dr. Goellin from Indiana or Illinois. (can't remember which) and Dr. (?) Chandler from goode ol SRU. Dr. Goellin had a video link, but Dr. Chandler would only take from a phone from his house in Ohio or someplace like that because he was on his way to an engagement. The questions weren't overly hard hitting, but Dr. Goellin said that SRU is a degree mill The interview will be on again on Sunday at 4pm eastern time.

 

I'm pretty sure the Sunday spot is going to be all new, this time with Allen Ezell, the retired FBI diploma mill expert. But it will also focus almost entirely on St. Regis. Ezell hopes to introduce the matter of the accreditation for sale offer.

 

looks like i'll need to set the DVR to catch that one too.

 

small correction

Hi folks,

I was trying to be careful with the term "diploma mill." There's an article written by the good fellow who runs the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization in which Saint Regis is explicitly called a diploma mill. I didn't quite say diploma mill (I think), but was referring to the professional opinion of a real expert at the ODA.

I had hoped to have a chance to tell my pigeon story about the Saint Regis "high school diploma by examination" program (or whatever they call it) but we ran out of time.

The Saint Regis fellow was "Professor Dr. Dennis Chandler, Head of Music Department, Student/Career Mentor; Ph.D., DBA" (see the faculty list on the St. Regis site.) DBA is "Doctor of Business Administration" of course; his PhD and DBA are from Saint Regis. He is a musician, playing guitar (maybe blues?) in the Cleveland area, as well as piano, I think. He made the point that his life experiences have given him the knowledge base that's at least comparable to that of a PhD (in music performance, which is one of the ways to earn a music PhD here at the University of Illinos in Urbana-Champaign). My point is that a degree awarded for life experience must involve a very thorough examination of the candidate's knowledge, accomplishments, and experience. Since I turned in a 21% score on a multiple choice test and was judged to be qualified to receive a high school diploma and an Associate of Arts degree (for a price of $1000), Saint Regis does not always perform a thorough evaluation of accomplishment before awarding degrees. Perhaps they do sometimes, but they certainly didn't in my case.

You know, sometimes it's fatiguing to be careful. I'd have liked to wave my arms and shout during the interview, but I'm on TV as a University of Illinois professor. If I lose it, it'll harm this amazing place full of brilliant people and fabulous students where I am lucky to have landed a job.

Since it's not appropriate to scream insults, let me end with a quote concerning Saint Regis (see
http://www.hep.uiuc.edu/home/g-gollin/nonCHEA/
for the source):

Certain Liberian officials have apparently authorized a privately owned entity called the “National Board of Education” (NBOE) to “accredit” distance-education colleges anywhere in the world. The NBOE also owns one such entity, a diploma mill called St. Regis University. The only known “address” of the “Liberian” National Board of Education is National Board of Education, Inc., Washington DC 20003, Phone/Fax: 1 202 478 1779...

The NBOE offers accreditation for a fee, with no apparent evaluation process other than a nominal application. No legitimate accreditor would do this. Indeed, the fee is simply sent in on-line, there is not even a real mailing address for NBOE, as far as we can tell. This arrangement is typical of operations falsely claiming to offer legitimate college accreditation.

regards,
George Gollin

 

George,

Would have been great for you to tell the pigeon story.
In my opinion, CNN let "Dr" Chandler drone on for too long.

Do you know if SRU will be the topic of discussion tomorrow on the show?

 

Hi,

I don't know what CNN will do tomorrow (I won't be there-- family birthday party!).

Allen Ezell (former FBI agent, head of their Dipscam operation) will be there; CNN was very scrupulous about giving SRU equal time, so perhaps they'll have another rep from SRU too, if that is to be their topic.

I'm looking forward to seeing what happens: Allen used to have subpoena power, and he has facts at hand that are only hearsay (at best) to me.

regards,
George

 

Ezell was told to limit his discussion solely to St. Regis.

Within a day or two, the transcripts of both sessions should be here:
http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/2003.08.30.html

 

It's wonderful that a major news bureau is beginning to inform the public about diploma mills. However, the fact that discussion is limited only to St. Regis isn't enough. It sounds to me they are apprehensive about moving deeper into the topic.

Even though the interview is limited, it's still a good step toward informing the public about unaccredited 'universities'. Hopefully this will be the first step of many by the media to play a more active role in educating people about the problem of diploma mills and accreditation.

 

Since a large number of diploma mills are foreign in registration only and their operation is largely American catering to Americans the FBI should really take an interest.

I suspect that the principals of many of these schools are not even directors. They just cash big consulting fee cheques. Self-important shills are left to man the barricades.

While CNN would ultimately win any lawsuit from diploma mills, there would be a cost that would be a large multiple of any revenue gained by the story.

 

Since a large number of diploma mills are foreign in registration only and their operation is largely American catering to Americans the FBI should really take an interest.

The FBI should take an interest like it did when DipScam was around, but it really doesn't in the present. And I don't think it's in the FBI's jurisdiction to solely prosecute those who run operations in foreign countries.

If anything, we should attempt to create an international agreement which allows agencies such as the FBI to monitor, investigate, and procesute those who run the operations. However, we'd need a whole new set of laws and regulations that could be accepted by all the foreign states involved.

 

> And I don't think it's in the FBI's jurisdiction to solely
> prosecute those who run operations in foreign countries.

If there is a fraudulent transaction where the buyer and the seller both reside in the US, does it matter where the operation is run?

 

John Bear wrote:

> Within a day or two, the transcripts of both sessions should
> be here:
> http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/2003.08.30.html

CNN apparently never posted the transcript.

But SRU has posted a transcript of the Chandler interview:
http://saintregis.edu.lr/cnn_summary.htm

 

CNN transcript

Hi folks,

Look in the middle of
http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0308/30/nac.00.html
for the transcript of the Gollin/Chandler discussion.

Allen Ezell's interview is at the beginning of
http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0308/31/nac.00.html

cheers,
George

 

Thanks! I sit corrected.

 

... SRU didn't show any pictures of me!

Recent haircut, a suit, no adhesive tape on the glasses... oh well.

GG

 

You looked pretty snazy Though, i wonder why sru forgot to mention that you where part of the interview? They left out alot of information from the interview (your ODA statement) and they totally forgot to mention how the FBI said that they question the legality of the school and the country that is supposedly accrediting them... sigh.....

 

You know, this is how Liberia got into the shipping business, or rather, the shipping registry business. They started out with a perfectly awful reputation for failure to inspect vessels, investigate accidents or assure the authenticity of seamen's documents. Now, however, after a good deal of international scrutiny, they are far from the least responsible of flag states.

Maybe something similar could happen with accreditation?

 

Good historical observation. They did provide a legally protective home for less than wonderful ships just as they are doing for less than wonderful schools.

I wonder what the FBI could do even if they elect to get involved? While I can't justify what St. Regis is doing, I'm not sure I can find a U.S. law they're breaking.

Any suggestions on how the Federal government should proceed?

 

Assuming that SRU would be found to be legally fraudulent by the court, I would guess that anyone living in the USA that received any of the SRU money would be legally vulnerable to federal prosecution. Also anyone using an SRU degree in the USA, I'd guess would be vulnerable.

In other words, just because a person has managed to involve a foreign government in their conspiracy to defraud others, I don't see how that would make them invulnerable to prosecution for fraud?

 

But isn't that a big assumption? David raised a good question. What statements on the Regis website constitute fraud? The accreditation would clearly be illegal if it took place in the U.S. But there are many things that legally occur outside of the U.S. that would be illegal if in the U.S. (Example: Amsterdam's drugs and hookers.) I suspect the website has been carefully reviewed by Regis attorneys.

For the sake of all online programs, I hope someone will prove me wrong.