Indiana Law Appears to Forbid Use of Dr. Degree from UNISA & Others

Indiana recently passed a law (IC 24-5-0.5-12) that appears to ban the use of any Dr. degree from any foreign institution. The statute titled, "False claim of doctoral degree," bans the use of any Dr. degree while soliciting or perfroming a consumer tranaction in the state of Indiana. A "false doctoral degree" is defined as any Dr. degree that does not meet the following test:
"(1) has been awarded a doctorate degree from an institution that is:
(A) accredited by a regional or professional accrediting agency
recognized by the United States Department of Education or the
Council on Postsecondary Accreditation
(B) a religious seminary, institute, college, or university whose
certificates, diplomas, or degrees clearly identify the religious
character of the educational program; or
(C) operated and supported by a governmental agency; or
(2) Meets the requirements approved by one (1) of the following boards:"

It goes on to list boards of medicine, dentistry, optometry etc. Nowhere in the statute is there any wording regarding a degree from a foreign institution or the equivalency of such degrees. It just confirms my belief that many of these state laws designed to ban the use of unnaccredited degrees are not well thought out. In this case diploma mills, state approved, and foreign schools are all lumped together (whether intentional or not).

 

Unless "professional accrediting agency" is defined as including accreditors like DETC or TRACS, that's casting a pretty wide net. Scary.

 

Some how I thought UNISA was operated by a governmental agency, e.g the Government of South Africa (or the Government of South Austrialia for the other UniSA)?

 

Well UNISA should not be on the list and although from South Africa it is still DECT and recognized by the US Department of Education. Thus legit!

 

no DETC, no UK PhDs?

Here's a link to a pdf file containing the text of the statute.

Does "operated and supported by a governmental agency" include foreign governmental agencies? Elsewhere in the Indiana Code "governmental agency" is defined this way:

It would be amusing for Saint Regis to assert that the Indiana Code had declared their doctoral degrees legit because of SRU's purported Liberian accreditation.

That wouldn't be as strange as having an Indiana University professor with a PhD from Oxford being judged a criminal for working as a consultant if foreign PhD's aren't recognized.

Not a well-written piece of legal code.

G

 

I have had some contact with the state on this and UNISA degrees are fine.

Government agency does not just mean the U.S. government.
This law was aimed primarily at chiropractors and hypnotists.
This according to H. Kent Weldon, Deputy Commissioner,
Indiana Commission for Higher Education, 101 West Ohio - Suite 550, Indianapolis, IN 46204, p: 317-464-4400 x24, f: 317-464-4410, e: [email protected]

 

Jimmy;

Thanks, thats good to know. You must admit though the wording of the statute is pretty poor and misleading. If the term "government agency" is interpreted broadly, then I would guess a CA state approved Dr. degree would be acceptable as well.

 

Jimmy;

Thanks, thats good to know. You must admit though the wording of the statute is pretty poor and misleading. If the term "government agency" is interpreted broadly, then I would guess a CA state approved Dr. degree would be acceptable as well.

 

I have to tell you that in my conversations with Mr. Weldon there is a great lack of clarity on some of these issues.

For instance, when I questioned him on some things he said, "That's my understanding."

I think this law, like most laws, can be open to interpretation and, again, like most laws, will only be concrete after being tested in the courts.

Although my PhD is from a state licensed institution I am safe because I meet the qualification of having the religious nature on the degree "Doctor of Philosophy in Christian Counseling."

 

How does US law deal with federal treaty obligations? If, for example, the federal govt entered into a treaty agreement whether it be with the UN or other nation for the mutual recognition of university degrees, can the state law override it or is the federal law paramount?

Isn't GAAP a treaty regulated process? If that exists then how can the state government overrule it?

 

This would not have applied to DETC schools as the DETC is recognized by the USDE.

 

It is strange how much legislation regarding hypnosis/hypnotherapy Indiana has. I remember that back in the late '90s they were the first to require licensure for hypnotists. Just thought I'd metion that.


Jon

 

Nah. It says "run by" state agency not "approved by". Unisa (and Kaliningrad State) qualifies, CCU (and St. Regis) doesn't. Still, it seems like the law is not free from certain controverciality.

 

next door to Indiana...

...is Ohio, the state-of-residence of the president of the Kamiah, Idaho entity named "Breyer State University." (BSU is not a state university in the usual sense: it is not allowed to provide degrees to Idaho residents.)

The list of BSU degrees includes the areas "Clinical Hypnotherapy" and "Metaphysical Clinical Hypnotherapy." Perhaps the Indiana regulations are meant to render the Indiana-Ohio border less permeable to carriers of unaccredited (in the usual sense) hypnotherapy degrees?

Oh, by the way, the BSU coordinates:

Breyer State University
P.O. Box 1144
Kamiah, Idaho 83536
Tel: 208.935.0233

are the same as those for the domain registrant for "Internet Education Systems":

Internet Education Systems
PO Box 1144
Kamiah, ID 83536
208-935-0233.

IES, which includes Clinical Hypnotherapy in its offerings, is under the "Courses" and "Catalog" links on the Saint Regis "degree programs" page.

Perhaps the Ivory Coast also pays attention to a cross-border flow of unlicensed hypnotists?

G