Scathing online article by former temp for American World University.

Here is a scathing article by an Indonesian who says she temped for Maxine Asher at an office for American World University in Iowa City:
http://www.epinions.com/educ-review-44A4-1070224D-3991858C-prod1/tk_~CB0011.1.45

 

Wow, what a find.

There are six pages with links to e-pinions on distance learning -- in general and on specific schools -- at http://www.epinions.com/educ-Distance_Learning/tk_~BC.1.3

 

Um, before we get too excited, let's not dismiss the notion that this is a fake. Frankly, it doesn't sound like an insider to me. The way the poster quotes information--most of it available to anyone who looks at the school--it sounds more like someone wanting to discredit Asher's school by posing as an insider. Not that AWU isn't able to discredit itself, of course.

Also, the last I heard, Asher lives in Los Angeles. This was the case when I visited the street address of the WAUC in Las Vegas during 1998. It was a mail-forwarding service that also rented office space by the hour. They told me all WAUC mail was forwarded to Dr. Asher in L.A. WAUC has since changed locations in Las Vegas, but likely to another such service.

Rich Douglas

 

Um, I agree that it is possible that this is a fake. I'm trying to contact the author to find out more. There are a few details that sound "off." But Asher has supposedly blessed Iowa City on occasion with her presence, and has long claimed to have dazzling secret office at secret locations in Iowa City. Perhaps the secretarial service just saved up people's dissertations, shoveled them over to their empty office across the street (which could conceivably be called a "strip mall"), and Asher hired temps to go through them.

I suspect that if such activities once upon a time took place in Iowa City, they continue to do so, since Asher on her awu.edu Web site is continuing to use Iowa City contact information. She was supposedly "kicked out" of Iowa, and then South Dakota, and is now "in" Mississippi. Yet she continues to use the same Iowa City secretarial service.

 

Regardless of if this woman worked as a temp really or not, she brings up many valid points. I have worked for two WAUC accredited universities, the unversities and the WAUC are a scam. They are all run by individuals in little offices similar to that in a strip mall. Because of people who choose not to listen and research these valid points, Maxine Asher and many others are rolling in the dough.

 

Several years back -- AWU had a mailing address, perhaps an office, in the Colonial Park office building on Highway 6. This was near Pepperwood Place -- a strip mall with a Best Buy, Econofoods, several smaller stores.

I recall receiving an AWU catalog with a photo of the Colonial Park building on the front. This was an office building with several small offices used by insurance agents, therapists, etc., with a front desk providing some office services. (It burned down last year; I don't know if there'd be anyone who has records of past tenants.)

At some point -- I'm not sure when -- AWU's mailing address changed to a College Street address downtown. Again, this was a building with several small offices and a front desk.

For a short while, while AWU was going through the motions of applying for DETC accreditation, it had a storefront office in a building on the corner of College & Gilbert.

------------------
Kristin Evenson Hirst
DistanceLearn.About.com

 

I would agree with Rich, and take it one step further... I suspect that the post *is* a fabrication.

There is absolutely no insider info, the statement that Maxine is in Iowa when it is generally known that she's in LA, the comments about the World Association and about AWU's website that sound almost word-for-word like what others have written.

Even more interesting, if you read the author's other opinions, it simply doesn't fit in/sound plausible with the other things she's written about.

Not that I disagree with any of the points about American World, but I just don't think the post is genuine.

 

I've heard back from the author of the article, and I'm satisfied it's genuine. She lived in Iowa City in the first six months of 2000, and her temp job for Asher was just a one-day stint, after which the agency found her a better job with a VA Hospital lab. Her other articles on epinions don't seem to preclude at all her Iowa City sojourn. I will some time contact the temp agency to confirm the employment.

It sounds like the office used was the one that both myself and Ms. Hirst suspected, the one that is in an apartment building next door to the old Iowa City Public Library.

The author did not actually meet Asher. Rather, Asher and the office kept in touch with many phone calls, emails, and faxes. At the end of the day, each employee was to discuss their accomplishments for the day in a fax sent to Asher.

On the day she was there, the "office manager" was fired by Asher, a fact that did not seem to surprise the temp agency. It was at the end of that one day working there that the author was offered a job.

The exact nature and specifics of the communications between Asher and the employees is crucial, of course, and may be hard for anyone to document or prove. And thus we have one of the advantages of running your businesses long-distance via emails, phone calls, and faxes. What is it called--plausible deniability?

 

No, it is called a red herring. This whole thing is bogus, anonymous, and irresponsible.

Rich Douglas

 

This whole thing is bogus, . . . anonymous

What do you expect her to do? post her name, home address, and social security number on the net, particularly when she's posting (if it is not true) derogatory information that could result in a law suit? [excursus: Look at the MIGS lawsuit. Had that been handled by a competent attorney with experience, MIGS could have caused a lot of damage-- not necessarily by winning the case, but through an endless, vexatious, and certainly expensive process.]

As an aside, you seem to place too much faith here in people signing their "names" to their posts, etc. Many years ago, when USENET was primarily academics and government types, you could sign your name, and people knew you, and often met you F2F at various functions and seminars. The wide-open internet of today, where one can get access without even using a credit card, use anonymizing services and software, and otherwise play tricks with their on-line identities to hide their tracks is another thing.

Today's reality with so many scams, identity thefts, and other misues of information obtained through harvesting of web and USENET information, one would have to be a fool, in every sense of the word, to post personal information on the web, even signing an informal discussion post. Its simply too easy to get screwed by those who want an easy $$. [another excursus: its only time when, in the midst of a confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court or other post, someone pulls up an archived post and says... well, although you are evasive today in your testimony concerning this issue, in 1997 you publicly articulated your position in a post to alt.whatever as..."]

 

All of the most common posters use their real identities, and are very easy to find. This purported fear is an excuse that doesn't hold up.

salguoD hciR (shh...it's a secret)

 

You're welcome to your opinion that it is bogus and irresponsible. It is, however, not particularly anonymous since I was easily able to find her name and contact her via email at her present office in Uzbekistan, and her other email address that she uses for epinions appears in her epinions profile once you sign up as a member. (If anyone must contact her, which I doubt is necessary since I believe she's told me all she can, please do her a favor and use the epinions email address, so as not cause her problems at her office.)

Her article is perhaps a little overheated and poorly worded in ways that give wrong impressions such as have been discussed above. But I don't think that makes it a lie. I know that it's possible to temp for a day at an office and form definie opinions about how well-run or up-and-up it is.

 

I have to agree with Rich. It just doesn't add up. There are too many direct contradictions between her published account and what she told you via email.

I think it's far more likely that this Epinions persona has been created by somebody that doesn't like Asher, and/or is a competitor.

I guess I just don't understand why (other than wishful thinking) it makes sense to believe someone whose story is internally inconsistent and incredibly implausible. Not that I'm defending Maxine Asher, just that if someone is going to rain on her parade, it would be nice if they were credible and could at least have one story and stick to it.

 

I can see that there may be some inconsistency, but I don't see where incredible implausibility comes in.

This person is definitely not an Asher competitor. This is someone with apparently verifiable educational credentials from Georgetown University and Boston University. This is a young woman in her mid-20s who has had a few internships in a few different countries and seems to be highly accomplished.

The article is the only one she did on distance education for epinions, and they all seem to be predicated on her own experiences, without any particular attempt to build up a meretricious profile as an "expert" in any particular field by dashing off copious numbers of articles on a particular topic.

In any article I eventually write, I will definitely discuss this piece with a grain of salt. But is there some truth? I believe so. Did she move to Iowa City for six months (a fact which can be checked in various ways) solely so that she could pretend to have worked for Asher and AWU (out of all the country's 100s of such "universities") and discuss this in a lone, single article written around the end of that Iowa City sojourn? That, if anything, seems rather implausible.