State of Hawaii Closes Investigation

The State of Hawaii has closed its investigation into The University of Honolulu USA. As matters stand, the state could find no basis for asserting jurisdiction inasmuch the organization (and its principal Muhammad Ali of Texas) had no offices or presence in the state of Hawaii and did not claim to operate under the authority of Hawaii law.

Jeffrey E. Brunton
Staff Attorney
Office of Consumer Protection
State of Hawaii

 

Well we knew that. Surely they must simply claim to be operating from the town of Honolulu, Texas. As the old song goes:

There's a little mill in Texas
Where I bought my degree.
Nobody prints 'em better
For such a lowdown fee

So if you want a doc-to-rate,
Perhaps an M B A,
Come to Honolulu, Texas
And buy one there today.

That's a big aloooooo-ha, y'all.

 

Can't you picture Charles Durning singing these lines at the local Mailboxes, Etc.?

------------------
Bill Gossett

 

I assume you're referring to the entity using the domain universityofhonoluluusa.com.

The contact page provides a "regional headquarters" address in Thailand and a "world headquarters" address in Wilmington, Delaware, US (same as the administrative address in the domain name registration) -- nothing about Texas, and no names of any faculty or administration at all (Muhammad Ali??).

Registration info for the domain is as follows:

Domain Name.......... universityofhonoluluusa.com
Creation Date........ 2000-12-26
Registration Date.... 2000-12-26
Expiry Date.......... 2002-12-26
Organisation Name.... University Of Honolulu
Organisation Address. POBOX # 670621
Organisation Address.
Organisation Address. HOUSTON
Organisation Address. 77267-0621
Organisation Address. TEXAS
Organisation Address. UNITED STATES

Admin Name........... University Of Honolulu
Admin Address........ 709 Woodside Avenue
Admin Address........
Admin Address........ Wilmington
Admin Address........ 0000000
Admin Address........ Delaware
Admin Address........ UNITED STATES
Admin Email.......... [email protected]
Admin Phone.......... 832-249-7336
Admin Fax............

Tech Name............ Cyber Net System Admin
Tech Address......... A-904,LaksonSqBldg#3,SarwarShaheedRd
Tech Address.........
Tech Address......... Karachi
Tech Address......... 74200
Tech Address......... Sindh
Tech Address......... PAKISTAN
Tech Email........... [email protected]
Tech Phone........... (9221)-111445566
Tech Fax............. (9221)-5686745
Name Server.......... ns.cyber.net.pk
Name Server.......... ns1.cyber.net.pk

The mission statement starts out: "University of Honolulu is a distance learning university. That offers all facilities of a traditional University For it's Off-Shore Campuses in the International Market." and doesn't get any better. The website provides no information at all about faculty or administration -- and the "application" is for franchise or affiliation. I don't see where one would apply for a diploma. Looks as if they make a lot of promises about job placement, visas, and credit transfer.

This is a perfect example of the difficulties of investigating dubious schools -- mailing address in one state, domain name administrator in another state, site hosted in another country, name suggesting yet another locale. Do you suppose that if this info were passed along to the Texas Attorney General that he'd take any note of it?

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

 

This institution's webpage has recently been significantly changed. The original website was a clone of the University of Houston website or catalog. They had done a search (for Houston) and a replace (with Honolulu). Of course they had failed to notice references to uniquely named buildings on the Houston campus. The University of Houston and the University of Hawaii's general counsel have been alerted due to the copyright infringements. The original website was registered to Mr. Ali. Mr. Ali also registered the incorrect tradename "University of Honolulu" with the State of Hawaii's business registration division. The actual University of Honolulu has been alerted to that fact as well.

 

That's quite funny. So how do you come up with things like that, John?

Regards,
Byran