Columbia Commonwealth in New Utopia

The principality of New Utopia has been kind enough to send me occasional e-mail updates. All seems to be going well, except I get the impression they need to "float" more loans from would-be citizens. But I visited the website and it appears I missed a key agreement made last year between Les Carr and Lazarus Long.

http://www.new-utopia.com/carr.html

If the Malawi accreditation ever falls through, CCU will have someplace to fall back on.

 

..........and if Malawi fails there's always Liberia.

 

...and the Shoshone-Paiute Nation of Fallon Nevada.

Since Dr. Carr told me, a few months ago, that they were not featuring the Malawi accreditation because of their soon-to-begin (he said) process with the North Central Association, this New Utopian matter seems, well, odd to me. Columbia Pacific University co-founder and long-time president, Richard Crews MD, has been involved with the New Utopia project. I've just asked each of them, separately, what's going on here.

 

Yet one more reason that CCU is just plain silly.




Tom Nixon

 

Yeah, but if the current corupt government leaves office, does this mean that the new government will walk in its same footsteps or will they clean house? I think that if we go in, we should go in under the condition that all the St. Regis type schools loose there accreditation (sp?) that they didn't deserve in the first place.

 

These guys getting loopy in their old age??

 

There actually is a funny side to the Liberia mess. The (presumably) outgoing defence minister is Daniel CHEA, and the vice-president at the moment, whom Head-Warlord-in-Charge Taylor would like to succeed him is Moses Blah. Ag shame, you've seen one accreditor, you've seen 'em all, blah, blah, blah.

 

Cripes. And their dean, Liederkranz or Lanz von Liebenfels or Luxemburg or something like that, ridiculed me (long ago in my DL infancy) because I was looking for a doctoral degree-completion program and implied broadly that only a fraud would do so.

Yeah, I know, but at least Malawi is a real country...

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Hi Ohnalee,
I'd suggest your analysis is right in the zone.
I might as well weigh in on this one. I found the same info late last year and contacted Carr (see below). Wagging tongues on the CPU alumni survivors forum were not amused. And I was not amused either, given the propensity of CPU's previous owners (since 1998) for shooting themselves in the head when it comes to public perception (perhaps it is an old age thing?):

-----Original Message-----
From: E.T. Earon Kavanagh [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2002 6:05 PM
To: Les Carr
Subject: Can you comment on this?
Hi Les,
Can you comment on this?
I thought you said it was only Crews who was involved with New Utopia. Now it seems that CCWU is also involved.
Please comment.
Earon

THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE PRINCIPALITY OF NEW UTOPIA
WHEREAS, there has come before the Board of Governors. . . .
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
and then another contact in January followed by Carr's reply:

-----Original Message-----
From: E.T. Earon Kavanagh [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2003 11:37 PM
To: Les Carr
Subject: RE: charter


Hi Les,
. . . there is nothing at degreeinfo.com on New Utopia. But it is only a matter of time before it gets picked up and discussed. The best strategy would be to have Lazarus remove the internet reference to CCWU, or (2) not remark publicly about it (in conjunction with not mentioning it on the CCWU website).

Carr replied:
-----Original Message-----
From: Les Carr [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2003 8:15 PM
To: E.T. Earon Kavanagh
Subject: Re: charter

Dear Earon-
. . . As you will note, CCWU makes no mention of a charter from New Utopia on the CCWU website. My understanding from Lazarus was that by CCWU being open to considering the development of a Continuing Education Center for New Utopia this might be helpful to Lazarus in his fund-raising efforts and also his educational planning for New Utopia. However, as evidenced by CCWU's website and any other CCWU materials, CCWU makes no mention of the Charter since it was not CCWU's intent to imply that the Charter in any way gave CCWU added recognition of some sort. CCWU's primary objective is to obtain North Central candidacy status. What I have stated is the truth and I would be appreciative of you could somehow get this message posted on the Alumni Website . . .
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Earon
(still not amused by this)
B.S. - Columbia Paficic (state approved/1995)
M.S. - Columbia Commonwealth (2001)
PhD in progress - University of Tilburg (GAAP/Netherlands)

 

Hi Earon: I'm sorry (for you) about this latest piece of hoolerei. I know that you have tried to promote integrity in your dealings with this school. It's easy to forget that honorable people get damaged by others' rank nonsense. I guess they used to be Malawian; now they're just mal. Best wishes, Janko

 

Thanks, Uncle J
My inner child and angry outer parent feels better already.
But my patience with CCWU is on a timer, which runs out on January 31. 2003. The timer and my patience are probably going to explode if CCWU doesn't apply for RA like they told me they would (NCA application for candidacy status to be submitted by January 31, 2004).

On a related matter Columbia Pacific alumni report that CPU had a long history of telling students and alumni they were going to get accreditation (as far back as 1979). I believe RA never happened, first of all because CPU's owners became too comfortable with the "alternative" - equivalent to RA - provided by California for so many years with state approval. Basking in this comfort and remaining inactive on the RA front amounted to negligence on their part, in my view. Why get RA if the state publishes a document which says you have the same quality as RA? The other reason accreditation didn't happen is because California changed its regulations and closed down CPU, thus eliminating any possibility of them ever achieving such. If only the several thousand graduates knew any of this. Naivity is so wonderful.

Bill Dayson summed it up nicely a few days back when he said that many private schools (that didn't get RA) were too tied in with their owners' personalities. How very true!

I'll be checking in with NCA after January 31. Despite my resentment with California I cannot deny, on the basis of my research into the matter, that the owners were negligent in not seeking accreditation in a way in which they could achieve it (out of California if necessary). If CCWU (related to CPU by virtue of having Carr ar the helm, + two former CPU deans, and 2 longtime support staff) repeats this pattern it will be seen by me as a vortex to be avoided by consumers at all costs. For now I remain neutral and do not promote CCWU. In fact, just two weeks back I advised a social worker colleague who inquired about CCWU to seek out only traditional and longstanding institutions (my bias given my experience).

My last advice to Carr a few months back was that, given his post-1997 history with CPU, he should concentrate on RA if CCWU wanted to achieve credibility. Carr said they were doing just that, had a program in place to apply for and achieve RA candidacy with Dean Naomi Lichtenberg acting as liason with NCA, and gave me the date mentioned above. I guess we shall see if the application happens.

Earon
>>>>>>>>>>>>
B.S. Columbia Pacific (1995/state approved)
M.S. Columbia Commonwealth
Ph.D. in progress (U of Tilburg, Netherlands/ GAAP/ with periodic short residencies)

 

Hi Earon: Ah yes, Lichtenberg.
As Juan Peron used to say, "It's an easy mistake."

 

Yes, there are many mistakes to be made in DE (hey, I know most of them by about 14 years experience). Let's hope this board helps folks to avoid such mistakes by keeping things hot and keeping schools' feet in the fire where necessary.
Earon

 

CCWU updates

To anyone who has any updates on programs at CCWU, I would be very interested. I am merely curious about their doctoral programs. It seems like they have their act together, but I am a skeptic by nature. Is it realistic to believe that they might eventually receive accreditation through North Central, or has their reputation been tarnished due to their previous associations? When I inquired about their programs, I received a statement promising a full tuition refund to students who are currently enrolling if they are not advanced to candidacy by North Central, but still, this is not quite enough for me to jump in. (BTW, this info is not on the website, I received it in the mail) I am very new to the DL concept and find it very fascinating so any info you all may have would be appreciated.

Thanks and have a good evening

Tim

 

Then we also have Columbia Commonwealth University London (http://www.ccwu.ac). CCWU-London is being billed as, ”one of the UK's newest and most progressive universities." Notice that its url employs the .ac domain of the Ascension Islands (as do many degree mills) in hopes that it will be confused with the .ac.uk used by legitimate UK institutions.

From CCWU-London’s Web site:
”Columbia Commonwealth University-London is the trading name of Columbia Commonwealth College Limited and is an approved Academic Center of Excellence (ACE) of CCWU, Wyoming, USA."

Has CCWU decided to franchise its operations?

 

Re: CCWU updates

In DL nothing is realistic until it happens (there are some exceptions, for example Capella's quick accreditation, and I suppose Northcentral u is an exception considering its relationship with SCUPS). But in most cases one should wait at least until a school achieves candidacy.
Personally, having been down the DL road with the above school and it's grandparent Columbia Pacific I would take an untra-conservative approach and only get involved with traditional brick-and-mortar schools offering DL. While I found the CPU program excellent, it is tainted by not making the proper effort to get real accreditation. As for CCWU, it is really too early to tell. First we must have proof that an application has been made for candidacy. Then we must observe the developments. If CCWU makes the real effort it will eventually receive real accreditation. But do you want to play such odds (time, etc.)
Cheers,
Earon

 

The "campus" of CCWU in London, 412 Eastern Ave., appears to be the address of ASA, an agency that supplies temporary staff.

But there is no doubt it is the same CCWU, since Les Carr is listed as the President.

 

Thanks for the information. I am definitely going to wait a while before deciding how I want to further my education. The DL model makes the most sense in my current situation, and CCWU seems to be the only one out there offering advanced degrees in the Humanities (maybe I'm wrong...anyone have any leads?), but still, they must be heading progressively toward accreditation before I can devote my time and energy into the program. I like the way it looks on paper, and they seem very enthusiatic and sincere, but as I said, it's just not enough to convince me totally at the moment. Please keep me updated if you hear anything further, I really appreciate your input. Now its off to the books...I have a final exam to put the finishing touches on and grades to tally (I teach Spanish at Ohio University-Southern), then its on to the Fall Quarter...Take care!

Tim

 

Hi Tim: Take a look at CSU Dominguez Hill's online Humanities major. It is fully DL.

http://www.csudh.edu/hux/default.htm