Arias being described as MIGS president a "Mistake"!?

Discussion in 'The Monterrey Institute for Graduate Studies' started by Chip, Feb 5, 2002.

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  1. Chip

    Chip Administrator

    Just when you think that Sheila and her gang can't possibly do anything more stupid than they've already done, they come up and surprise you again.

    After uttering the immortal "I think we're looking pretty good" after being fined a quarter million bucks by Texas authorities, an "Attorney for MIGS" (Gosh, I wonder who?) stated that it was a "mistake" that Armando Arias has been reported as president.

    Of course, regulars to the MIGS soap opera will remember how proudly Sheila proclaimed the appointment of Arias to the MIGS presidency... and John and I will certainly remember how Arias, described to us by Sheila and by himself as President of MIGS, bought us both lunch a year ago when we discussed the MIGS program and the (at that time) promising future it held.

    But to now say that any listing of Arias as president was a "mistake" has got to be the most asinine thing I've heard in a while.

    Furthermore, it calls into question earlier claims made by Bruce Foreman. Months ago, a prospective student caught MIGS red-handed sending out literature for one of their departments in which they gave the name of a professor at a prestigious university who was the chair of the department. The student had some questions about the program, so contacted the professor at her university... only to find that not only was she not the chair of the department at MIGS, she'd never accepted a position and, if I remember right, hadn't even been offered one!

    Foreman at the time claimed this was a "mistake" ... that "old literature" was incorrectly sent out. Except of course, that the professor had never held a position at MIGS.

    So it seems that, even though anyone with an IQ above room temperature already knew it, we have further evidence of MIGS willingness to play extrememly fast and loose with the truth.

    So when will Sheila just pack it in and go away?

    Any guesses?
     
  2. When Stalin became displeased with somebody, he would have the offending ex-party member, ex-person excised even from books in an effort to literally revise history. An encyclopedia, for example, might have an entire page referring to the disgraced soul razor-bladed out, with some inoffensive replacement glued in. Public records of the person's existence would disappear. Those wacky MIGS folks apparently read Uncle Joe's "Guide to Party Management" and are slowly excising away to nothing.
     
  3. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    Re: Re: Arias being described as MIGS president a "Mistake"!?

    Makes those Macarena lessons look a whole lot more sinister, doesn't it?
     
  4. levicoff

    levicoff Guest

    Still ROTFLMAO!

    When will Sheila & company pack it up and go away? Probably never, any more than the great degree mill operators of the past packed it up of their own accord. But that's consistent: The cardinal rule of a good con game is to stick with the con, regardless of the evidence against it. The truly great B.S. artists of our time will never admit they're wrong.

    As for the gentleman from Texas, does he remind anyone of Martin Short's sleazy lawyer character from Saturday Night Live who would deny anything and everything, gesturing with a cigarette and constantly saying, "I knew that. You didn't think I knew that? I knew that . . ."

    And poor Armando. There had to be a fall guy somewhere, and he was destined to be it from day one - some poor schmuck with decent credentials but an inflated ego who would be used by Sheila and company to create an illusion of credibility, then chucked to the side by everyone when things blew up. Quel dommage. If he's allowed to stay at CSU at all, he should count his blessings, since he has become more of an embarrassment to CSU than he has to himself. But he would have had a hell of a lot more credibility in my book if he had admitted that he screwed up, then went on to reestablish his reputation.
    [​IMG]
     
  5. Chip

    Chip Administrator

    Re: Still ROTFLMAO!

    I do really feel bad for Armando. When John and I met him a year or so ago, I was very impressed with him (and still am.) The guy is sharp, and had some excellent ideas about what could be done with MIGS. His goals included providing low-cost DL to people in remote areas of Mexico, and that would have been a really good thing.

    However, rather than inflated ego, I would characterize him more as naive. I don't think he had any idea when he signed on that he was dealing with the queen of less-than-reputable operations, someone who was cited for deceptive practices by the postal service, laughed in their face and continued the deception until finally being nailed. (Citations available if anyone is interested.) My guess is that Armando was sold a bill of goods, and really had no idea what he was getting into until it was too late... and, although I think he was warned by various people, he just didn't want to believe it.

    My understanding is that he resigned almost immediately after the Texas authorities fined MIGS 250K (thanks to Enrique's stupidity). And, of course, true to form, Sheila and company apparently never told Armando anything about the investigation or the fine... he had to learn about it from a reporter. If this isn't evidence that he was hired by Sheila primarily as a figurehead, I don't know what is.
     
  6. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    http://www.entovation.com/whatsnew/learn-day-entovation.htm

    http://www.skyrme.com/updates/u44_f1.htm

    I'm sure these organizations made a "mistake," too. Then there's Armando's own paper at http://www.jsri.msu.edu/RandS/research/ops/oc70.html which cites his work with MIGS. Clearly, a "mistake."

    I, like Chip and John, also met with Arias. Twice. His role as President of MIGS was stated and clear. It was my interaction with him that convinced me to work with MIGS. I didn't realize my "mistake," either.

    There is no "mistake." Arias was hoping to parlay MIGS into increased networking for him, along with an opportunity to pull in some easy money. Neither of these is necessarily bad. But it was no "mistake." The mistake was getting involved with Danzig, Serna, et. al. I know all about that. :mad:

    Rich Douglas
     
  7. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    I don't buy it.

    Arias was not just some consultant. He was the PRESIDENT of MIGS!

    So he either knew exactly what MIGS was, in which case he was unethical. Or else he didn't have a clue, in which case he was incompetent.

    Neither alternative is impressive.
     
  8. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

    There is sometimes a large gray area in between naive and incompetent. However, neither is a good quality for the president of a university.
     
  9. Chip

    Chip Administrator

    Well, I'm not here to run an Armando apologia operation, but I really think there was a different alternative here.

    Armando made it pretty clear that, although he was the president, pretty much all the shots were called by the Board... and since the board consisted of Sheila, her husband Bill, her yes-man attorney Josh Bennett, and the brilliant legal mind of Enrique Serna, well I think you can figure out who called the shots.

    Armando expressed mild annoyance/frustration with Sheila's methods... but I really don't think that he was fully aware of all that went on. I suppose you could call that incompetence in the sense that, as president, he should have known... but I would argue that since there was over 2000 miles separating Armando from the offices of Danzig Central, he was probably out of the loop much of the time... and Sheila may have wanted it that way. Besides, according to Armando, no one was being paid, so it was a part-time gig at best.

    I don't think he's blameless, but I am also not ready to condemn him for being sweet-talked by a master of less-than-honest marketing and sales techniques, or for wanting to create something that truly did have a lot of possibilities available to it at the time.

    Unfortunately, the old Danzig sleaze factor got in the way of everything... but anyone with familiarity saw that coming a million miles away.
     
  10. EllisZ

    EllisZ Member

    That was I. It was worse than that. The professor had never even HEARD of the school much less interviewed for a job there.
     
  11. EllisZ

    EllisZ Member

    Isn't this how things like ENRON happen?
     
  12. Gus Sainz

    Gus Sainz New Member

    At the meeting of the Florida State Board of Independent Colleges and Universities that took place in Orlando on January 24th and 25th, the motion of MIGS’s application for licensure was tabled. It will not be brought up again until the next meeting in Tallahassee in mid March. This was due in large measure to the increased workload the Board has been experiencing due to the complete overhaul they are currently undergoing.

    This is not, however, good news for el MIGS, as the statutes going into effect actually gives the Board more “teeth” concerning investigative resources, fines and penalties. :p
     
  13. Ted N

    Ted N New Member

    Re: Re: Arias being described as MIGS president a "Mistake"!?

     

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