Do I sound like I am threatening

This Florida law that was retroactive cost a friend her job at a school after 16 years of good service:

Retroactive background check requirements could result in loss of veteran teachers » Naples Daily News

She was busted for prostitution one time as a teen many years before starting with the school. She wasn't a teacher and the hiring administration knew about the arrest.

 

Most schools do produce a hard copy of their catalogs. At least he still has those emails.

 

You can always look at archive.org - "Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library offering free universal access to books, movies & music, as well as 150 billion archived web pages."

 

Oh, but they can do this, with impunity. Northcentral University is a case in point. I went through several mandatory catalog changes with them, the first one being a shift to a new RSH sequence at the tail end of the old sequence of RSH courses, which I was none too happy about. When I left NCU at the ABD stage. I tried to get a Master's Degree out of them at least, but they denied this to me as well, based on the new catalog, which would have required me to take three more courses, one of which was a mandatory intro to research course. This program instability is one of the reasons that I did not restart a doctoral program with them, but took my business elsewhere. I think that universities can do whatever they wish to doctoral students, since the students are too far invested into the doctoral process to vote with their feet.

However, I can report that so far, none of this program switching shenanigans is evident in the two universities that I am affiliated with, and the one university for which I adjunct.


I would appeal your case to an ombudsman, or your provost if you have one. Be honest and say that you would rather not seek legal counsel if it could be resolved in another way.

 

Website? A catalog is often a paper document.

Even in the digital age, reputable schools make previous catalogs available. For example, UIS Catalog - Guide to Undergraduate and Graduate Programs - University of Illinois Springfield - UIS

Personally, I made sure to make several copies of the pdf file for the catalog under which I enrolled. It might be too late for the OP, but hopefully he has access to the catalog that was in effect when he started the program.

 

Found my self in the same situation, got tire of all the changes and other stuff they were doing, ended up taking the CAGS and left. :aargh4:

 

Couple thoughts:

On the "legal threat" issue, there's nothing in what you said that anyone reasonable would interpret as a legal threat, veiled or otherwise. You said you'd talked to an attorney and he'd advised you to document things, and to settle things without litigation. Nothing wrong with that.

The problem is, you were obviously dealing with some front-line customer service person, probably not even in this country, who was operating from a script of canned responses and not trained to think in the slightest. S/he saw the word "lawyer" and probably had the instructions that whenever the word "lawyer" is mentioned, to pull out the "legal threat" text. I've found these people are generally beyond worthless, and even when they do tell you something, it can't be trusted, nor will they honor what is said.

I don't know about your school, but when I was at Oberlin, they had a clear policy that whatever rules applied when you entered were the rules that applied when you graduated, even if you graduated 50 years later. You might dig around in the admissions and/or registrar's section of your school's website and see if you can find any such language.

Another option might be to threaten to, or actually do, file a complaint with whichever of the regional accreditors oversees this school. I would suggest going directly to the president's office and making your case on a compassionate case first, then if that fails, threaten legal action or formal complaint to the accreditor. Those sorts of things, gotten to someone who actually understands what it means, will usually get action.

You may have to at least vigorously threaten them, but I think this is winnable.

 

When doing my undergrad I was told I was three credits short on languages. I pulled out the catalog and showed that I had to take 6 credits from Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew, or Latin, I had taken one Greek and one Latin. No where did it say that it had to be 6 credits in one language, although in a separate paragraph for modern languages it did have that stipulation. I went to the registrar showed her and at first she did not see it. I asked her to point out where it had to be 6 total from one language, as she looked closer she admitted that it did not. She took it to the academic dean and I was told I was fine. Find a printed or pdf catalog which you matriculated under and make your case, I imagine they will not argue, if they do then I would follow Chip's advice. FYI, the next addition of the college catalog did have a corrected statement.

 

Good plan

Chip, Scottae et al

I Thank all of you for the sound advice. Hopefully I get this resolved without seeking legal action. However, who knows how this will resolve. Again, thank you all.

 

But - does the school have a printed catalog (perhaps in a PDF) from the year the student started? If that document has no background check - and the current catalog does - you can make a case.

Regards - Andy

 

Some light at the end of the tunnel

Just a follow up today the asst. dean of the school of education let me know that if I do not have any crimes against children then I will most likely be allowed to graduate w/o recommendation for teaching licence. Which is my original Ed.S. tract anyway. I was also allowed to register for my last classes. She did ask was I interested in going on into the Ed.D. and that my 4.00 gpa is very good. So it was a refreshing and positive discussion.

I just submitted my criminal BG to the schools system so once that is evaluated- this issue will be resolved. However, I may be the last ex-felon, having a prior serious criminal conviction, accepted into the SOE. Who knows though.

 

Best of luck. It sounds like they are going to be reasonable about it all.

 

That is great news and a victory for people who have proven that "who they were does not define who they are"

 

I am thrilled that it appears to be working out for you!