Accreditation

There have been untrue stories floating around about Accrediting Commission International for years.
We have chosen to ignore the accusations in the past. We have experienced continued growth, both in
size and in quality, since our inception in 1989. In an effort to increase transparency within our
organization, we are addressing several issues that have been in circulation. There was another
accrediting organization that has been out of business for around twenty-eight years. While, most of
the stories told about the other organization are only half-truths and outright falsehood, we have
chosen only to answer the part of the stories as they apply to ACI.
ACI has never had any legal association with the old organization. The stories connect us to them, but it
simply is not the truth. The man who was co-founder of the other organization has been deceased for
years. People who want to sell books and love war stories have simply not laid the story to rest. ACI has
made a serious attempt to clarify any misunderstanding between ACI and our accusers. In several cases
we have sent printed documentation to our accusers to sincerely enlighten them to the truth. Many
times this has been ignored.
ACI did not invite all the schools from a former organization to join ACI. We did invite some of them to
join. Each new school must eventually have an extensive on-site evaluation. Accrediting Commission
International accredits approximately 225+ learning institutions in thirty-seven United States and eight
countries of the world.
Approximately ten schools, who are currently members of ACI, were members of the older organization.
All of these institutions had to apply, receive a site visit, and meet other accreditation criteria in order to
obtain accreditation from Accrediting Commission International.
No school is given membership in the ACI association that does not have a stringent site visit to
determine the quality of school. ACI reviews all complaints. We require that the complaint be signed by
the plaintiff, after which the complaint is investigated by both ACI and the associated institution. After
the complaint is comprehensively investigated by ACI, the institution is consulted prior to an official
decision regarding the complaint. ACI has the authority to decline membership to schools that do not
meet its rigorous guidelines. Additionally, institutions that haven’t continually met ACI’s regulations
have been revoked from the organization.
The cost for accreditation is well adjusted for Service given.

A packet from us is free and a lot of truthful information may be seen on our website. www.accreditniw.com

 

John, what a delightful surprise! How nice to see you after all these years. I'm sure that John Bear, who still participates actively here at DI, will also be pleased to see that you have joined us once again.

To save time, our readers should look back at one of the last threads in which you participated, one that actually dates back to 2005 with your first contribution being made a few years after that. For those who don't know the name of John Scheel, which is one of the most famous names in the world of accreditation mills, this will provide a good background. You'll find that thread at https://www.degreeinfo.com/index.php?threads/lighthouse-christian-seminary-dr-john-scheel-aci-president.20289/.

Not that I want to give you any publicity, John, you did misspell the ACI website in your post as www.accreditniw.com. The correct spelling is www.accreditnow.com. The story of ACI and its predecessor IAC is, of course, one of the most famous in the world of milldom, encompassing such colorful characters as Arnold Ziffel (the pig from Green Acres) and The Three Stooges.

I will take a back seat on this thread, as I've pretty much said everything I would have to say about you and ACI. But thanks for giving a new generation of students some exposure to one of the most colorful characters in this field - you.

 

Steve - The only real truth you have ever said. Ha! Our website is misspelled and I couldn’t figure out now to change it! Ha!

www.accreditnow.com

As I said we are not the old organization. We were not involved with that scandalous entrapment. Anyone who wants the truth about us should go to our website. We try to answer any and all questions in a truthful Godly manner.

 

You'll find the IAC-ACI history as written by John Bear on the second page of the thread I cited above - it's at https://www.degreeinfo.com/index.php?threads/lighthouse-christian-seminary-dr-john-scheel-aci-president.20289/page-2.

Just below the relevant post is a link to John Scheel's letter to IAC members inviting them to join ACI.

Remember my saying recently (in more than one case about some more recent participants here on DI) that the mark of a truly great con artist is consistency - that they always stick to the con, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that they are a fraud. John Scheel is one of those classical con artists - he's been at it for years, and his consistency at sticking to his story is unmatched, even by some of the more recent con artists we have seen here.

You may wonder, then, why am I so civil - even friendly - when it comes to John Scheel? Simple - he's from an earlier generation in which degree mill and accreditation mill operators (John Scheel is both) were a lot more fun to expose. You won't find stories like John Bear's rendering of the IAC-ACI metamorphosis today. These things happened, quite literally, in the good ol' days of the mills, when you had to be creative to create a mill of any kind, and when you couldn't start a so-called university in an hour or less on the Internet.

 

Here is a story in which John Scheel's name appears

https://davidholford.wordpress.com/2011/07/30/defrauding-the-church/

and here's the Wikipedia blurb on ACI

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accrediting_Commission_International

 

ACI operates without recognition by any government authority anywhere on planet earth.

ACI does not list any staff.

ACI does not list any member schools.

Goodbye and goodnight.

 

You know, you've got to feel just a little sorry for John Scheel, doomed to drive through life with the dual tin cans of Levicoff and Bear permanently tied to his rear bumper and clattering along behind him forever.

 

Hey, let's make it easier to find and read. Here's what I wrote for University Business Magazine in 1989:

Great Moments in Accreditation:
The Case of IAC, ACI, and The Three Stooges

In 1982, there opened for business in Missouri the International Accrediting Commission (IAC). They aggressively marketed their accreditation services among hundreds of then-unaccredited institutions in the United States. Their standards were rather modest, but they were operating within the law, and they were able to bestow that magical word "accredited" upon their clients.

More than 130 institutions had achieved IAC accreditation by 1989, when one Eric Vieth established the Eastern Missouri Business College and immediately applied to the International Accrediting Commission. Vieth opened his headquarters in a one-room office in St. Louis, Missouri, and issued an eight-page typewritten catalog that listed faculty members such as Arnold Ziffel, Edward J. Haskell, M. Howard, Jerome Howard, and Lawrence Fine.

Trivia buffs may recall that Arnold Ziffel was the pig on the TV show Green Acres, Eddie Haskell was the obsequious friend on Leave It to Beaver, and the Messrs. Howard, Howard, and Fine were collectively known as the Three Stooges.

It gets better. The college seal was emblazoned with the phrase Solum pro Avibus Est Educatio, which means "Education is only for the birds," and the motto was Latrocina et Raptus, or, loosely translated, everything from petty theft to highway robbery. Doctorates were offered by mail in dozens of fields, from aerospace to marine biology. The marine biology textbook was identified as The Little Golden Book of Fishes.

Unlike what you may have been imagining, Eastern Missouri Business College founder Vieth was wearing a white hat. As assistant attorney general for the state of Missouri, he had set up this clever sting operation. And when the head of the International Accrediting Commission stopped by, had a quick look around, accepted a cashier's check, and pronounced the East Missouri Business College fully accredited, he was immediately slapped with an injunction and was ultimately fined heavily and ordered to shut down his agency.

End of story? Sadly, no. Immediately after the closing of International Accrediting Commission, there opened, the next state over, in Beebe, Arkansas, the Accrediting Commission International (ACI), which immediately invited all of the IAC schools (except, presumably, Eastern Missouri Business) to become automatically accredited by ACI.

Note: the head of ACI, John Scheel, has said in print several times that this is not true, and I am lying. However I have two original copies of the letter that he sent to IAC schools making this exact offer. (Since I announced this fact, he stopped accusing me of being a liar. Whose pants are on fire now?)

 

I just checked, and Eric Vieth, the state assistant attorney general who launched the clever sting operation is still alive and well and practicing consumer law in Missouri.