BG14 Page 37 NMCHE Rule 730

Rich:

Surely you are not implying that filthy lucre ($$$) could be the motivation here, are you?

Russell

 

KA-FREAKIN'-CHING!!!

Rich, who likes to discuss unaccredited schools on the basis of nontraditionality and customer satisfaction, but not to the extent of defending Century.

 

Ah, the love of money! It seems I remember the words of a very wise individual--- something about this being the "root of all evil!"

I guess this applies to "less-than-wonderful" schools too, huh?

Russell

 

I've got to admit that a doctorate awarded for a 135,000 word dissertation that comes to some 400 pages single spaced definitely doesn't sound like your typical degree or diploma mill credential.

One of the possibilities that the Century Univerisity non-admiriation club (of which I'm a charter member) have to consider is that Neil may indeed have done work that is equivalent to RA requirements.

Of course, this doesn't mean that every Century student(or, for that matter, anyone other then Neil) did anything approaching this level of work. And given Century's tiny faculty, it seems improbable that many students *did* do this sort of work.

So what we may have is someone who busted his ass, discovered much too late that Century is considered to be less-than-wonderful by most, and is now in the difficult predicament of having done RA-quality work for a decidedly non-RA quality school.

And, at the doctoral level, this is a nearly unsolvable problem. Except for MIGS, which (for the moment at least) seems to accept a fair amount of work done elsewhere toward their (CEU-issued) degree.

Over time, will a MIGS/CEU degree be much better than a Century one? Probably. But will it be as good as another, Danzig-free degree? Only time will tell.

But in any case, I am very willing to consider (without having read the dissertation, of course) that Neil may have done plenty of high quality work and, through no fault of his own, earned a substandard degree for it.

And that is a really unfortunate thing.

 

Neil:

Thanks for the references. However, you should know better than to try to bluff an old poker player. As you felt free to quote selected aspects of the statutes in defense of your self-serving position, allow me to quote a few that demonstrate the fallacy of your arguments.

For starters, although by moving to New Mexico in 1990 Century University has been grand fathered in, and has managed to slip through the cracks, any instution attempting to follow in their footsteps in the last five years in New Mexico would be in violation of the statutes. No loophole here; both DOE recognized accreditation and New Mexico state approval are required:

5.100.2.10 GENERAL STANDARDS FOR LICENSURE
A. New degree-granting institutions making application on or after September 30, 1996 will be required to obtain within three (3) years, accreditation with the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC) or another accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the New Mexico Commission on Higher Education as an authority on the quality of institutions awarding such degrees. Institutions operating prior to September 30, 1996 shall be exempt from this requirement.

5.100.2.27 ADDITIONAL STANDARDS FOR DEGREE-GRANTING INSTITUTIONS:
C. Program Requirements:
(1) New degree-granting institutions making application on or after September 30, 1996 will be required to obtain within three (3) years, accreditation with the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC) or another accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the New Mexico Commission on higher Education as an authority on the quality of institutions awarding such degrees. Institutions operating prior to September 30, 1996 shall be exempt from this requirement.


So if your interest is to map current educational quality assurance practices, it appears that the state of New Mexico is sending a clear message that is has recognized the errors of its ways, and since 1996 it defers to accreditation (they define it a s recognized by the DOE) as the minimum standard of quality. Moreover, by claiming accreditation not recognized by the U.S. Department of Education (ACI fits that description, doesn’t it?), Century itself is in violation of the statutes:

5.100.2.18 ADVERTISING, RECRUITMENT AND ADMISSION OF STUDENTS:
N. An institution may not make claims to or advertise an accreditation status if the accrediting agency is not recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

And yes, New Mexico does allow exemptions from state educational licensing/approval for regionally accredited schools:

5 NMAC 100.3
8 EXEMPTIONS:

8.1 The Out-of-State Proprietary School Act specifies several bases for exemption from its provisions. The Commission recognizes additional bases for exemption, derived from legislation governing institutions operating within the state. Any institution, organization, or other entity wishing to qualify for exemption from the Act must present to the Commission the information necessary for the Commission to determine eligibility for exemption. [2-26-85, 6-29-92, 9-1-94]

8.2 Upon determination of eligibility by the Commission, the following may be granted exemption:
8.2.3 A postsecondary institution accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Institutions of Higher Education or by a comparable regional accrediting body recognized by the Commission; [9-1-94]

Moreover, concerning your dissertation, Neil, you wrote:
Responding to your question, I checked the data files again to see that it was closer to 135,000 words including 60+ pages of functional decomposition tables and 181 diagrams.
The total when bound came to around 400 pages - and that wasn't double-spaced as many form and style guides suggest. I used a word processing font and spacing that made for a reasonable layout.
I hope you are aware, Neil, that by your own admission (because you have failed to conform to what you have called the “suggestion” of “many form and style guides”), your dissertation is unacceptable, and Century University in accepting such a document, is in violation of the statutes. See:
5.100.2.27 ADDITIONAL STANDARDS FOR DEGREE-GRANTING INSTITUTIONS:
(9) At a minimum, issuance of a doctoral degree shall require at least 90 semester credit hours of academic credit or the equivalent beyond a baccalaureate degree or at least 60 semester credit hours or the equivalent beyond the master’s degree and shall require successful completion and defense of a major independent project, involving original research or application of knowledge.
(10) The research/project shall include a review of the literature, bibliography, and citations and shall otherwise conform to a recognized writing style manual.


Shuffle the cards again, and I’ll cut.

Gus Sainz

 

If this is indeed the current position of New Mexico regarding academic institutions operating within its borders, and if the state proceeds forward with this policy, all I can say is BRAVO for New Mexico!!!!!!!

Russell

 

Since Century is in obvious violation of the anti-fraudulent accreditation portion of the statute, perhaps Neil or someone else might bring this to the attention of officials at the New Mexico higher education department...
oops, last I heard, they have a guy with a Century degree that's pretty high up. I suspect that little will happen.

Isn't it interesting that we've never heard Neil offer up a defense of Century's use of a fraudulent accreditor...