CAPELLA UNIVERSITY - paid for degree but did not get one

I am a Capella's Ph.D in Information Technology drop-out. I understand how you feel about a degree that does not serve your purposes. I am second to Dr. Sam (BlackBird). I withdrew the program after 2 terms at Capella University's because I saw that the program was not for me. Besides, I concerned about solely distance learning school for profit; which possibly will have issues in the future like Ashford University, and etc.

 

Since I am being "called out" in this post, I'll set the record straight:

1. I have never been employed by Capella University. I was an adjunct for the Winter Quarter in 2006; but this was done as an independent contractor basis.

2. I will be the first to admit that I challenged Jeff LaMarca (the creator of the Capella Sucks websites, and author of many, many postings on numerous discussion boards trashing Capella). I will point out that LaMarca lost all of his OCR cases against Capella, as well as a lawsuit against Capella. In addition, on the eve of Capella's defamation lawsuit, LaMarca agreed to remove his websites, and issued an apology:

Capella University settles counterclaim lawsuit against former learner

http://www.capella.edu/vc/inc/pdf/la_marcas_apology.pdf

3. I serve as as alumni ambassador for Capella University and am active on the Capella LinkedIn sites. I primarily advise on how to break into academia with a degree from Capella. I receive no compensation from Capella for serving as an ambassador. I serve because my Capella degree has served me very well - and I want to give back to the current learners, many of them who are looking for jobs in academia.

4. At the time of the OP's posting, he was asked by several people to provide a court citation for us to read his case. He never provided it. If someone is going to make accusations in a public forum, is it too much to ask for some documentation?

5. I agree with Blackbird - if one is going into a doctoral program, it is incumbent for the prospective student to do his/her research on the utility of the degree, licensure, etc.

Here are my posts concerning your friend:


I have perfomed a court records search on PACER and the Minnesota Judicial Court System. There is not any case to the best of my knowledge that meets the criteria listed by the OP. There was a case that was dismissed by the courts on 9/23/09, but that case was dismissed by the court due to a number of reasons - the Capella attorney's didn't even make any motions on it.

Perhaps the OP can give the case number or other identfying information so both sides of the issue can be presented in the matter of fairness.

Shawn


Quote Originally Posted by Lerner View Post
Adviser, but not 'Fiduciary' | Inside Higher Ed

Is this the case?
According to the OP and Chip, I don't believe so.

Shawn

Paulaz:

It appears that you were not able to complete the dissertation proposal. A couple of questions?

1. What was Capella 's stated reason for not permitting you to continue in your program?

2. What are the legal grounds for the lawsuit? (Note - You are going to need to prove that Capella was involved in deceptive practices, breach of contract, etc.)

The doctoral journey is not easy - over 40% of those who begin do not complete it:

http://www.phdcompletion.org/resourc...008_Sowell.pdf




I have done nothing in this thread to warrant a personal attack; and in fact, I would still welcome the court citation to read the entire case history.

 

To me this seems like the people from a recent news article who sued their law school alleging that the school promised that they, as graduates would become gainfully employed. When the grads found themselves unemployed they sued the school. I suppose you could say that this was an interesting application of their newly developed skills but you could also say that they are a bunch of whiners trying to blame others for their own shortcomings.

I feel very little sympathy for someone who pays out tons of cash to get a degree and then discovers they are not eligible for licesure. I also recognize that the Capella detractors are all posting anonymously and are not specifically naming their faculty advisors or committee.

I have no connection to Capella at all. I enjoyed the drama of the "capella sucks" incident from afar. I imagine that the Capella detractors in this thread have gone through the standard process of appealing to the Dean, lawsuits, etc. and since we have no access to the other side of the issue we can only assume that the disgruntled student lost in this process. Now we know that sometimes innocent people are put in jail and that sometimes guilty people go free. Institutional justice is imperfect. But without having all the facts it's difficult to convince a group of neutral people that an injustice has been done. If I tell you that I just got a speeding ticket that alleged that I was going 50 in a 35 mph zone and that I was really only going 30 mph and that the cop made a pass at me while writing the ticket you might show some sympathy but you'd be foolish to simply accept the whole story (since I just made the whole thing up). I think you get my point.