The Cambridge Reporter
September 5, 2003 Friday Final Edition
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A44
HEADLINE: MPs face prayer vigils over gay marriage
Local MPs will be the targets of fervent prayer on Sunday afternoon as opponents of proposed same-sex marriage legislation rally in front of constituency offices.
It's a two-pronged approach, according to Harold Albrecht, pastor of Pathway Community Church, which meets in Brigadoon Public School in Kitchener.
"We're praying and we're taking a public stand," he said. "The two need to go together.
"It's too easy for us to cloister ourselves in our holy huddles."
Albrecht is helping to organize a prayer rally in front of the St. Jacobs constituency office of Waterloo-Wellington MP Lynn Myers. It will be one of more than 150 prayer rallies across the country that have been co-ordinated in part by the Canada Family Action Coalition, a non-denominational Christian group based in Calgary.
So far, prayer rallies are planned outside the offices of more than 150 of the 301 members of Parliament across Canada.
The coalition has been working with other Christian groups -- including REAL Women of Canada and Canada Christian College in Toronto -- to plan the rallies. The coalition is urging opponents of the federal government's intention to legalize same-sex marriage to gather outside the politicians' offices at 3 p.m.
Albrecht said he will be praying for wisdom for government leaders.
"As a believer, I certainly feel that the source of our wisdom is God's Word," he said. "We will be praying that all of our leaders will be open to God's wisdom in this, and not bow to a very small group who currently have a different view.
"I want to make this very clear -- this is not an anti-homosexual rally. We're here to defend and support (heterosexual) marriage.
Albrecht said he believes it's important for family stability to keep marriage heterosexual.
Myers, in an interview Wednesday, said he was invited to the rally in front of his office but had a previous engagement so he won't be able to attend.
However, Myers said, he wasn't distressed by the gathering.
"That's the beauty of democracy," he said. "People have the right to meet and assemble and say what they want or do what they want -- in this case, pray as they see fit, which is very fine by me.
"I just hope it doesn't turn into what happened to my colleague (Kitchener-Waterloo MP) Andrew Telegdi, where it looked like a setup."
During a meeting last week in Waterloo with opponents of two pieces of federal legislation, Telegdi called one of the pastors in attendance a "liar" and stormed out.
Friday, September 05, 2003
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Hutton: Alta. should split from Canada and buy nuclear subs
Archived news story:
- Canadian Press Newswire
March 25, 2003
Alta. should split from Canada and buy nuclear subs, says separatist group
EDMONTON (CP) _ Nuclear submarines armed with long-range missiles could help Alberta gain international clout if the province were to secede from Canada, says the leader of a fledgling separatist group.
''One of the things that was suggested would be a couple of nuclear submarines moving around the world,'' Bruce Hutton told a news conference Tuesday.
''That makes us a formidable power. With the amount of money we've sent to Ottawa in the last six years, we could have nuclear submarines.''
Hutton, a former Mountie who strongly opposed the national gun registry, said 5,000 signatures are still needed to give his Separation Party of Alberta official status in Alberta. Nonetheless, he is predicting they will win 11 seats in the next provincial election.
Premier Ralph Klein has said he believes Albertans want to remain within the country.
''I strongly feel that Albertans want to be part of Canada and they want to be recognized as part of Canada. I don't think that they want to separate, they simply want their voice to be heard.''
Although there is little desire for separation, Klein has said, his party will hold a panel discussion about it at its annual policy convention this weekend in Red Deer, Alta.
Friday, February 21, 2003
Minister battles military over faith: Jewish group joins Pentecostal in bid to diversify chaplaincy
Minister battles military over faith: Jewish group joins Pentecostal in bid to diversify chaplaincy
Tom Blackwell
National Post
21 February 2003
National Post
A05
Religious services in the Canadian forces are controlled exclusively by a few major Christian churches, discriminating against other faiths and minority Christian sects, a Pentecostal minister has charged in a human rights complaint.
The forces have 29 Anglican chaplains -- eight times the percentage of Anglicans in the general population -- but no Jews, Hindus or Muslims, Reverend Sheldon Johnston notes in his complaint.
The 35-year-old from Castlegar, B.C., is getting support from a major Jewish group, which says the Department of National Defence must better represent Canada's spiritual mosaic.
"What we have right now is a handful of religious groups that are judging other groups and saying that they are not worthy to be represented, which I think is wrong," Rev. Johnston said.
"I think it has a huge impact on minority groups. This is a primary reason why there isn't that much diversity."
Religions are supposed to be represented in the military chaplaincy based on the number of troops who declare themselves to be members of those churches.
But Rev. Johnston said the declarations may not accurately reflect the makeup of the army, navy and air force.
A Defence spokesman admitted yesterday the unit does not represent modern Canada and said officials are working on the problem, starting with the recruitment of the forces' first Muslim chaplain.
Imam Suleyman Demiray, a native of Turkey, is expected to get into basic training this fall.
"We know right now that we are not reflective of Canadian society, so we've got a lot of work to do and it's going to take some time," said Lieutenant-Colonel Dave Kettle, a chaplaincy spokesman.
Rev. Johnston, of the Church of God Canada, said the forces must go further and end for good their practice of having quotas for the number of chaplains from different Christian churches.
The chaplains' mission is broad: to bolster "operational effectiveness" by contributing to the moral and spiritual well-being of troops and their families.
The unit, with 144 regular force chaplains, is divided into two services: Catholic and Protestant.
According to figures Rev. Johnston obtained from the Defence Department, just under half are Catholic, 19% are Anglican, 11% are United Church and 4.4% are evangelical.
Catholics make up 41% of the general population, Anglicans -- 2.4%, United Church members -- 5.4% and evangelicals -- 9.5%. Non-Christian religions comprise 26% of Canadians, according to the figures.
Rev. Johnston said he has tried more than once to become a chaplain himself, but was effectively rejected because there were already three Pentecostals: the quota allotted the denomination.
He said Canada should adopt the system used in the United States, where an independent panel chooses chaplains based on their potential as spiritual advisors and officers, regardless of their religious affiliation.
The Canadian Human Rights Commission has told him that it was unable to mediate a resolution to the dispute, and plans to refer it to a human rights tribunal for trial, he said.
B'Nai Brith, the Jewish human rights organization, backs his crusade and is considering a formal intervention, said Anita Bromberg, a spokeswoman.
"The life of a soldier is a tough life," she said. "Not having access to the appropriate [religious] support mechanisms can make the life certainly more difficult."
Tom Blackwell
National Post
21 February 2003
National Post
A05
Religious services in the Canadian forces are controlled exclusively by a few major Christian churches, discriminating against other faiths and minority Christian sects, a Pentecostal minister has charged in a human rights complaint.
The forces have 29 Anglican chaplains -- eight times the percentage of Anglicans in the general population -- but no Jews, Hindus or Muslims, Reverend Sheldon Johnston notes in his complaint.
The 35-year-old from Castlegar, B.C., is getting support from a major Jewish group, which says the Department of National Defence must better represent Canada's spiritual mosaic.
"What we have right now is a handful of religious groups that are judging other groups and saying that they are not worthy to be represented, which I think is wrong," Rev. Johnston said.
"I think it has a huge impact on minority groups. This is a primary reason why there isn't that much diversity."
Religions are supposed to be represented in the military chaplaincy based on the number of troops who declare themselves to be members of those churches.
But Rev. Johnston said the declarations may not accurately reflect the makeup of the army, navy and air force.
A Defence spokesman admitted yesterday the unit does not represent modern Canada and said officials are working on the problem, starting with the recruitment of the forces' first Muslim chaplain.
Imam Suleyman Demiray, a native of Turkey, is expected to get into basic training this fall.
"We know right now that we are not reflective of Canadian society, so we've got a lot of work to do and it's going to take some time," said Lieutenant-Colonel Dave Kettle, a chaplaincy spokesman.
Rev. Johnston, of the Church of God Canada, said the forces must go further and end for good their practice of having quotas for the number of chaplains from different Christian churches.
The chaplains' mission is broad: to bolster "operational effectiveness" by contributing to the moral and spiritual well-being of troops and their families.
The unit, with 144 regular force chaplains, is divided into two services: Catholic and Protestant.
According to figures Rev. Johnston obtained from the Defence Department, just under half are Catholic, 19% are Anglican, 11% are United Church and 4.4% are evangelical.
Catholics make up 41% of the general population, Anglicans -- 2.4%, United Church members -- 5.4% and evangelicals -- 9.5%. Non-Christian religions comprise 26% of Canadians, according to the figures.
Rev. Johnston said he has tried more than once to become a chaplain himself, but was effectively rejected because there were already three Pentecostals: the quota allotted the denomination.
He said Canada should adopt the system used in the United States, where an independent panel chooses chaplains based on their potential as spiritual advisors and officers, regardless of their religious affiliation.
The Canadian Human Rights Commission has told him that it was unable to mediate a resolution to the dispute, and plans to refer it to a human rights tribunal for trial, he said.
B'Nai Brith, the Jewish human rights organization, backs his crusade and is considering a formal intervention, said Anita Bromberg, a spokeswoman.
"The life of a soldier is a tough life," she said. "Not having access to the appropriate [religious] support mechanisms can make the life certainly more difficult."
Monday, May 13, 2002
Harold Albrecht's letter-to-the-editor
The Record (Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario)
May 13, 2002 Monday Final Edition
SECTION: OPINION; Pg. A10
LENGTH: 252 words
HEADLINE: I'm so embarrassed
BYLINE: Harold Albrecht
Where fans booed our Canadian national anthem at NBA and NHL playoff games in Detroit and New York, I am sure many American citizens are greatly embarrassed, or even ashamed of the behaviour of their fellow citizens.
The embarrassment caused by these immature sports fans cannot compare to the embarrassment I feel to be a citizen of a country whose moral behaviour has slid to an all-time low. Child pornography is considered to be an art form and now The Record uses half a page of its art section to publicize Puppetry of The Penis to be held at Centre in the Square on June 7.
Child pornography an art form? And now this? Where are the board members of the Centre in the Square? Where is our city council? Do they not see the mixed message this performance gives our citizens, especially young people?
A man exposing himself on the streets of Kitchener is rightly charged with indecent exposure, but two men from Australia are paid to use the Centre (facilities financed with my tax dollars) to bring a message that is diametrically opposite to the values of our community.
"We have no shame at all," says Jim McGregor. Exactly. So why do we allow these people to further destroy the conscience of our city? And why publicize it in our family newspaper?
Anyone has the right to swim in a septic tank if they choose, but please leave the lid on to spare the rest of us from the stench. I appeal to Kitchener council to "close the lid" and cancel this event.
Harold Albrecht
Petersburg
May 13, 2002 Monday Final Edition
SECTION: OPINION; Pg. A10
LENGTH: 252 words
HEADLINE: I'm so embarrassed
BYLINE: Harold Albrecht
Where fans booed our Canadian national anthem at NBA and NHL playoff games in Detroit and New York, I am sure many American citizens are greatly embarrassed, or even ashamed of the behaviour of their fellow citizens.
The embarrassment caused by these immature sports fans cannot compare to the embarrassment I feel to be a citizen of a country whose moral behaviour has slid to an all-time low. Child pornography is considered to be an art form and now The Record uses half a page of its art section to publicize Puppetry of The Penis to be held at Centre in the Square on June 7.
Child pornography an art form? And now this? Where are the board members of the Centre in the Square? Where is our city council? Do they not see the mixed message this performance gives our citizens, especially young people?
A man exposing himself on the streets of Kitchener is rightly charged with indecent exposure, but two men from Australia are paid to use the Centre (facilities financed with my tax dollars) to bring a message that is diametrically opposite to the values of our community.
"We have no shame at all," says Jim McGregor. Exactly. So why do we allow these people to further destroy the conscience of our city? And why publicize it in our family newspaper?
Anyone has the right to swim in a septic tank if they choose, but please leave the lid on to spare the rest of us from the stench. I appeal to Kitchener council to "close the lid" and cancel this event.
Harold Albrecht
Petersburg
Wednesday, January 24, 2001
Andrew Coyne: Hmmm ... haven't I heard this before?
Wednesday, January 24, 2001
Hmmm ... haven't I heard this before?
Question 1: Who said, over the weekend, "we won't separate tomorrow, or next year.
Perhaps we can negotiate a new union with Canada ... but I'm not here to be soft. We're separatists." Was it a) Bernard Landry, candidate for leader of the Parti Quebecois, somehow managing to present himself as both a hard-line sovereigntist and an advocate of continued membership in a "confederal union," or b) Cory Morgan, a Calgary surveyor and interim leader of the fledgling Alberta Independence Party?
Question 2: Who said, in response to the foregoing, "this is the unfortunate outcome of years of Chretien federalism ... It is understandable that movements like [this] exist because of what is being offered by the national government, which plays one part of the nation against each other." Was it a) Joe Clark, deploring, yet again, Ottawa's failure to appease separatist sentiment with new constitutional offers, while neglecting to say a word against separatism itself, or b) Phil von Finckenstein, spokesman for the Canadian Alliance?
Question 3: Who said, "if this is a way to wake up [the federal] government and strengthen the provincial powers that should be in place, then [it] might have some value to it." Was it a) the late Robert Bourassa, former premier of Quebec, explaining his strategy of federalisme rentable and how the threat of separatism could be exploited to that end, or b) Myron Thompson, Canadian Alliance MP, after attending last week's founding meeting of the Alberta Independence Party?
Question 4: Who said, to which gathering of which separatist party, "I wish you every success." Was it a) Lucien Bouchard, then a minister in the federal government, in a telegram to the Parti Quebecois in 1990, or b) Bert Brown, member of the Canadian Alliance and "Senator-elect" for the province of Alberta, addressing the same Alberta Independence Party meeting that Mr. Thompson attended?
The answer to each, in case you were in any doubt, is b). Which raises a further query: What on earth were Mr. Thompson and Mr. Brown, as well as Darrel Stinson, MP, and Ted Morton, Alberta's other "Senator-elect," doing at a meeting of a party dedicated to the dismantling of Canada?
Were they there, as a senior Alliance official insisted, "to convince them that this is not the way to go"? Did they use the occasion, more robustly, to denounce separatism as illegitimate in principle and impossible in practice? They did not. Their presence seemed rather aimed, if not at encouraging the nascent movement, as in Mr. Brown's example, then at least at exploiting it.
And Stockwell Day? The Alliance leader took the opportunity of a nationally televised speech Monday, billed as a statement on "national unity," to issue a limp appeal to Western separatists to please, please, give Canada another chance. "I have met with some of these upset and alienated people myself," he disclosed, "and I am asking them to channel their energy of frustration into the hope of transformation." If you closed your eyes, you could swear it was Mr. Clark talking.
No one is suggesting that Mr. Day or his party are separatists, or even crypto-separatists.
But they seem quite willing to play that ancient game of Quebec federalists, separatist blackmail. There's a difference, of course: unlike Quebec, the West has some decent grievances. The National Energy Program may be ancient history, but there are any number of reforms to Parliament and its institutions -- Senate reform, free votes, and the rest -- that would be in the West's interests -- and more important, the country's. But the very worst reason to introduce such reforms is in response to separatist threats. In fact, it's a good reason not to.
This all may seem a bit of a fuss to be making over a "movement" that represents perhaps 3% of Western voters. But the Alliance will pay a heavy price for indulging them. It was one thing for the party to set up shop, more or less explicitly, as the wholly owned subsidiary of the provinces. But canoodling with separatists, in Quebec or the West -- the Canadian Dalliance? -- is hardly the way to win over Ontario voters.
It certainly won't do to threaten them. Yet, incredibly, that is what some Alliance supporters have taken to doing. This is perhaps the strangest version of separatist blackmail yet: After blaming the rise in Western separatism on Ontario's "rejection" of the Alliance in the recent election, they then invoke the separatist spectre to frighten Ontarians into voting Alliance next time. "Today the number of disillusioned Alliance members going to the AIP is a trickle," Mr. Morton warned yesterday in these pages.
"But another electoral shutout in Ontario in 2004 could turn that into a torrent." Now there's a catchy slogan: Vote for us, or we blow the place up. Vote for us or else.
Sounds like a government in waiting to me.
Hmmm ... haven't I heard this before?
Question 1: Who said, over the weekend, "we won't separate tomorrow, or next year.
Perhaps we can negotiate a new union with Canada ... but I'm not here to be soft. We're separatists." Was it a) Bernard Landry, candidate for leader of the Parti Quebecois, somehow managing to present himself as both a hard-line sovereigntist and an advocate of continued membership in a "confederal union," or b) Cory Morgan, a Calgary surveyor and interim leader of the fledgling Alberta Independence Party?
Question 2: Who said, in response to the foregoing, "this is the unfortunate outcome of years of Chretien federalism ... It is understandable that movements like [this] exist because of what is being offered by the national government, which plays one part of the nation against each other." Was it a) Joe Clark, deploring, yet again, Ottawa's failure to appease separatist sentiment with new constitutional offers, while neglecting to say a word against separatism itself, or b) Phil von Finckenstein, spokesman for the Canadian Alliance?
Question 3: Who said, "if this is a way to wake up [the federal] government and strengthen the provincial powers that should be in place, then [it] might have some value to it." Was it a) the late Robert Bourassa, former premier of Quebec, explaining his strategy of federalisme rentable and how the threat of separatism could be exploited to that end, or b) Myron Thompson, Canadian Alliance MP, after attending last week's founding meeting of the Alberta Independence Party?
Question 4: Who said, to which gathering of which separatist party, "I wish you every success." Was it a) Lucien Bouchard, then a minister in the federal government, in a telegram to the Parti Quebecois in 1990, or b) Bert Brown, member of the Canadian Alliance and "Senator-elect" for the province of Alberta, addressing the same Alberta Independence Party meeting that Mr. Thompson attended?
The answer to each, in case you were in any doubt, is b). Which raises a further query: What on earth were Mr. Thompson and Mr. Brown, as well as Darrel Stinson, MP, and Ted Morton, Alberta's other "Senator-elect," doing at a meeting of a party dedicated to the dismantling of Canada?
Were they there, as a senior Alliance official insisted, "to convince them that this is not the way to go"? Did they use the occasion, more robustly, to denounce separatism as illegitimate in principle and impossible in practice? They did not. Their presence seemed rather aimed, if not at encouraging the nascent movement, as in Mr. Brown's example, then at least at exploiting it.
And Stockwell Day? The Alliance leader took the opportunity of a nationally televised speech Monday, billed as a statement on "national unity," to issue a limp appeal to Western separatists to please, please, give Canada another chance. "I have met with some of these upset and alienated people myself," he disclosed, "and I am asking them to channel their energy of frustration into the hope of transformation." If you closed your eyes, you could swear it was Mr. Clark talking.
No one is suggesting that Mr. Day or his party are separatists, or even crypto-separatists.
But they seem quite willing to play that ancient game of Quebec federalists, separatist blackmail. There's a difference, of course: unlike Quebec, the West has some decent grievances. The National Energy Program may be ancient history, but there are any number of reforms to Parliament and its institutions -- Senate reform, free votes, and the rest -- that would be in the West's interests -- and more important, the country's. But the very worst reason to introduce such reforms is in response to separatist threats. In fact, it's a good reason not to.
This all may seem a bit of a fuss to be making over a "movement" that represents perhaps 3% of Western voters. But the Alliance will pay a heavy price for indulging them. It was one thing for the party to set up shop, more or less explicitly, as the wholly owned subsidiary of the provinces. But canoodling with separatists, in Quebec or the West -- the Canadian Dalliance? -- is hardly the way to win over Ontario voters.
It certainly won't do to threaten them. Yet, incredibly, that is what some Alliance supporters have taken to doing. This is perhaps the strangest version of separatist blackmail yet: After blaming the rise in Western separatism on Ontario's "rejection" of the Alliance in the recent election, they then invoke the separatist spectre to frighten Ontarians into voting Alliance next time. "Today the number of disillusioned Alliance members going to the AIP is a trickle," Mr. Morton warned yesterday in these pages.
"But another electoral shutout in Ontario in 2004 could turn that into a torrent." Now there's a catchy slogan: Vote for us, or we blow the place up. Vote for us or else.
Sounds like a government in waiting to me.
Sunday, March 21, 1999
Harold Albrecht's letter-to-the-editor
The Toronto Star
March 21, 1999, Sunday, Edition 1
SECTION: NEWS
HEADLINE: STAR'S VIEW IS SIMPLISTIC
Re 11 per cent solution (editorial, March 14).
I am continually amused by The Star's frustration at Alberta's unwillingness to adopt the economically destructive politics of envy, entitlement and class warfare it promotes in Ontario. The suggestions that Alberta's middle class favours simple-sounding flat taxes because they are somehow not as bright as The Star's readers and don't understand their own economic interests are pure bunkum.
They very well understand what The Star obviously does not. Encouraging, retaining and attracting successful and rich people is not altruistic, it is smart economics. It is The Star's view that is simplistic - not Albertans'.
Harold Albrecht
Oakville
Click here for more about Harold Albrecht, Conservative candidate in Kitchener-Conestoga.
March 21, 1999, Sunday, Edition 1
SECTION: NEWS
HEADLINE: STAR'S VIEW IS SIMPLISTIC
Re 11 per cent solution (editorial, March 14).
I am continually amused by The Star's frustration at Alberta's unwillingness to adopt the economically destructive politics of envy, entitlement and class warfare it promotes in Ontario. The suggestions that Alberta's middle class favours simple-sounding flat taxes because they are somehow not as bright as The Star's readers and don't understand their own economic interests are pure bunkum.
They very well understand what The Star obviously does not. Encouraging, retaining and attracting successful and rich people is not altruistic, it is smart economics. It is The Star's view that is simplistic - not Albertans'.
Harold Albrecht
Oakville
Click here for more about Harold Albrecht, Conservative candidate in Kitchener-Conestoga.
Sunday, August 02, 1998
August 2, 1998: NYT: Easy Degrees Proliferate
The New York Times
August 2, 1998, Sunday, Late Edition - Final
Section 4A; Page 17; Column 1; Education Life Supplement
Easy Degrees Proliferate on the Web
By David Koeppel
Ira Doreen Donovan, an elementary school teacher in Miami, was 31 credits shy of a master's degree in special education when she saw an on-line advertisement for Columbia State University. After sending $800 as the first payment on a $2,000 degree, Ms. Donovan received a textbook to summarize and send back for grading.
Believing this was the first step of several, she was shocked when shortly after, a certificate not only for a master's but a doctorate arrived at her home. Along with the degrees came transcripts awarding her a 3.9 grade point average for classes never taken and credit for a completed thesis and dissertation.
"I called the school and told them if this degree isn't worth the paper it's printed on, I don't want to pay for it," Ms. Donovan said. "This degree mill made me look like a fool."
Columbia State returned her money, but others say they have not been so lucky.
After investigating 36 complaints, including one from Norway and one from Malaysia, the Louisiana Attorney General's office has filed for a preliminary injunction against Columbia, charging that it violates the state's Unfair Trade Practices Act and consumer protection laws. Last month the State of Illinois also filed suit seeking an injunction and restitution for consumers and the state.
Repeated calls to Columbia's office in Metairie, La., seeking comment were not returned.
The Internet has "rekindled the old-fashioned diploma mill," said Michael Lambert, the executive director of the Distance Education and Training Council, a recognized accrediting agency that has approved 65 on-line and home-study schools. "The Internet is a haven for these places."
Surfing the Web these days is like flipping through a virtual college catalogue. With its interactivity and accessibility, the Internet has sparked new interest in home-study programs, offering actual courses on line or just information.
Although many distance-learning schools have solid reputations and graduation requirements, hundreds of Web sites have popped up for schools charging between $200 and $7,000 for sheepskin that requires little or no work from students. Columbia, for instance, promises degrees within 27 days.
Elaborate home pages make schools look credible, Mr. Lambert said. The schools can operate in the anonymity of cyberspace, sometimes listing just an E-mail address or post office box. And on line, they can reach a global audience for minimal cost.
Eugene Sullivan, co-author with David W. Stewart and Henry Spille of "External Degrees in the Information Age," the American Council on Education's guide to correspondence programs, defines a diploma mill as an "organization that sells degrees without an academic base and without requiring sufficient academic achievement."
While perfectly legitimate schools might have an element or two of a diploma mill (say, credit for work experience), experts say there are multiple defining characteristics:
* The school emphasizes credit for work or life experience without appropriate mechanisms for assessing that experience in terms of college-level learning.
* Degrees are obtained in far less time than would be required at a legitimate institution. (A bachelor's degree typically takes four years of full-time course work, a master's one to two years, a Ph.D. dissertation several years to research and write.)
* Tuition and fees are on a per-degree basis instead of per semester or course.
* School brochures list faculty members who neither teach nor provide other services, and there is virtually no interaction with faculty members.
* The school is not accredited by an agency approved by the Department of Education, the Council for Higher Education Accreditation or other legitimate institutions.
Accreditation, however, is voluntary.
"From my experience it's not the blatantly fraudulent schools that are the real threat," Mr. Stewart said. "It's the academic frauds that have a little substance that are the problem."
He was referring to schools that require students to perform some academic exercises like writing a paper or taking an exam -- and some students might invest considerable effort -- but their degrees are unacceptable to established colleges and universities and unimpressive to prospective employers.
But experts admit that most such institutions cater to people who know exactly what they are getting into.
"Many people are well aware of what they are doing," Mr. Sullivan said. "They want a credential and they want to get it quickly. But others are busy people or foreign students who don't know much about higher education. They see these places as programs that fit their needs."
Joe Joyal of Atlanta said he had worked as an engineer for 20 years without a degree and applied to Columbia State for a joint bachelor's/master's degree in mechanical engineering. He received both degrees in under six months after summarizing two textbooks.
He said he suspected the degree was worthless but nonetheless listed it on his resume. Later he had second thoughts and took it off. He is pursuing a degree from an accredited distance-learning program.
Columbia State claims in Internet advertising that it is accredited by the International Accrediting Association, a "fictitious school accrediting agency," according to the Louisiana Attorney General's complaint. The owner of Columbia, Ronald Dante, was sentenced in February in Los Angeles to five-and-a-half years in prison for operating fraudulent schools in California. He jumped bail and is being sought by United States marshals, according to Michelle Muth, a spokeswoman for the Federal Trade Commission. Columbia continues to operate.
Perhaps the largest crackdown on schools took place from 1981 to 1991, when Operation Dipscam (for diploma scam) put 50 out of business on charges ranging from mail or wire fraud to conspiracy. "Sometimes we'd find phony accreditations or that we were able to negotiate a degree for a lower price," said Allen Ezell, a former agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation who oversaw Dipscam. "Some schools sent transcripts and diplomas to students for courses never taken."
States like New York and Illinois closely regulate academic institutions, requiring that they be authorized to operate. But many don't. Mr. Ezell said investigations often start by looking into schools incorporated in the states with the weakest laws, like Hawaii, Utah and Louisiana.
Hawaii has been wrangling with a few unaccredited schools lately. Its department of consumer affairs has sued Pacific Western and American State Universities, two distance-learning schools with offices there, for not making clear in advertisements that they are unaccredited. After agreeing to a settlement, American State decided to close. "The penalties were too substantial," the school's lawyer, Evan R. Shirley, said, specifically citing the requirement that every ad disclose its unaccredited status.
"My client never explicitly expressed wrongdoing," he added, "but a conclusion could be rationally made that there was wrongdoing."
Pacific Western's case is pending. Calls to its office and lawyers were not returned, but in answer to the complaint filed in circuit court in Honolulu, it denied allegations that it misleads consumers about its accreditation or suggests it is "somehow accredited or approved by the State of Hawaii to award academic degrees."
Another area of dispute that has caused considerable legal wrangling has been the similarity in names between accredited and unaccredited schools.
An unaccredited school called Washington University, which has an office in Bryn Mawr, Pa., but is incorporated in Hawaii and the British Virgin Islands, settled a suit in June filed by the more established Washington University of St. Louis. The suit charged that the unaccredited school infringed on its trademark and engaged in unfair competition.
The details of the settlement are confidential, but the consent judgment entered by the court told the school to come up with a new name, and one that separated the words "Washington" and "University" with a word of at least 10 characters.
Yil Karademir, who owns the unaccredited school, chose Washington International University. (Unaccredited schools tend to favor the word "International," as well as "America," "United" and "Pacific.")
The St. Louis school had complained that it had received inquiries from prospective students and alumni who were confused when they saw the other school's ads -- not to mention being the target of protests from human-rights activists after a businessman linked to Myanmar's military dictatorship bought an honorary doctorate.
"What they do bears no resemblance to the education we provide," said Lori Fox, the associate general counsel for Washington University in St. Louis. "Are they a diploma mill? You'll have to draw your own conclusions."
Mr. Karademir said he is not running a diploma mill.
"We are a young university," he said. "We didn't even know about them when we chose the name three years ago. They're not exactly Harvard. Calling us a degree mill is hitting below the belt in order to belittle and discredit us."
Mr. Karademir said his school is made up mostly of international students who are given academic credit for life experience, though he plans to add on-line courses in the fall. Washington International's Web site is extensive and promises to grant degrees in one year. "The academic comunity sic find our degree programs to be OUTSTANDING!" the Web site declares. "All Washington International University degrees are ATTESTED and sealed for authenticity by a Government appointed NOTARY!"
Costs range from $2,850 for a Bachelor of Science in business administration to $7,400 for a combination bachelor's and master's degree.
Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Department of Education is investigating complaints about the school, according to Michelle Haskins, a department spokeswoman.
Last year, the Illinois Attorney General succeeded in shutting down an on-line school, Loyola State University, for violating consumer protection laws by confusing students into thinking it was Loyola University of Chicago. Patricia Kelly, division chief of consumer protection in the Attorney General's office, said that Lorie LaFata, who ran the school, created dummy transcripts with fictional class names, codes and grades. Students would receive diplomas after paying $2,800. "We were able to see she was not offering what she promised," Ms. Kelly said.
In her settlement with the Attorney General's office, which had filed suit against her, Ms. LaFata agreed to pay restitution to the state and not to conduct business on the Internet for five years, including having a Web site.
"The state and I came to a good understanding," said Ms. LaFata, who offered that she had been a Columbia State student. "I did have to admit to wrongdoing. It was an awful time for me. I hope to leave that behind."
Richard Mitchell, president of the New Orleans Better Business Bureau, advises prospective students to do their own investigating before signing up with a distance education school.
"Do some intelligent things like checking out a school with agencies that can give you more information," he said. "Don't just jump into a school because they have an impressive Web site. If you take time and do your homework, you can avoid a problem."
Mr. Lambert said it was easy for unsophisticated applicants to be fooled. "In mixing dollars and dreams," he said, "it's many of the true innocents that get trampled on."
How to Check School Credentials
Surfing the Web for a home-study school? The Department of Education suggests that thr first step is to check a school's accreditation - a process in which courses are reviewed, students surveyed and campuses inspected. For a list of agencies approved to accredit schools, write: Department of Education Accreditation and Eligibility Determination Division, 6000, Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20202-5244; (202) 708-7417; www.ifap.ed.gov/scb.html/agenc.htm.
The Council for Higher Education Accreditation, an organization of colleges and universities, also approves accrediting agencies. Write: One Dupont Circle, N.W., Suite 854, Washington, D.C. 20036-1110; (202) 955-6126; www.chea.org.
August 2, 1998, Sunday, Late Edition - Final
Section 4A; Page 17; Column 1; Education Life Supplement
Easy Degrees Proliferate on the Web
By David Koeppel
Ira Doreen Donovan, an elementary school teacher in Miami, was 31 credits shy of a master's degree in special education when she saw an on-line advertisement for Columbia State University. After sending $800 as the first payment on a $2,000 degree, Ms. Donovan received a textbook to summarize and send back for grading.
Believing this was the first step of several, she was shocked when shortly after, a certificate not only for a master's but a doctorate arrived at her home. Along with the degrees came transcripts awarding her a 3.9 grade point average for classes never taken and credit for a completed thesis and dissertation.
"I called the school and told them if this degree isn't worth the paper it's printed on, I don't want to pay for it," Ms. Donovan said. "This degree mill made me look like a fool."
Columbia State returned her money, but others say they have not been so lucky.
After investigating 36 complaints, including one from Norway and one from Malaysia, the Louisiana Attorney General's office has filed for a preliminary injunction against Columbia, charging that it violates the state's Unfair Trade Practices Act and consumer protection laws. Last month the State of Illinois also filed suit seeking an injunction and restitution for consumers and the state.
Repeated calls to Columbia's office in Metairie, La., seeking comment were not returned.
The Internet has "rekindled the old-fashioned diploma mill," said Michael Lambert, the executive director of the Distance Education and Training Council, a recognized accrediting agency that has approved 65 on-line and home-study schools. "The Internet is a haven for these places."
Surfing the Web these days is like flipping through a virtual college catalogue. With its interactivity and accessibility, the Internet has sparked new interest in home-study programs, offering actual courses on line or just information.
Although many distance-learning schools have solid reputations and graduation requirements, hundreds of Web sites have popped up for schools charging between $200 and $7,000 for sheepskin that requires little or no work from students. Columbia, for instance, promises degrees within 27 days.
Elaborate home pages make schools look credible, Mr. Lambert said. The schools can operate in the anonymity of cyberspace, sometimes listing just an E-mail address or post office box. And on line, they can reach a global audience for minimal cost.
Eugene Sullivan, co-author with David W. Stewart and Henry Spille of "External Degrees in the Information Age," the American Council on Education's guide to correspondence programs, defines a diploma mill as an "organization that sells degrees without an academic base and without requiring sufficient academic achievement."
While perfectly legitimate schools might have an element or two of a diploma mill (say, credit for work experience), experts say there are multiple defining characteristics:
* The school emphasizes credit for work or life experience without appropriate mechanisms for assessing that experience in terms of college-level learning.
* Degrees are obtained in far less time than would be required at a legitimate institution. (A bachelor's degree typically takes four years of full-time course work, a master's one to two years, a Ph.D. dissertation several years to research and write.)
* Tuition and fees are on a per-degree basis instead of per semester or course.
* School brochures list faculty members who neither teach nor provide other services, and there is virtually no interaction with faculty members.
* The school is not accredited by an agency approved by the Department of Education, the Council for Higher Education Accreditation or other legitimate institutions.
Accreditation, however, is voluntary.
"From my experience it's not the blatantly fraudulent schools that are the real threat," Mr. Stewart said. "It's the academic frauds that have a little substance that are the problem."
He was referring to schools that require students to perform some academic exercises like writing a paper or taking an exam -- and some students might invest considerable effort -- but their degrees are unacceptable to established colleges and universities and unimpressive to prospective employers.
But experts admit that most such institutions cater to people who know exactly what they are getting into.
"Many people are well aware of what they are doing," Mr. Sullivan said. "They want a credential and they want to get it quickly. But others are busy people or foreign students who don't know much about higher education. They see these places as programs that fit their needs."
Joe Joyal of Atlanta said he had worked as an engineer for 20 years without a degree and applied to Columbia State for a joint bachelor's/master's degree in mechanical engineering. He received both degrees in under six months after summarizing two textbooks.
He said he suspected the degree was worthless but nonetheless listed it on his resume. Later he had second thoughts and took it off. He is pursuing a degree from an accredited distance-learning program.
Columbia State claims in Internet advertising that it is accredited by the International Accrediting Association, a "fictitious school accrediting agency," according to the Louisiana Attorney General's complaint. The owner of Columbia, Ronald Dante, was sentenced in February in Los Angeles to five-and-a-half years in prison for operating fraudulent schools in California. He jumped bail and is being sought by United States marshals, according to Michelle Muth, a spokeswoman for the Federal Trade Commission. Columbia continues to operate.
Perhaps the largest crackdown on schools took place from 1981 to 1991, when Operation Dipscam (for diploma scam) put 50 out of business on charges ranging from mail or wire fraud to conspiracy. "Sometimes we'd find phony accreditations or that we were able to negotiate a degree for a lower price," said Allen Ezell, a former agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation who oversaw Dipscam. "Some schools sent transcripts and diplomas to students for courses never taken."
States like New York and Illinois closely regulate academic institutions, requiring that they be authorized to operate. But many don't. Mr. Ezell said investigations often start by looking into schools incorporated in the states with the weakest laws, like Hawaii, Utah and Louisiana.
Hawaii has been wrangling with a few unaccredited schools lately. Its department of consumer affairs has sued Pacific Western and American State Universities, two distance-learning schools with offices there, for not making clear in advertisements that they are unaccredited. After agreeing to a settlement, American State decided to close. "The penalties were too substantial," the school's lawyer, Evan R. Shirley, said, specifically citing the requirement that every ad disclose its unaccredited status.
"My client never explicitly expressed wrongdoing," he added, "but a conclusion could be rationally made that there was wrongdoing."
Pacific Western's case is pending. Calls to its office and lawyers were not returned, but in answer to the complaint filed in circuit court in Honolulu, it denied allegations that it misleads consumers about its accreditation or suggests it is "somehow accredited or approved by the State of Hawaii to award academic degrees."
Another area of dispute that has caused considerable legal wrangling has been the similarity in names between accredited and unaccredited schools.
An unaccredited school called Washington University, which has an office in Bryn Mawr, Pa., but is incorporated in Hawaii and the British Virgin Islands, settled a suit in June filed by the more established Washington University of St. Louis. The suit charged that the unaccredited school infringed on its trademark and engaged in unfair competition.
The details of the settlement are confidential, but the consent judgment entered by the court told the school to come up with a new name, and one that separated the words "Washington" and "University" with a word of at least 10 characters.
Yil Karademir, who owns the unaccredited school, chose Washington International University. (Unaccredited schools tend to favor the word "International," as well as "America," "United" and "Pacific.")
The St. Louis school had complained that it had received inquiries from prospective students and alumni who were confused when they saw the other school's ads -- not to mention being the target of protests from human-rights activists after a businessman linked to Myanmar's military dictatorship bought an honorary doctorate.
"What they do bears no resemblance to the education we provide," said Lori Fox, the associate general counsel for Washington University in St. Louis. "Are they a diploma mill? You'll have to draw your own conclusions."
Mr. Karademir said he is not running a diploma mill.
"We are a young university," he said. "We didn't even know about them when we chose the name three years ago. They're not exactly Harvard. Calling us a degree mill is hitting below the belt in order to belittle and discredit us."
Mr. Karademir said his school is made up mostly of international students who are given academic credit for life experience, though he plans to add on-line courses in the fall. Washington International's Web site is extensive and promises to grant degrees in one year. "The academic comunity sic find our degree programs to be OUTSTANDING!" the Web site declares. "All Washington International University degrees are ATTESTED and sealed for authenticity by a Government appointed NOTARY!"
Costs range from $2,850 for a Bachelor of Science in business administration to $7,400 for a combination bachelor's and master's degree.
Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Department of Education is investigating complaints about the school, according to Michelle Haskins, a department spokeswoman.
Last year, the Illinois Attorney General succeeded in shutting down an on-line school, Loyola State University, for violating consumer protection laws by confusing students into thinking it was Loyola University of Chicago. Patricia Kelly, division chief of consumer protection in the Attorney General's office, said that Lorie LaFata, who ran the school, created dummy transcripts with fictional class names, codes and grades. Students would receive diplomas after paying $2,800. "We were able to see she was not offering what she promised," Ms. Kelly said.
In her settlement with the Attorney General's office, which had filed suit against her, Ms. LaFata agreed to pay restitution to the state and not to conduct business on the Internet for five years, including having a Web site.
"The state and I came to a good understanding," said Ms. LaFata, who offered that she had been a Columbia State student. "I did have to admit to wrongdoing. It was an awful time for me. I hope to leave that behind."
Richard Mitchell, president of the New Orleans Better Business Bureau, advises prospective students to do their own investigating before signing up with a distance education school.
"Do some intelligent things like checking out a school with agencies that can give you more information," he said. "Don't just jump into a school because they have an impressive Web site. If you take time and do your homework, you can avoid a problem."
Mr. Lambert said it was easy for unsophisticated applicants to be fooled. "In mixing dollars and dreams," he said, "it's many of the true innocents that get trampled on."
How to Check School Credentials
Surfing the Web for a home-study school? The Department of Education suggests that thr first step is to check a school's accreditation - a process in which courses are reviewed, students surveyed and campuses inspected. For a list of agencies approved to accredit schools, write: Department of Education Accreditation and Eligibility Determination Division, 6000, Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20202-5244; (202) 708-7417; www.ifap.ed.gov/scb.html/agenc.htm.
The Council for Higher Education Accreditation, an organization of colleges and universities, also approves accrediting agencies. Write: One Dupont Circle, N.W., Suite 854, Washington, D.C. 20036-1110; (202) 955-6126; www.chea.org.
Tuesday, March 31, 1998
March 31, 1998. Philadelphia Inquirer. Mail-order university sued over name
The Philadelphia Inquirer, MARCH 31, 1998, SF EDITION, Pg. A01
COLLEGE BY MAIL TOLD: STOP CRIBBING NAME
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN MISSOURI SUES UNACCREDITED NAMESAKE.
Sudarsan Raghavan, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
The brochure for Washington University in Bryn Mawr looks scholarly enough. It tells of M.A.s and Ph.D.s, of students from all over the world. A photo shows the Strafford Building's elegant red-brick, white-columned facade. But don't look for a campus, lecture halls or cheerleaders. Or any ivy.
The Strafford Building is merely the Wayne office building where the head of Washington University receives mail and messages. At this university, you can earn your M.A. and Ph.D. in two years or less. From professors with doctorates earned at Harvard and other top colleges. And "all degree programs are primarily based on what the student has already learned," the brochure says.
The cost of a Ph.D.? A mere $6,000.
"We are entrepreneurs, we are not educators," says Yil Karademir, the Lower Merion businessman who, with his wife, runs the university and readily acknowledges it is not accredited. "I'm in it for money. I'm not in it for education."
Karademir and his wife founded Washington University three years ago. It's incorporated in Hawaii and the British Virgin Islands - and, no, it's not connected to the better-known Washington University, the one in St. Louis. That school is suing Karademir's, claiming trademark infringement.
In a suit filed in December, lawyers for the Missouri college, which was founded in 1853 and counts Nobel laureates and Rhodes scholars among its faculty and alumni, accused the Bryn Mawr-based college of being "nothing more than a diploma mill" and of confusing the public by using the name Washington University. The Bryn Mawr school denies these allegations. Last week, it offered to settle the suit by changing its name to Washington International University. The Missouri school is considering the offer.
"We are not doing anything wrong," Karademir wrote to a reporter who inquired about the school. "We are providing a very good education for around $3,000. . . . We have a strong academic staff. Our degrees are legal."
[snip]
The Bryn Mawr-based Washington University bills itself as a for-profit, distance-learning school providing "traditional education, the nontraditional way." The school is not chartered with the State of Pennsylvania. The state Education Department is informally reviewing several recent complaints about it, said department spokeswoman Michele Haskins. She declined to elaborate.
The older Washington University sued in federal court after several alumni and students reported seeing ads for the other school's "accelerated degree programs" in the Economist and other magazines, said Frederic Volkmann, vice chancellor of the Missouri school.
Lori Fox, the school's lawyer, pointed to one recent episode: A businessman in Myanmar, who human-rights activists say has close ties to Myanmar's brutal military dictatorship, received an honorary doctorate from the Bryn Mawr-based school. That raised howls of protest from human-rights groups - who mistakenly directed their phone calls and mail to the Missouri school.
[snip]
It's not hard to start a distance-learning school in Hawaii, Ezell and others say. But even Pennsylvania law lets schools based elsewhere solicit and teach students here, says Warren Evans, a specialist in accreditation and distance learning for the state. What's not allowed, Evans says, is for a school without a Pennsylvania charter to have a campus or office here "in which teaching is done or where education is going on."
On a residential street in Bryn Mawr, there's a two-story, forest-green house with a blue-and-gold sign out front: "WU Student Communications Center." It's the registrar's office of Washington University. Inside, a staff of four handles calls from students, who Karademir says number more than 700 and come from 73 nations. No teaching is done at the site, but students send completed homework there, he says.
At most universities, Ph.D. programs require a master's degree (which means a year or two of course work) plus a dissertation, which often takes years to research and write. A master's degree in business administration usually takes two years and can cost up to $40,000 in tuition.
Accredited online schools are somewhat cheaper. The University of Phoenix says its online students take two years to complete an 18-course MBA program that costs nearly $23,000. Tests are proctored, and no credit is given for work experience. At Karademir's school, "accelerated degree programs" require no exams and offer lots of credit for work experience. You can earn a Ph.D., for instance, in a year - if you've worked in a related field for 10 years and write an acceptable thesis. Other programs include a "guided self-study degree," for which exams can be "taken in the privacy of your home," for tuition ranging up to $7,400.
In three years, Karademir says, only three or four applicants have been turned away, and 100 degrees have been conferred.
"A lot of people fail" and get to retake their courses for free, he said. "These people have to earn degrees. We don't give degrees. . . . A degree mill gives degrees."
The school's corporate address is in Hawaii. A woman who answered the phone there said that location was "the nonacademic student center" and forwarded mail and messages "to the mainland."
The school's brochure includes the photo of the Strafford Building in Wayne. A visit there is a learning experience. Washington University is on the list of tenants. But there's no university inside. Employees of Executive Commons, which runs the office building, say they just accept mail for Karademir's Bryn Mawr office and patch calls through to it.
Ezell, the former FBI agent, contends these are telltale signs of a diploma mill. Karademir adamantly denies this. "We do not need the Wayne address to make ourselves look bigger than we are," Karademir wrote in his letter to the reporter.
[snip]
Rosenthal, the engineering dean, called the school "a new experiment in education." He is an associate professor of chemistry at Drexel University and said his main role at the Bryn Mawr school was as a curriculum consultant.
Karademir pointed out that both the Web site and the course catalog said his school was unaccredited.
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