Columbia Pacific University
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Columbia Pacific University (CPU) is a now defunct nontraditional distance learning school in California. A pioneer of distance education founded in 1978, CPU gained wide recognition [1], and in 1986 became a California State approved institution, comparable to regionally accredited schools [2]. However, the school was unable to adjust to changing State regulations and in 2000 was closed by court order [3]. Nevertheless, CPU degrees earned before June 25, 1997, remain to be legal and valid [4]. Reorganized by alumni, CPU[5] at present is a non-profit organization registered in Delaware[6], and the CPU Press continues its publication program [7].
Contents |
[edit] History
In 1983, after four years of operating under a basic licensing (called "authorization"), CPU's programs in Administration and Management received Institutional Approval from the California Department of Education. By 1986, all of CPU's programs received Full Institutional Approval, wherein the Department of Education cited CPU as comparing favorably with accredited programs in the US: the entire CPU curriculum was described as "consistent in quality with curricula offered by appropriate established accredited institutions which are recognized by the United States Department of Education" after it impaneled "a qualified visiting committee and conducted a comprehensive on-site qualitative review and assessment of the institution and all programs offered".[citation needed]
Under pressure from a lobbying effort to change California's Postsecondary Education programs, the State legislated the new Private Postsecondary Education Act, which would drastically change State regulations for approved schools in 1989.[citation needed] However, CPU received re-approval in 1991 after favorably passing a site visit from several State and Re-approval Committee representatives. Meanwhile regulations continued to change rapidly and the president of CPU began reporting difficulty keeping up with regulations under the new California Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education (BPPVE). Under the BPPVE, the State's definition of "Approval" was changed to reflect basic compliance with the new regulations.[citation needed]
In 1992 BPPVE executive Sheila Hawkins told employee Dr. Betty Dow that CPU would not be re-approved, and that CPU "were in for a big surprise".[8] [9] This came true in 1995, and CPU failed its re-approval visit. Among 88 "errors of fact" the Committee wrote that two black African deans at CPU had inferior degrees, although both deans were graduates of accredited European universities with distinguished histories[citation needed]. CPU was unsuccessful in making its initial appeal, which it lost in 1997. Under legal advice, its leaders decided to remain open while making an appeal to the State Appeals Court. This appeal was lost in 2000 and CPU was ordered to close, something the state had been seeking for more than two years. The university had been operating without state permission since June 1997, when a judge upheld a stinging review of the school's academic standards by the Council for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education, the state agency that formerly regulated private education. Judge Lynn Duryee on December 2, 1999, granted a request by state deputy attorney general Asher Rubin to impose a permanent injunction against the school's operation, and to refund fees to all of its students. In addition, Duryee issued four separate fines totaling $10,000 for the university's "deceptive and unfair practices" in continuing to operate without authorization and make false claims about its status. [10]
[edit] 1986 review
In the 1986 review, the boilerplate text of the California State Department of Education approval states that, "The curriculum is consistent in quality with curricula offered by appropriate established accredited institutions which are recognized by the United States Department of Education or the Committee of Bar Examiners for the State of California"; and "The course for which the degree is granted achieves its professed or claimed academic objective for higher education, with verifiable evidence of academic achievement comparable to that required of graduates of other recognized schools accredited by an appropriate accrediting commission recognized by the United States Department of Education or the Committee of Bar Examiners for the State of California".[11]
[edit] 1994 application, 1994 and 1995 site visits
A 1995 site visit committee of the Council for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education found that CPU had not met the new regulations that had recently come into effect. Columbia Pacific last applied to the council in 1994; following a period of review and response, the council denied the school permission to operate as a degree-granting institution in December 1995. In 1994 the county discovered eight permit-less dormitories on Carr's property at 148 Wilson Hill Road. He was cited for multiple zoning, safety, and health violations; and he was forced to remove the illegal structures, as well as to strike references to "a retreat center on a beautiful 14-acre ranch in northern Marin county" in Columbia Pacific's promotional literature. [12] While CPU had passed its 1991 site visit and all visits since 1978, it failed the 1995 visit on the basis of 88 points. The school's administrators appealed this decision but an administrative court judge ruled against the appeal on June 10, 1997. The Associated Press reported that CPU "had virtually no academic standards." [13]
California Deputy Attorney General Asher Rubin blasted CPU in his complaint, calling the school "a diploma mill which has been preying on California consumers for too many years" and "a consumer fraud, a complete scam."[14] The suit also called Columbia Pacific a "phony operation" offering "totally worthless [degrees]...to enrich its unprincipled promoters."[15]
Records of the state Council's records in reviewing the university list numerous violations of academic standards, including:
- One master's-degree student was given credit for "a learning contract describing how he would continue taking dance lessons and watch dance demonstrations in order to improve his skills as a Country Western dancer."
- A Ph.D. dissertation written in Spanish was approved by four faculty who cannot speak the language.
- One dissertation "had no hypothesis, no data collection, and no statistical analysis. A member of the visiting committee characterized the work as more like a project paper at the college freshman level." The dissertation, The Complete Guide to Glass Collecting, was 61 pages long.
- At least nine students who received the Ph.D. degree in 1994 had been enrolled less than 20 months, four of them less than 12. [16] [17]
Among other items, the administrative appeals judge found that CPU:
- awarded excessive credit for prior experiential learning to many students;
- failed to employ duly qualified faculty; and
- failed to meet various requirements for issuing Ph.D. degrees. [18] [19]
In rendering her decision, Judge Duryee noted that the testimony of satisfied graduates doesn't amount to complying with the law. "The decision is not whether or not the students are dissatisfied," she said. "I mean that is not the test. It's like saying, you know, that prostitution should not be illegal because the customers are satisfied. It's not the test." [20]
[edit] Notable alumni
- Jerry Bergman, young earth creationist
- Mark Staff Brandl, artist and critic
- Barbara De Angelis, internationally recognized relationship author, [21], [22], [23]
- Roger J. Geronimo, economist, opera singer, CPU president
- John Gray, author of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus
- Paul Hartal, painter and poet.
- David R. Hawkins, author of Power Vs. Force [24], [25]
- Rochelle Holt, poet, novelist and publisher
- Karen Kahn, aviation pioneer, B767 captain, author, [26], [27]
- Frank Prochaska, international lecturer, Fulbright scholar [28] (PDF), [29]
- Wallace W. Rhodes, pioneer of microbiological engineering [30]
- Jon Sigurdsson, minister of industry and commerce, Government of Iceland (2006) [31]
- Dave Thiessen, Oxford University Roundtable scholar (2007), [32]
- George J. Vargo, recipient of the American Academy of Health Physics Award (2001), managed the Chernobyl Dose Reduction Project [33], [34]
- Harold Wilson, former British Prime Minister, Honorary Fellow [35]
- Jerome Workman, molecular spectroscopy researcher, [36], [37], [38] (doc file)
- David Young, producing director of the American College Theatre Festival [39]
[edit] References
- Bears Guide to Nontraditional Education, 1982 Edition
- California Department of Education Approval Document, 1983
- California Department of Education Approval Document, 1986
- California CPPVE Re-approval Document, 1991
- Independent Educational Consultant's Review of CPPVE Re-approval Process, 1995
- Report of the CPPVE Committee Site Visit, 1990
- Report of the CPPVE Committee Site Visit, 1995
- Stewart, David W., & Spille, Henry A. (1988). Diploma Mills: Degrees of Fraud. New York: American Council on Education and Macmillan Publishing Company.
- Testimony of Dr. Betty Dow: Court of Appeal of the State of California, First Appellate District, Division One. The Appeal # is AO 89826, in reference to Marin Superior Court Case No. 172634
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] Official webpages
- Columbia Pacific University website
- Columbia Pacific University Alumni e-Newletter
[edit] Documents
- Altcpualumni.org Contains some documents
- California Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education December 2000 Press Release Information on CPU's closure
