For-profit chicanery

Whistle-Blower Alleges That For-Profit College Paid Incentives to Student Recruiters (Chronicle of Higher Education)

The Education Management Corporation, dinged in a Frontline program this week for allegedly stampeding students to enroll at its Argosy University by pushing their "hot button," now faces a whistle-blower lawsuit alleging that student recruiters at its South University Online had been paid based on how many students they drummed up, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The practice, if proven, would be a violation of federal student-loan law and could be costly to the university – the False Claims Act, under which the lawsuit was filed, calls for triple damages. The allegation, from a former employee, doesn't specify how much money is at stake, but the university is disclosing the lawsuit in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing today, suggesting it could have a material affect on its finances.

According to SOCCCD Chancellor Raghu Mathur’s biography, “Mathur serves as an Advisory Board Member for the School of Education at Argosy University where he also teaches courses in educational leadership and management to doctoral students.”

One of our deans here at IVC has a history of promoting for-profit universities, including Argosy, where she teaches as an adjunct.

Wagnerian episodes (red meat tossing for the Lord)

.....The always uninspired Matt Cunningham of Red County today reported on the race for the Republican nomination in the 70th Assembly District. (AD70 Watch: Jerry Amante Starts Mailing)
.....That’s the race that SOCCCD Board President Don Wagner hopes to win. He’s up against Tustin Mayor Jerry Amante and Irvine Councilman Steven Choi.
.....Matt notes that Amante has raised more money than Wagner or Choi, but Wagner and Choi have more money in the bank, in part because both have put up a fair amount of their own cash: $122,000 and $100,000 respectively.
.....Gosh, I didn’t know Don was so wealthy!
.....(On his website, Don crows that he has "bested all other candidates in the race with $145,700 raised to date and $109,300 in the bank." Odd, isn't it, that he fails to mention that he "bested" the others thanks to donating himself $122,000.)
.....Amante put out a mailer earlier this week that has raised eyebrows. It sports a photo of Amante with County GOP chief Scott Baugh. But Baugh has not endorsed Amante.
.....Matt, ever the Boy Scout, spoke with Baugh and, he says, the latter has instructed Amante “not to use his image anymore.”
.....I checked out Amante’s campaign webpage. It lists Orange County Public Administrator (and SOCCCD trustee) John Williams among those who have endorsed the fellow.
.....Oddly, on his campaign website, Don Wagner also lists John Williams as among those who endorse his candidacy!
.....He also lists Tom Fuentes!
.....Elsewhere on the site, Don offers an “editorial” entitled The Fight for God in the Public Square. There, he declares:

Not long before the Christmas Holidays, a group of leftist community college professors and a couple of anonymous students, working with lawyers from the atheist group Americans United for Separation of Church and State, filed a federal lawsuit against the South Orange County Community College District and several members of its Board of Trustees, including me. The gist of their complaint was that a speech I gave in support of religious freedom, a joke another trustee told based on the Biblical story of Jonah and the Whale, a patriotic slide show with a single mention of Jesus, and the college district's practice of opening commencement ceremonies, awards ceremonies, and other events with prayer, all violated the U.S. and California Constitutions.

Wagner goes on to refer to his opponents as “the atheist left.” But Don should know better. In fact, theists are among the group who have brought this suit. (I am an agnostic.) The suit is not an attack on religion by atheists; rather, it is an appeal to the Constitutional notion that the government may not act to “establish” religion or a religion. Of course government does that when its officials, in their governmental capacities, offer prayers, at least in some settings.
.....Neither is Americans United an "atheist" organization. As AUSCS explains on its website, “Americans United does not take positions on theological questions and does not oppose any group because of its religious beliefs.”
.....Well, I get it. Don’s just tossing red meat is all. Gotta give those rubes what they want, eh Don?
.....And dude! When are you gonna thank me for my assist in your candidate statement?

P.S. For what it’s worth (not much), Art Pedroza calls Don a “knuckle-dragging social nutter": Should Steven Choi be at all worried about Don Wagner and Jerry Amante? (OJ Blog) OJ’s Vern Nelson is even less flattering, describing “the execrable Don Wagner” as “an inveterate knuckle-dragging ‘social conservative,’ a fanatic adherent of the Orwellian-named Education Alliance and a firm believer in bringing spanking into our schools.”

College students who pray won't be punished (San Francisco Chronicle)

An East Bay community college district has agreed to respect students' freedom of religious expression in settling a lawsuit filed by two women who were threatened with suspension after one of them prayed with an ailing teacher in an office at the College of Alameda. ¶ In the settlement, announced this week, the four-campus Peralta Community College District recognized the right to "non-disruptively pray on campus." The district also agreed to remove all records of disciplinary action against the students and pay their attorneys' fees, said Kevin Snider, a lawyer with the Pacific Justice Institute, which represented the students. ¶ Students still won't be allowed to lead organized prayers in class, but can pray in other campus locations "to the same extent that they may engage in any other free speech," Snider said….