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First, I want to thank those who will take time to read this. Many more thanks for those with an encouraging word and gems of advice. Those with nothing good to say, please, now is not the time. Let us do that at another time over a beer. I mean "Humble sloth".
Several years ago, I was hounded out of a pharmacy school for a fictitious academic dismissal. I know some of you have their antannae up because 'a school cannot just do that'….well, with stiff competition to make money off pharmacy students, dont be surprised. But again, it is my story as I know it. I did not take the class that I allegedly failed, neither did the instructor of the class grade me. The grade used to hound me out was given by the dean. I was also forced through a charade of appeals to create a sense of fairness and was eventualy kicked out. Why the dean? Caught in a lie and embarassed before others. He got demoted after.
I reached out to ACPE (the accreditation body) to report the violated policies of this program. ACPE rebuked my complaints…and here I thought ACPE had a role of checking these schools…no? According to the institutional grievance policy, ACPE was the last stop.
Reading through and sharing with others, I found that ACPE followed (is required to) certain Federal Regulations when responding to complains. Something along the lines of equitably, fair and timely. Federal code 34 section 602. ACPE infact claims that it has an obligation to assure itself that programs it accredits operate honestly and frankly. It asks complainants to file complains in writing and in detail.
The first anonymous complaint touched on 5 violated policies - explained on 4 pages.
Here is ACPE's 'equitable, fair and timely response'
"….I have to wonder what is your source since all your complaint is second hand with no evidence of having tried to validate the things you charge. I doubt anything I can say or do will change your pre-conceived thoughts regarding ACPE's evaluations or findings…" At the time I found this very strange….what are they talking about? I had no pre-conceived thoughts. Shocked I was.
Second complain; ACPE insisted that the complainant be revealed or they would not investigate the school. Gave permission around noon and few hours later, the school had responded with over 30 pages justifying their position. Of course ACPE refused to let me see the over 30 pages (had to file FOIA to get them). ACPE again 'fairly, equitably and timely' responded:
"Preliminary inquiry shows the school was fair and followed it's laid down procedure. ACPE's is only obligated to ensure that the school follows it's policies and procedures" End of response.
Next, a friend adviced to head to the secretary of education: specifically Higher education accreditation Directorate. ACPE fowarded the over 30 pages to the department of education to 'show the students complaints lack merit'. Again the DoE also said 'it seems the procedure is fair' and refused to show the details.
So I filed a FOIA to see the 30 pages of fairness. Such lies and contradictions. My former dean lied so much, that if ACPE had only read the first 4 Pages, they would have see that they contradicted each other, were full of ommisions and fabrications. Or maybe they had no interest reading any of it. So much for investigation.
But that is not all, I had asked my represetative to look into it. The school/ACPE again persisted with the lies. This time ACPE embellished the lies with it's opinion. I have evidence.
My question is this:
Are there any protections that accrediting bodies have which allow them to misrepresent, encourage untruthful deans and ignore federal regulations? All the people I have talked to say; ACPE cannot be sued. Why not? I will probably find out soon, won't I.
Are they not misleading people into believing programs adhere to their regulations, when in reality, some do not. And ACPE has no way to verify that schools do what they claim, except by asking them. Why would a for-profit school incriminate itself? Where does critical thinking begin.
Anyone who has interacted with ACPE, PLEASE share here or in private. But members, please, feel free to talk.
Several years ago, I was hounded out of a pharmacy school for a fictitious academic dismissal. I know some of you have their antannae up because 'a school cannot just do that'….well, with stiff competition to make money off pharmacy students, dont be surprised. But again, it is my story as I know it. I did not take the class that I allegedly failed, neither did the instructor of the class grade me. The grade used to hound me out was given by the dean. I was also forced through a charade of appeals to create a sense of fairness and was eventualy kicked out. Why the dean? Caught in a lie and embarassed before others. He got demoted after.
I reached out to ACPE (the accreditation body) to report the violated policies of this program. ACPE rebuked my complaints…and here I thought ACPE had a role of checking these schools…no? According to the institutional grievance policy, ACPE was the last stop.
Reading through and sharing with others, I found that ACPE followed (is required to) certain Federal Regulations when responding to complains. Something along the lines of equitably, fair and timely. Federal code 34 section 602. ACPE infact claims that it has an obligation to assure itself that programs it accredits operate honestly and frankly. It asks complainants to file complains in writing and in detail.
The first anonymous complaint touched on 5 violated policies - explained on 4 pages.
Here is ACPE's 'equitable, fair and timely response'
"….I have to wonder what is your source since all your complaint is second hand with no evidence of having tried to validate the things you charge. I doubt anything I can say or do will change your pre-conceived thoughts regarding ACPE's evaluations or findings…" At the time I found this very strange….what are they talking about? I had no pre-conceived thoughts. Shocked I was.
Second complain; ACPE insisted that the complainant be revealed or they would not investigate the school. Gave permission around noon and few hours later, the school had responded with over 30 pages justifying their position. Of course ACPE refused to let me see the over 30 pages (had to file FOIA to get them). ACPE again 'fairly, equitably and timely' responded:
"Preliminary inquiry shows the school was fair and followed it's laid down procedure. ACPE's is only obligated to ensure that the school follows it's policies and procedures" End of response.
Next, a friend adviced to head to the secretary of education: specifically Higher education accreditation Directorate. ACPE fowarded the over 30 pages to the department of education to 'show the students complaints lack merit'. Again the DoE also said 'it seems the procedure is fair' and refused to show the details.
So I filed a FOIA to see the 30 pages of fairness. Such lies and contradictions. My former dean lied so much, that if ACPE had only read the first 4 Pages, they would have see that they contradicted each other, were full of ommisions and fabrications. Or maybe they had no interest reading any of it. So much for investigation.
But that is not all, I had asked my represetative to look into it. The school/ACPE again persisted with the lies. This time ACPE embellished the lies with it's opinion. I have evidence.
My question is this:
Are there any protections that accrediting bodies have which allow them to misrepresent, encourage untruthful deans and ignore federal regulations? All the people I have talked to say; ACPE cannot be sued. Why not? I will probably find out soon, won't I.
Are they not misleading people into believing programs adhere to their regulations, when in reality, some do not. And ACPE has no way to verify that schools do what they claim, except by asking them. Why would a for-profit school incriminate itself? Where does critical thinking begin.
Anyone who has interacted with ACPE, PLEASE share here or in private. But members, please, feel free to talk.
