‘Diploma mill’ under attack

Workers soon to be laid off at an auto plant in Indiana have spent at least $42,000 in educational retraining money by buying worthless advanced degrees from a “diploma mill” based in Spokane, an Indiana official says.

The details are contained in a letter from the state of Indiana’s Commission on Proprietary Education to Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire.

“I ask you to take any and all appropriate action to prosecute and close any Washington-based operations of Saint Regis University,” Indiana education commissioner Jeff Weber wrote in his June 21 letter to Gregoire.

On Friday, Weber said the Washington attorney general’s office had acknowledged receiving his letter, but taken no action.

Gregoire, who wants to be Washington’s next governor, said through a spokeswoman that she’s aware of the issue but wouldn’t say why a consumer protection action hasn’t been initiated or if one is forthcoming.

“It continues to be a problem,” Weber said in a telephone interview from his office in Indianapolis.

In Indiana, he said, Saint Regis University “convinced the Chrysler Corporation” that their degrees would be beneficial to foundry workers whose jobs are being phased out.

“As a result of Saint Regis University sales in Indiana, at the minimum, some 76 Chrysler employees have spent down their educational training allotment provided by Chrysler in an amount estimated to be at least $42,000,” Weber said in the letter to Gregoire.

“Not until after these Chrysler employees had committed payments to Saint Regis was it learned that they sell diplomas with no instruction and no validation for what they called ‘credit for life experiences,’ ” the letter said.

Weber said if a diploma-mill sales operation existed in Indiana, state officials would have acted by now to shut it down.

The issue of the Spokane-based university was made public last year in a story published in The Spokesman-Review and subsequent stories broadcast by WTHR-TV, the NBC affiliate in Indianapolis, Ind.

In another story, The Spokesman-Review reported in December that Glen Blomgren, who operates the Christa McAuliffe Academy in Yakima, claimed to parents of prospective students that he had his master’s and doctoral degrees from Saint Regis.

Blomgren, now a Republican candidate for county commissioner in Yakima County, later removed those “credentials” from his biography posted on the Web site for his alternative, online high school.

In Spokane, Dixie Randock, a former Realtor who is affiliated with Saint Regis University and Branford Academy, did not respond Friday to a request for comment.

Last year, she said her operations are completely legal and fulfill a public service.

So far, no state or federal agency has taken any action to stop sales of high school diplomas from Branford Academy or advanced degrees from its affiliate, Saint Regis University.

The state Legislature also has not followed four other states, including Oregon, where it is illegal to either sell or use degrees from nonaccredited universities.

A half-dozen public school teachers in Georgia, who needed master’s degrees to maintain their employment and pay grade, are among those who have purchased degrees from Saint Regis University, according to experts who track diploma mills.

The operations frequently give credit for “life experiences” and issue bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees after the payment of a few thousand dollars.

Gregoire, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, issued a statement through a spokeswoman when contacted for comment on Friday.

“Phony degrees can be a rip-off to people who buy them,” Gregoire said. “They are harmful to employers and to those with legitimate degrees.”

“Our office will continue to look into each and every matter regarding this issue,” the attorney general said.

At the attorney general’s Spokane office, Assistant Attorney General Jack Zurlini of the Consumer Protection Unit said he couldn’t discuss the matter.

“All I can share with you is that we are acutely aware of this issues involved,” Zurlini said. “We can neither confirm nor deny the existence of any investigation.”