Comment Archives: stories: Blogs: Slag Heap
Re: “EDMC reports revenues, enrollment down on heels of more layoffs”
My! My! Nelson spins again, "The current environment is unprecedented". We have been here before several times. We shut down the correspondence law and psychology degrees of the 1960's. Then we shut down what we called "back of a match pack" correspondence schools or the 70's. They offered degrees in detective work, paralegal, writing, and drawing (you know just like EDMC). That Mr. Nelson is facing almost insurmountable fraud charges, incurred as a result of his own direction and malfeasance, is no different than those who tried to continue to place the gas tank in the back of the Pinto--for those who may look for the origin or Nader of these consumer and government fraud laws--folks did time, big fines, lost jobs, but we now have cars that rarely blow up on impact.
The tragedy is that there are enormous possibilities here. Coursera is unveiling courses at a fraction of EDMC's cost yet with measurable subject mastery as the goal, rather than make believe hokum degrees. The good folks in these programs, however, are not taking home 40 and more million dollar annual salaries and they certainly are not funding political campaigns with the schools' revenues. Forget regional accreditation, you can accredit a hamburger flipping training program. These are courses designed to be accepted by competitive universities--something EDMC can not deliver and following this debacle will not likely ever be able to claim.
The horrendous tragedy here, just like the Pinto, is that hundreds of thousands of students have been suckered, conned, and deprived of their invested time. The forty or so lawsuits pending against EDMC will never be able to repay those students. The executives have been caught red handed and yet show no shame that they unemployed hundreds of otherwise well intending people; these people have families, these people also live in the same economy that sucks largely due to the policies of the people that Nelson, McKernan, and West personally fund. As this continues there will be more jobs lost, more impact on the communities where these jobs were lost, and certainly no way to repair the lost trust and time of both the employees and the students.
Re: “Miles jury finds for officers on one claim; deadlocks on more serious claims of abuse, false arrest”
How was the jury deadlocked, 6-6, 8-4, or as I guess, 11-1?
Re: “More EDMC layoffs reported”
Today, more cardboard boxes quietly made their way past the cubicles today in a pantomime version of the mass layoffs of January and July. No official email was sent, but the effect was the same: layoffs. We were all shuttled into another round of mass meetings where we were handed down the official/unofficial news. Troubling indeed.
Nevertheless, I do take offense that certain people care to call the school a "diploma mill" in the sense that unless they are employed at this school in academics, they don't know that a large percentage of students simply do not pass. Class is accredited, real, and full of assignments and deliverables that unless done, will earn you a failing grade. Try taking 10-40 classes without the aid of a lecturer where you have to absorb the material and synthesize it into points on assignments. And the aggregate student population enrolled simply cannot manage to complete this type of program, where only a self-starter could hope to finish. There might be instances of "skating by" or plagiarism, but the odds of finishing 40 classes with this tactic are slim to none. At least it's not like UOP where a significant portion of the grade comes from a team project and without doing anything at all, you could sponge off the "team" for your passing grade. The class is yours alone to fail.
Objectively though, the EDMC business model and the student population enrolled are a conflict of interest. That's hard enough without the slurs to the company or the personal attacks on employees. Pittsburgh aside, many of the jobs are in Phoenix. Have you been to Phoenix? There's not a lot of jobs or opportunities here in academia. If you don't work for UOP or EDMC, I guarantee you will be working in a school set up just like it with the same employee pool. Just what are we supposed to do?
Re: “EDMC to employees: No layoffs, but no raises either”
Even more lay offs today. 8.8.12. Yet again, letting go the incorrect people.
Re: “More EDMC layoffs reported”
I have worked in admissions for almost fifteen years. I worked for EDMC for two years....It was the WORST experience of my entire career! I am still blown away at the level of incompetence and GREED. We were hired to start a new campus that was delayed.... I kept thinking "as soon as we have students it will get better" I sat exactly ONE class and the day of the class start as we were waiting for our new students to arrive all of admissions was told to "go get on the phones" we were not even allowed to welcome our students on their first day!!! It was a NIGHTMARE! Those poor students
Re: “Miles case in jurors' hands as plaintiff's attorney makes final argument,”
The Jury has finished deliberating for the day.
Re: “More EDMC layoffs reported”
Hi Dice,
This is the definition of Diploma Mill: EDMC. You may not think this is a diploma mill, but you are entirely alone. Employees, instructors, regulators, investigators, students, and employers.
While it is tragic that EDMC employees will be losing their jobs, indeed. They are not losing their jobs by their own fault, it is the criminal actions of Todd Nelson, John McKernan, and Edward West that is causing it. The company will be sold, there are new models coming, all will be good. Meanwhile Nelson, McKernan, and West took home more than $100 million last year--do you like that too! I don't believe they will give one penny to the employees whose families will suffer. One the other hand I do believe that they will pay criminal defense attorneys big time.
Re: “More EDMC layoffs reported”
Why would anyone be happy that people are losing their jobs. Look up regional accreditation (SACS). This is what South University has and the school has been around since 1899. EDMC has made some mistakes, but do not think that this is a MILL. Do not forget that real people, with real lives work for EDMC. Lets hope that they rebound for the sake of jobs.
Re: “Transit service for disabled riders protected; outlook still uncertain for rest of system”
While the fgeraral government may think that they will have a significant return on socila and welfare cuts of this nature they truly will not. Cutting access will prevent peopkle from attending doctors appointments and other appointments which will show up in the form increased medical cost and in home services fro these populations This mentality also exist with their welfare cut in there that there is some financial return that they will realize with the savings and this is pirley delusional. Cutting cash welfare will require services in some other form such as homeless shelters,mental health service. The form of services is changing ffom cash assistance to social service assistance but you are not realizing any savings
Re: “Layoffs at EDMC continue in Phoenix”
The late Ann Richards said it best. "You can put lipstick on a pig, dress her up, call her Honey, and dance with her all night long, but in the morning, she is still a pig".
SO EDMC played the musical chairs game, big deal. They can't unscrew the tens of thousands of students they have screwed, and they can't unscrew the three hundred million Americans, whose tax dollars they have stolen.
Where McKernan goes has got to be a good story.
Re: “Layoffs at EDMC continue in Phoenix”
Open Letter to Todd Nelson
Apollo fired your sorry ass because all you could do is manipulate stock. You were given a golden opportunity in a ready made well funded company to build something of integrity and of monumental value. You can not manage. As it turns out you can not even hustle stock. You are a gutless manipulative weasel and have turned a promising Pittsburgh company that could have brought jobs, revenue, and pride to the Tri State area into a worthless, laughing stock of misdeeds and malfeasance.
You are a racist, class seeking, elitist, divisive punk who needs an ass wipe like McKernan to hold his hand. You exploit people of color, people who are disadvantaged, and people who dare to dream. You steal their time, the very thing that nobody can replace and you strangle their dreams. You are a bully who steals peoples' hopes, dreams, pride, self-respect, and futures instead of their lunch money. If you sit in a cell next to Maddoff forever it will be too short.
I once had a great sales trainer tell me that the most evil thing that a leader could do is to teach their sales force to lie and swindle. It makes them con artists and anybody can lie.The salamander that you are, you coerced young and desperate employees to twist and destroy their client. You used fear and intimidation to get them to act out your criminal bidding. EDMC was a prison experiment at its best. You did all of this while abusing the trust and sweat of taxpayers and have created a bubble that may cost this and other countries dearly.
This paper deserves exceptional notice for not bowing to your threats and bribes. They are an alternative paper. Like their readers they are maneuverable street fighters who are agile and long on memory. They enjoy watching a hypocrite self destruct. Look forward to the trip Nelson, but start getting used to the orange jumpsuit look.
Re: “Layoffs at EDMC continue in Phoenix”
So Goldman owns 54,000,000 shares. At 52 week high that was worth about 1.5b. Today: 220mm. Approx numbers. So they have a 1.3b paper loss on this pig. I wonder where this will be buried in their financials?
Re: “Layoffs at EDMC continue in Phoenix”
We knew that BOD members like EDMC were evil, we never envisioned them as stupid, Meredith Whitney. Another article in Daily Finance points out that EDMCs' regulatory, accreditation, and Title IV woes are dwarfed by the rising tens of thousands of former students who now find a voice in blogs like this. That word of mouth advertising on social media is something.
Thanks Charlie: EDMC at $4.26 is beautiful. Can't wait until August 9 to see Elder Todd sing and dance. I do believe that old Todd wishes he were back home in Utah with his wives.
Re: “Police review-board slots open”
Or we could give it teeth.
Re: “Layoffs at EDMC continue in Phoenix”
Face it, Goldman and Providence are playing with this thing like a half dead mouse. Wall Street is pretty bored with the shenanigans. Watching Todd Nelson and John McKernan is like watching a Willie Loman version of Groundhog Day.
If you think working there is bad. Try finding a job with a piece of paper that every employer in the country thinks is a milled diploma that you bought, and they are right!
Gotta hand it to the Pgh City Paper. Huffington, Higher Ed Watch, Seeking Alpha, and the PCP are either the only ones who have not gone to sleep or the only ones with the cajones to report it.
Re: “Layoffs at EDMC continue in Phoenix”
Why do they keep hiring admissions reps for the brown mackie college admission department when they are tanking.
Re: “Layoffs at EDMC continue in Phoenix”
I hate to say this coming as a former employee and one with lot of good friends still working here in town, but it wouldn't surprise me that this could happen really soon on Penn Avenue. I've talked with some people still slaving away in the Strip that being let go would be a reilef. I can certainly relate, it was for me.
Re: “Police review-board slots open”
A board that has no teeth, cut the funding for this.
Re: “More EDMC layoffs reported”
It is a serious tragedy that EDMC employees are losing their jobs. There are executives and directors who own this responsibility. However, in the end, this is the product that EDMC defends--that EDMC is anything more than a diploma mill is utter deception.
This is an actual assignment for a doctoral level class. I'll let you be the judge of the adequacy of this student for a loan for her education.
This was the "post" or one of two assignments each week. It was given an "A". The Class was L7101. Please read it carefully and decide if this person is worthy of getting your tax dollars for education, if this school is doing this person a service by allowing them entrance and sustaining them in school, and if this student might ever become employed, at the doctoral level, in anything but a workfare program? Do you think that a school that allows this student entrance and allows this student to be deluded that they are "doctoral" material is a rip off con job?
By the way, all five of the sources are to be cited in APA style, there are none as you can see and yet this student received an "A".
Assignment:
"Using theInternet, find at least five resources by Robert Quinn and Peter Vaill. Almost all of their leadership literature suggests that exemplary leaders must transform themselves before they can effectively lead and motivate anorganization. Respond to this suggestion drawing upon at least 3-5 peer-reviewed references. In a Word document, compare and contrast your personal style with the following leadership practices discussed in Kouzes and Posner: Model the way. Enable others to act. Encourage the heart. How do your leadership practices differ from the ones discussed in Kouzes and Posner? Discuss how you plan to decrease the differences. How will you incorporate these practices into your personal leadership style? Develop personal change strategies to incorporate these leadership practices into your personal leadership style.
Students' "A" submission:
Module 6 Discussion Question 1Model the way:
I really don’t have one leadership style I try to be veryflexible. In my leadership role I try to encourageeveryone. I don’t believe in the words I can’t because I know aperson can do the impossible if they put fourth an effort. Thereare times I would like to quit but I realize that you must talk the talk awalk the walk. You must be self motivated and be able to motivateothers in an organization. As a leader the main time you stop modelingthe way that’s when you realize how many people were modeling them selvesafter you. As a mother of six I must set the example. Myeldest daughter when I went to college and graduated she told me she wasgoing to do the same thing. Many times she wanted to give up but Iencouraged her that she could do anything she put her mind to. Enabling others toact: I was told that Icould be hard at times but I had to learn not to show favoritism. Toget a team to work together can be difficult but by giving everyone the sameinformation and keeping an open line of communication every thing will cometogether. Within the church I have people working in positions they hadnever worked in before many would complain that they are not prepared but bymotivating them they would do the job and it would always turn out betterthan what they expected. Believe it or not but they would come and tellme thank you for believing in them. Many times people can see what youcan achieve before you do. There were two ladies that wanted to do fundraisers around the same time. One came and was complaining that theother lady was trying to hinder her project. After explaining to her thatthey had to different project in two locations I told do what you can andallow her to do hers, and it was going to turn out better the sheexpected and it did. Getting to know their personality typeshelps a lot also. Within the church I try to encourage as many peopleas I can to stay in school and to take classes in the local college becauseyou don’t know what you can do until you do it. In essence what I am sayingis support you worker ideas and actions build their confidence level up intheir abilities and integrity them motivate them and pay attention to theirfeelings. Encourage the heart: First you must find theirstrengths and build on them. We all have weakness but don’t allow theweakness to weigh you down build on them. Reward your employees in words andgifts this builds trust and lets them know how much you appreciate them. Oncethey take on a project I don’t interfere with it if they ask my onion thenand only them do I give it. If something doesn’t work out I don’t beatthem up with it because I see it as a part of the learning process. There will be times thing want work in your, favor but learn from it.