The University of Idaho’s proposed $685 million deal to buy the for-profit University of Phoenix is becoming increasingly controversial in the state of Idaho.  It could get even more controversial if it turns out, as might well be the case, that the University of Phoenix, which has a long history of predatory practices and resulting
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I’m scheduled to offer a brief public comment at today’s session of the Department of Education’s negotiating rulemaking meetings, where representatives of various higher education constituencies have come together to debate new proposed regulations governing issues including distance education, state government authorization of schools, and standards for the private accrediting bodies that oversee schools.  My
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The Idaho House State Affairs Committee today voted unanimously for a resolution urging the Idaho State Board of Education to reconsider the deal for the University of Idaho to acquire the for-profit University of Phoenix, and authorizing the Legislature to sue if necessary to stop the purchase. The vote came just a day after University
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When three U.S. senators — Dick Durbin (D-IL), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) — wrote last fall to C. Scott Green, the president of the University of Idaho, to raise concerns about that state school’s plan to buy, for $685 million, the giant for-profit University of Phoenix, they received a hostile letter from
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  At its meeting today, NACIQI, the U.S. Department of Education’s outside advisory committee on accreditation policy, voted 12-2, after a debate, to endorse the Department staff recommendation of a 29-month renewal of recognition for accreditor Council on Occupational Education (COE). The opposing votes came from NACIQI vice chair Zakiya Smith Ellis, who was formerly
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Today I’m scheduled to present brief comments (3 minutes max allowed) at a meeting of NACIQI, the U.S. Department of Education’s advisory committee charged with reviewing the performance of the private accrediting agencies that oversee quality at colleges and universities. Here’s what I plan to say: In April 2020, I wrote an article about a
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“I’ve built a lot of buildings, and Black workers are great workers. They’ve done an incredible job,” said absurd ex-president Donald J. Trump, speaking to a group of Black Republicans in South Carolina on Friday. I don’t know if you have noticed, but a lot of people, in Trump’s accounting, have done An Incredible Job. Often
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This article was written by Kevin Richert and originally posted on IdahoEdNews.org on February 23, 2024. Kevin Richert is a senior reporter and blogger at Idaho Education News.  Republished by permission.  Here is the letter described in the article. Lawmakers should take “appropriate legal action” against the proposed University of Phoenix acquisition, an attorney for
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