Ghosts of a Shuttered College Follow Weld Back Into Politics
Mr. Urquilla, along with several other former Decker officials, have come forward to describe practices during Mr. Weld's 10-month tenure as chief executive that they say they considered improper and possibly illegal. The school closed in October.
A former admissions director has described the routine falsification of federal loan applications. The former head of Decker's online program says he saw systematic recruitment of students for Internet-based courses who had no access to a computer. A former instructor in Atlanta says administrators routinely shared test answers with students.
And a former instructor in Louisville says that in 2004 - when Mr. Weld was an active board member in Decker's parent company but not yet its chief executive - officials asked him to set up a sham classroom to fool accreditation inspectors.
In two lengthy interviews, Mr. Weld said repeatedly that he never saw evidence of wrongdoing and had not heard the complaints about document falsification or the way the college was handling loan applications. And no one who has stepped forward has said Mr. Weld was told directly of wrongdoing.
The story of Decker College is a cautionary tale about the pitfalls facing commercial colleges as they seek to build profits by recruiting struggling students eligible for financial aid while honoring their obligations as educators and stewards of federal loans.
Ghosts of a Shuttered College Follow Weld Back Into Politics
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Carlos Urquilla said he felt lucky when he was hired a year ago to be a dean at Decker College here. A former Army lieutenant straight out of law school, Mr. Urquilla liked the way the school sold itself as a place to help poor students learn a trade.
But in his first weeks at the for-profit school, Mr. Urquilla says he found employees falsifying student attendance records, instructors helping students to cheat, and recruiters arranging federal loans for students who could not read.
Mr. Urquilla said he was fired after he complained to superiors. Months later, William F. Weld, then Decker's chief executive officer, who is now seeking the Republican nomination for governor of New York, signed a severance agreement with Mr. Urquilla. Its terms required him to keep quiet about the school, which offered courses in carpentry, electrical work and other trades, but he considers the agreement breached.
Mr. Urquilla, along with several other former Decker officials, have come forward to describe practices during Mr. Weld's 10-month tenure as chief executive that they say they considered improper and possibly illegal. The school closed in October...
posted by Whitney Tilson at 9:35 AM
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