03-28-2008, 04:36 PM
Three ex-staffers accuse Kaplan of wrongdoing
Quote:Mar. 13--Skirmishes between Fort Lauderdale online institution Kaplan University and three former faculty members that reached the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have now landed in federal court.
In a whistle-blower action, a former dean and two department chairman accused Kaplan of accepting unqualified students and pressuring faculty to grade leniently to keep students enrolled so it could continue receiving hundreds of millions in student financial aid each year.
The lawsuit was unsealed in Tampa court last week. The Justice Department declined to intervene in the case, a decision it said "should not be construed as a statement about the merits of the case."
Kaplan in an e-mail called the plaintiffs "disgruntled former employees." The university said the three have been making "outlandish claims," including to the EEOC, only to have them "repeatedly rejected."
Kaplan fired two of the plaintiffs -- Jude Gillespie of Miami Beach, and Carlos Urquilla-Diaz. A third plaintiff, law studies dean Ben Wilcox of Oklahoma, left the university by mutual agreement, a spokeswoman said.
The university says it has "strong evidence" that one of the plaintiffs illegally accessed Kaplan's e-mail system to send threatening messages to students, faculty and executives. Kaplan reported the matter to the FBI.
The trio's suit alleges Kaplan, one of the largest online universities in the country with 37,000 students as of Dec. 31, has defrauded the federal government by receiving more than $500 million a year in student financial aid since 1999 for running an "online diploma mill."
Among the allegations: That Kaplan awarded trips and club rewards to enrollment counselors who recruited the most students. (Other for-profit institutions have gotten in trouble for linking compensation and recruitment because it can lead to high-pressure sales tactics.) The suit also alleged that Kaplan urged faculty to inflate grades to keep students enrolled.
Kaplan, part of the Washington Post Co., called the 15-page lawsuit "a laundry list of unfounded allegations."
"Kaplan University operates fully in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations, and provides an excellent education to thousands of students each year," it said in the e-mail.
The higher-education division of Kaplan Inc., Kaplan University's parent, generated about $1 billion in revenue last year, a 19 percent increase from 2006.
The division received $745 million in federal student financial aid last year.
