Contreras Fairy Tale Exposed

[Armando Ramos]

When he's not writing his gay poetry or bird watching, Alan Contreras--the adjudicated anti-Christian bigot and civil rights violator--likes to share diploma mill fairy tales with the public.

His latest effort is getting the sort of rave reviews you would expect the work of a pathological liar to receive--even at DD!

In fact, Hungry Ghost's deconstruction of Anal's fairy story was so devastating I'm just going to copy his post here after the original story.  Very good work HG.  Let's hope the kkklones read and consider every word, and perhaps there will be fewer of them as a result.

Diploma mills: Lessons from the Galle and Colvin cases

Published: Monday, July 19, 2010, 8:00 AM

by Anal Contreras

Two interesting cases covered by the media in recent weeks have brought some attention to the problem of degrees from diploma mills. The Oregonian's excellent coverage of the Patti Galle case in West Linn brings some helpful visibility to the problem of fake degrees. The Bend Bulletin discovered that Clark Colvin, a Republican candidate for governor, was claiming degrees from two unaccredited degree suppliers. These stories helped show how common the practice of using bogus educational credentials is.

The West Linn case revolved around Galle's acquisition of a so-called "degree" from an entity that does business under the name "Redding University." Some people have trouble grasping the fact that Redding University does not exist, referring to its list of programs and online delivery even while calling it a possible diploma mill. In fact, there is no such thing as Redding University. It's simply a name given by its owner to a business that sells fake college degrees. It has no programs or "nontraditional delivery" mode, let alone faculty.

In the United States, there is no private right to issue college degrees. All degree-granting, including that done by religious colleges and private colleges, is controlled exclusively by governments. That has been true since the founding of the U.S. as a nation, when Harvard University had to get a royal charter, later superseded by a Massachusetts charter, in order to issue degrees, even though it was a religious institution and could teach without that government imprimatur. Degrees, as such, are exclusively controlled by governments and have been for hundreds of years.

A college degree, to be valid in the U.S., has to come from a school that has express written authority to issue degrees given to it from Congress, a state government or a recognized Indian tribe. All degrees provided by U.S. entities lacking authorization from any of these three kinds of government are always fake and always invalid. Use of such so-called "degrees" in Oregon, Washington and many other states is illegal.

The difference between the Galle case (a fake degree bought from a fake college) and the Colvin case is that Colvin acquired two of his degrees from entities that had the legal authority to issue degrees (one operated in Hawaii and one in Switzerland and various small islands) but had no accreditation or national recognition. Under Oregon law, such degrees can legally be used in the private sector provided that they always carry a disclaimer of accreditation. Colvin, having not used the disclaimer, was asked by the state to either use it or voluntarily cease using the degrees. He chose the latter, and dealt with the situation in a prompt and professional manner once he found out the problem.

In order for college degrees to have value, their nature must be protected by law. That's why Oregon law restricts their use to those issued by legitimate colleges. The Office of Degree Authorization exists in part to investigate the use on nonstandard degrees and enforce this law.

For further information see the Office of Degree Authorization website:

Here's the Top 10 sources of invalid degree reports or inquiries received by ODA:

Almeda University
Belford University
Breyer State University
Canyon College
Corllins University
MUST University
Rochville University
Rushmore University
Washington International University

Yup, only nine schools listed in AC's top ten.  Must be another one of those peculiar government accounting methods.  

Notice how Gollin purports to "quote" the original article at DD but instead adds an extra school in a lame attempt to hide his dear friend's error.  Yet another example of those Princeton ethics.  

Maybe somebody from an unaccredited school can explain to Gollin that it's not really a "quote" if you don't actually quote the original material.  

In the United States, there is no private right to issue college degrees.

I disagree with that statement emphatically and unequivocably.

He seems to think that people require government permission for every private decision and that the public is prohibited from taking any action for which there's no prior authorization.

But here in the United States, that's not how the system works. Liberty ultimately resides with the people and it's the people themselves who are soverign. Power flows from the bottom up, not from the top-down as with absolute Monarchs or the Chinese Party. That's why we have elections to choose government officials and periodically get the opportunity to vote the bastards out. They are our representatives and whatever power they exercise is power that we delegated to them, power that's being wielded in our name.

The people's representatives might indeed vote to pass laws to regulate various matters that are believed to be in the public interest. And in fact, every state does have some kind of regulations on its books regarding higher education.

But that doesn't mean that the right originates with the state, to be distributed down to the sheep-like masses as the enlightened leadership sees fit.

All degree-granting, including that done by religious colleges and private colleges, is controlled exclusively by governments.

So what about university boards of trustees? Church governing bodies in the case of church schools? Presidents, deans and faculty committees? Owners in the case of proprietorial schools? The "exclusively" in that sentence looks like hyperbole.

That has been true since the founding of the U.S. as a nation, when Harvard University had to get a royal charter, later superseded by a Massachusetts charter, in order to issue degrees, even though it was a religious institution and could teach without that government imprimatur.

Harvard never had a royal charter and Constitutional religious exemptions didn't exist in Harvard's early years (not least because the Constitution with its Separation and Free Exercise clauses hadn't even been written yet). There was this thing called the American Revolution that happened during those years somewhere.

Degrees, as such, are exclusively controlled by governments and have been for hundreds of years.

A college degree, to be valid in the U.S., has to come from a school that has express written authority to issue degrees given to it from Congress, a state government or a recognized Indian tribe.

Alan appears to be trying to invent a new and fundamentally misleading definition of "valid".

A degree diploma is a statement by a university asserting the nature and academic legitimacy of a graduate's education. That doesn't depend in any way on Congress, States or Indian tribes. It does depend on the academic credibiity of the university that awarded the degree. That's an academic criterion and it's why accreditation is so important.

All degrees provided by U.S. entities lacking authorization from any of these three kinds of government are always fake and always invalid.

Which neatly replaces academic criteria of 'validity' with political criteria.

Apparently it doesn't matter whether or not a school's program is academically worthless, provided only that the proper level of government authorized it. Nor does it seem to matter whether or not a school's program is thoroughly impressive and academically world-class. Academic considerations suddenly become irrelevant.

This provides perfect justification for the worst off-shore medical schools that plant themselves on remote islands that agree before they even arrive to give them formal approval and forward their names to the WHO in Geneva. Even Saint Regis University would seem to pass the government-validity test, since it clearly had acquired the approval of the government of a soverign state. That was the argument that its representatives made so determinedly at the time and for which they are ridiculed so mercilessly now.

Educational value devolves into empty formalities.

http://www.degreediscussion.com/forums/v...f=5&t=7526

Anal's fine work is getting him some warm complements at OregonLive.com too.  Considering how these self-promoters and hacks like to censor the truth, we'll include the comments here in case they disappear later:

July 19, 2010 at 8:59PM

A federal court ruled that homosexual Alan Contreras is an anti-Christian bigot and civil rights violator. He was required to take remedial defamation law courses as part of another litigation settlement. He has no credibility on this topic. The Galle case did not "revolve" around her Redding degree, but rather the fact that when she completed her candidate information form she claimed a degree when in fact she had no degree. She originally told the investigator that her degree was from accredited San Jose State. The fact that Contreras cannot ascertain these simple facts, or chooses to skew the story with lies, demonstrates his incompetence and utter lack of suitability for the government position he holds. It's time Oregon taxpayers got rid of useless, incompetent liars and bigots like Alan Contreras.

July 19, 2010 at 10:23PM

Contreras lies about Colvin’s degree. He has a PhD from regionally accredited Golden Gate University.

Contreras lies when he says Harvard had a "royal charter." This is an easily verifiable fact, but he didn't bother to do even perfunctory research. He just makes it up as he goes along, and expects the gullible public to believe him.

Contreras lies when he says “Degrees…are exclusively controlled by governments.” This guy obviously is an idiot. No wonder he needs remedial legal courses. And he claims to hold a law degree? Maybe he should investigate his law school; they obviously aren’t teaching too much law there.

The former Oregon diploma mill statute was held unconstitutional in the Benson case. If anyone was to challenge it, the new one certainly would be found unconstitutional as well. The only time Contreras even bothers to enforce the new law is if the degree holder is a Christian or a conservative. His arbitrary and capricious law enforcement efforts, much like these public fairy stories he circulates, are based solely on his bias and bigotry.

[Martin Eisenstadt]

Anal's fine work is getting him some warm complements at OregonLive.com too.  Considering how these self-promoters and hacks like to censor the truth, we'll include the comments here in case they disappear later:

Good call Armando.  Looks like those two posts and maybe a couple of others have already been deleted by the "journalists" at OregonLive.com.  Here's one that is still there, although no telling for how long:  

July 20, 2010 at 12:36PM

My two previous posts were removed even though they contained relevant, public, and documented information about a guest columnist who has used his position to address the issue of diploma mills and their affect on the political process. Where are your journalistic principles? I have taken the time to cite every single claim about the credibility of this individual to make any determination viz-a-viz an institution's standing. If this factual post is removed I will cancel my nearly 30 year subscription and no longer use it for classroom purposes, or encourage my students to read it.

Here is the information with citations: Attorney General Opinion informing Mr. Contreras that he has no jurisdiction over any community college's recognition of a degree, which he ignored (i.e., violated the law) and continued to harrass this instructor for political purposes. (DoJ 575-005-GE0271-00, June 1, 2000, Elizabeth Thomson Denecke, Asst. Attorney General, Education Section). The Asst attorney general wrote: "You have asked me to determine whether a publicly funded institution violates any state laws if it continues to allow a faculty member to use a degree and publishes that degree in college materials after the Office of Degree Authorization found the degree to be illegal under ORS 348-609. It is my conclusion such a use by a publicly funded institution does NOT violate any state laws."

Here's the institution's "Federal School Code" from the United States Department of Education that approved the institution's Title IV eligibility AT THE TIME Mr. Contreras labeled this institution a "diploma mill": G33493, date of report, March 14, 2000.

Here is an exerpt from a memo sent to Mr. Contreras from the US Department of Education from Joseph Vettickal, Management and Program Analyst, Foreign Schools Team, during the time Mr. Contreras was contacting the media (including The Oregonian) in an attempt to ruin this instructor's career: "This is to inform you that the university is a participating institution in the Federal Title IV Program. The US DoE reviewed all the documents submitted for the approval of this institution very carefully. This institution is accredited and legally approved by the appropriate authorities. Our evaluation of the documents provided shows that this institution's standard is comparable to the standard of the United States in accordance with our rules and regulations." Memo dated, April 12, 2001.

Moreover this instructor's degree had been found to be equivalent to a US regionally accredited degree by a charter member of the National Association Of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES), Education International, which was ignored, contrary to law, by Mr. Contreras during his smear campaign against this instructor. Date of opinion, January 16, 2002.

This man has no business playing politics with his determinations which have been found to be unconstitutional by Judge Hogan, of the 9th Federal District Court (Benton v. Contreras).

I have all these documents, and more, in my possession and will gladly show them to any journalist who asks to see them.

[Winston Smith]

Lessons from the Galle and Colvin cases

Looks like Anal learned a good lesson: When you don't know what you're talking about, STFU!  

[Dickie Billericay]

Lessons from the Galle and Colvin cases

Looks like Anal learned a good lesson: When you don't know what you're talking about, STFU!  

...or just apply to become a CHEA director!  No knowledge or experience needed.

If Dr. Colvin was a socialist pervert like Anal would Anal be trying to tie him to Galle?  No way!  Another good example of how Contreras uses his office for purely partisan political purposes and not for whatever it is that he is supposed to be doing. (Just what is he supposed to be doing?)  

[Virtual Bison]

I did a little research on Clark Colvin. He seems like a decent person. That "Nascar" look is really happenin'!

http://colvinforgovernor2010.com/

He has some interesting views on stuff.

Too bad he was defeated in the primaries.

[olivia99]

The list mentioned by Contreras is complete crap. I have read a lot about these institutions and they seem fine to me.

[Virtual Bison]

Has anyone tried to sue this nimrod? He has libeled hundreds if not thousands of people by posting his crap.

What is worse, he is using the tax money of the people of Oregon to go on his own personal vendettas. That should be a criminal violation.

[Don Dresden]

Funny how ever since he got his fat bottom spanked (again) by sharp-eyed readers Gay Al has relegated his lying, urrrrr, public comments to pseudo-academic collaborative crap in places nobody is likely to read it. Apparently the heat in the "publicly reviewed" kitchen is way too hot, so he's hiding out amongst the "peer reviewed" leftist sycophants.