01-14-2008, 12:28 PM
DR ANATIDAE Wrote:To those in the know Barrington was never a mill and is very likely to receive DETC Accreditation.
Below are some of the real mills in the world - all conveniently ignored by many 'self-styled DL experts'...
Excuse me, I know that an anatidae is a duck and that you "conveniently ignored" nearly all the different kinds of ducks that exist when you wrote your feces. Does that make you a turkey? No, it makes you too busy to write about every single kind of duck in the world. Other things make you a turkey.
Barrington's a mill.
Quote:http://southflorida.bizjournals.com/sout...=printable
Friday, October 27, 2000
Alabama threatens to pull university licenseSouth Florida Business Journal - by Ed Duggan
Alabama officials are threatening to revoke the license of Barrington University, the flagship school of Virtual Academics.Com (OTC BB: VADC) of Boca Raton.
The company failed to notify Alabama that the university, which is registered and incorporated in the state, changed ownership in January. When a state inspector checked, Barrington University also had moved out of its listed headquarters at A&S Answering & Secretarial in Mobile.
Official scrutiny of the virtual learning conglomerate comes on the heels of a $408,546 year-end loss for the dot.com company, according to the firm's most recent SEC 10(k) filing.
The Business Journal obtained a copy of a warning letter from Dr. Eddie R. Johnson, Alabama's assistant state superintendent of education, to Robert K. Bettinger, Virtual Academics' $10,800 a year chairman and president of Barrington University.
In it, Johnson states no mention was made of the January ownership change when the license was renewed in May.
"Please immediately advise our office in writing of the status of Barrington University with regard to its ownership," Johnson wrote. "If the representation is true that a transfer of ownership has occurred, the State Department of Education will immediately move to revoke the private school license issued to Barrington University."
Alabama law requires a review for schools that undergo transfer of ownership to determine that minimum standards remain in effect.
"If I do not receive a timely response, I will take prompt action to revoke the private school license for Barrington University," Johnson said.
Bettinger said he would prepare "an appropriate response."
Virtual finance
In February, Virtual Academics negotiated a private placement of 2.2 million shares for $990,000 to Gilder Funding Corp., 12000 N. Bayshore Drive, Suite 210, North Miami. A reporter visiting the address found a residential condominium.
A total of $440,000 was paid in cash for 1.1 million shares and a note for the balance bearing interest at 7 percent due Feb. 10, according to an SEC filing. The remaining 1.1 million shares will not be issued until paid for, Bettinger said.
Gilder Funding approached Virtual Academics for the private placement, he said, and the stock is restricted for two years.
A search of online state records shows a Gilder Funding Corp. at the North Miami address was registered in 1995, but dissolved by the state in 1997 for failure to file an annual report and pay the annual corporation fee.
A call to information found no telephone listing for Gilder Funding Corp. in North Miami.
In June, Virtual Academics entered into an agreement with H.C. Wainwright, a Boston-based investment banking firm, to arrange a private placement or series of private placements of debt or equity securities.
Under the agreement, Wainwright is entitled to warrants equal to 5 percent of the outstanding stock, exercisable at 1 cent a share. Sixty percent of the warrants were granted at the time the agreement was signed, the balance when certain strike points are reached.
Bettinger originally called it a $30 million line of credit, but has since agreed with Virtual Academics' SEC filing that it could be "$5-$20 million, if successful." He advised that there has been no funding at this time and that the company can survive as a going concern without getting additional funds.
Virtual accreditation
Virtual Academics and its virtual in-house universities have claimed accreditation by the International Association of Universities and Schools (IAUS). The Business Journal did not find the organization at either the Washington, D.C., or the Geneva, Switzerland, addresses originally shown on the various university Web sites.
The association was incorporated on Feb. 24, 1998, as a Florida for-profit corporation with Angel L. Fernandez as president, secretary, treasurer and director, and Bettinger as vice president. The IAUS corporation lapsed for non-payment of its annual fee 19 months later, according to state records.
Bettinger agreed that those offices had been closed but that a new office in Connecticut was being run by Frank Burroughs and Donald Grunewald. Grunewald was formerly listed on the Virtual Academic Web site as part of the "management team." The site was recently updated and he was dropped from the team listing.
A resume for Grunewald was faxed to The Business Journal by Bettinger this week. A call was made to Grunewald's office at Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y., where he is a professor in the Hagen School of Business.
Grunewald said he was IAUS chairman and had advised VirtualAcademics and Bettinger in "a general sense."
When asked about the closed IAUS Washington office, he said it is not an American organization but is international, located in Switzerland. When advised that the answering service there had never heard of them, he said the office was in Switzerland.
A new Swiss office address appeared on most of the Virtual Academics Web sites on Monday. The telephone answerer was unable to say how long the IAUS had been there.
The IAUS had a telephone meeting over the weekend to "consider some organizations who wanted to be accredited," Grunewald said.
When asked, Grunewald seemed unable to remember if the IAUS was incorporated in Switzerland, or if it was incorporated at all and couldn't say if it paid any taxes.
"There wasn't any income," he said. "It is a voluntary group."
Asked again if the members paid no fees to IAUS, he said that they paid $1,000 each "for expenses." Asked who the treasurer was, he thought that "Dr. Robert Bettinger took care of it."
When corrected that Bettinger had neither a doctorate nor a master's degree, Grunewald said in addition to his Iona University duties he was also the president and owner of Adam Smith University.
Asked if this was the same Adam Smith University that was started in Hawaii and moved to an answering service in South Dakota, Grunewald said it was.
"It was in Hawaii for about seven years and we moved it to South Dakota because the mail was so slow," he said.
Asked if he was the sole owner, he said that he was "one of the owners."
When queried how Adam Smith University could have a library at a South Dakota answering service, he said, "We rent an office there and I've just shipped 1,200 books to the library last week."
Adam Smith University bills itself as, "an assessment program designed to measure what has already been learned by the student rather than teach..."
Virtual Academics stock traded as high at $7.50 earlier this year but was trading at $1.62 a share on Wednesday. Average recent volume was about 3,300 shares. The stock has a book value of slightly less than 3 cents a share.
Barrington University will hold its graduation and reunion at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 4, at the Miami Marriott Hotel.
