1
DU
I Your Colleg
Accredited?
(P rt On )
Accreditation i
valid tion, t tement by a
roup of per on who re
imp rti I in hi her edu tion,
r th t given chool, or
• _ dep rtment within chool,
ha en thoroughl y
inve tigated nd found worthy
of pprov I.
Accreditation i n
I American concept. In oth r
countrie , all college nd
univer itie either oper te by
the government, or gain the
full right to gr nt degree
.' directly from the government.
IN THE United State ,
" accreditation i an entirely
, vol untary proce ,done by
private, non-government 1
, . agencie .
A chool wi hing to be
" accredited will m ke
pplication to the ppropriate
accrediting agency.
Not to be contu ed with the
'" aforementioned categories, is
-, the group of "college " that
are clearly fraudulent and mo t
commonl y refe rred to as
degree mill .
In the 1970s, the FBI
launched an operation called
"DipScam" (for Diploma
Scam) which had methodically
been investigating
degree-granting insti tution
across the country and, with
some cooperation from
Scotland Yard and other
foreign authoritie , oversea as
well.
not ofthc
VIEWS
I
People who
provide jobs,
commerce and
".
tax payments
are real
powerbrokers in
,
the American
society.
r r-
en urc
th t put forth
ntrepreneur
and pro fe-
io who re
really m ing
m ningful
contribution
to ard th cornm rcial devel pm nt
ofBI ck Am ri .
Publications uch Success-
Guide 1991; Th African-American
Blackbook Reference Guide; The
National Regist r of Who� Who in
THE FBI LOOKED into
hundred of un , cl
cbool , and accordtn to
"Bear's Guide to Earning
Non- Traditonal College
Degree ." some were found to
be harmless, innocuou , even
good, and no actions were
· taken.
I When there was evidence of
.. , chicanery, a search warrant
, was issued, and FBI van
hauled off tons of papers and
records.
In many, but not all cases, a
federal grand jury handed
down indictments. And when
they did, in many, but not all
cases, the indictees pleaded
guilty to mail or wire
_ (telephone) .fraud, and
, received fines and sentences in
, .- federal prison.
The number of currently
operating phony school ha
significantly diminished over
the last few years, largely as a
result of the "DipScam"
diploma mill task force of the
FBI.' ,
THERE ARE still dozens
of places where a person can
buy Bachelor's, Master' ,
Doctorates, even law and
medical degrees, no question
asked, on payment of fees
• . anywhere from fifty cent to
several thousand dollars.
One of the rea ons that uch
places continue to exist is tbat
(" it is 'difficult to define legally
exactly what i meant by the
term "diploma mill" or "degree
mill. "
Bear tate that" urely any
school that will send ,ou a
, Ph.D. by return mail on
payment of $100, no que tions
asked, i a fraud.
"What about a chool that
, require a five page
., dis ertalion before awarding
the Doctorate? How about 2()'
, pages? 50? 100? 200? Who is
, to ay?"
In Part Two, we will
, continue examining this
subject of "degree mill "and
II t several known ones.
, , HILTON: HIGHER
(. EDUCATION is tU illted to
=- ilialogue with college QIId
world readers. EtAlcatiolt i.r
ollgoillg and certainly not
limited to classroom study.
..
. Let's talk. (714) 899-0650.
Black elf Hlp,
ntrepr. neur hip and Civil Ri ht
f�E[ AT USTI
T\\\5 CALLc) Fofl
A�Oft\E� 6\� 4-lO�\c.
(Part II)
The search for Black empower­
ment has aJways-mean� the develop­
ment of an economic agenda for
African-Americans.
For decades, Black elected offi­
ci have attempted to usc their
electoral influence to promote
Black-owned buisness development.
The pioneer in this 'strategy was
Maynard Jackson, first elected
mayor of Atlanta in 1973, and also
currently the city's mayor.
Jackson was ensitive to the
economic aspirations of Black
would-be entrepreneurs. His
minority business enterprise (MBE)
contracting program began to pro­
vide a way for Blae to obtain city
contracts.
. In 1973, before Atlanta' MBE
program was establi bed, less than
0.1 percent, only $40,000, was allo-
. cated to minority-owned firms.
Eight years later, almost one fourth
of Atlanta' city contrac went to
Bl ck-owned companies, about $33
million.
SIMILARLY IN LoS Angeles,
mayor Thomas Bradley Iso at­
tempted to the powerofhi Qftice
to promote African-American
entrepreneurship.
Prior to 1983, people of color and
women consi tently had received
I than five percent of the city's
contIacts. By the late 198Ot, Los
Angeles' MBE program bad in­
ctea cd that percentage for
IY AUTH fOR TH[ PHtlADllPHlA INVIIIII' t(
minorities and women to 16 percent
of all construction, professional and
technical ervice contracts.
1..0 Angeles set aside $15 million
to assist minority-owned firms. to
offer bids fortbe city's Metro-Rail
projects, in order for them to obtain
capital from local banks and to ob­
tain bond' g required to compete for
larger city contracts.
However, the problems of this
entrepreneunai approach to Black
empowerment were many.
First, most African-American
elected official and mayors were
unwilling to challenge the deeply
entrenched racism of their respective
cities' corporate sectors.
mixed evidence indicating that a
growing Black enterprise sector can
have a deci Ive or fuDdamcntal im­
pact on' creating jobs for many
tho�ds of poor and lower Inco
Blacks.
The total 'number of lacks
employed by Black firms .
below one percent of the total Blac:t
labor force in the United Statcs.
For decades, Black
elected officials have
attempted to use their
eleFtorial influence to
promote Black-owned
business development.
MOST BLACK-OWNED firms
are concentrated in small retail and
service sectors, mom-and-pop
grocery' teres and the like. White
firms were much larger, had long
hi tones of controlling ci ty COD:­
tracts, and had powerful friends in­
side the city's banking and legal
establi bment. Most white com­
panies refused to form partnerships
with minority-owned firms, and
prefemd to do b iness- usual.
Consequentl y, there i Ii ttle
dencc whicb uggests that the
election of an African-American
mayor ill lead to a fundamental
rcstructing of the b iness environ­
ment, promoting the creating oflargc
numbers of trong Bl c -owned
bus'
Most African-American firms are so
small that they do not have a single
paid employee.
There i insufficient tatistical
evidence which h9 a typical
Black-owned bank or other institu­
tion.
Many - affluent Black
entrepreneurs frequently live in
white uburban neighborhoods; their
profits are reinvested into white
banks, securi' and investments.
So Bla entrepreneurship i n't
benefiting the Black community if it
doesn't produce more investment
capital and jobs for other African-.
Ameri
Y 1 i ue of Ebony
Magazine, for example, Ii The
100 Mo t Influenti 1 BI c "in
America. Thi li t include 39
poll tici and political ppointees:
31 org niz tion e ecutive ; 13·
judg ; 7 churcb Ie; 3 en r­
tainers; 2 military office and only
5 b in e ecuti
ALmOUGB Ebony ay that
the e people b ve "the ability to
greatly influence the liv ,thinking
nd ctions of I rge portio of the
threaten the entire trategy of iDa
political leverage to consolidate
Black entrepreneurial gains.
The Bush administration b
given lip-service- to upporting
minority entrepreneurial develop­
ment. The Minority Business
Development Agency of the U.S.
Commerce Department has been
given a higher official profile.
In 1989, President Bush created a
Commi ion on Minority Business
Development, chaired by
Republican Josbua Smith, fo\Ulder
and CEO of the Maxima Corpora­
lion. This Commi ion's final report
i due this December. However, the
Supreme Court's Richmond v.
Croson dcci ion which undercut the
use of minority set- ides jeopard­
izes the whole effort by public offi­
cials to promote minority business
development thrO\�gh public con­
trac .
BLACK CONSERVATIVES
like Robert Woodso.n, Thomu
Sowell, Walter Williams and othen
argUe that Black empo crment can
occur through corporate capUali m,
and an alliance wi th Reagani te
Rcpublicaus.
The fundamental weakn of
their trategy li in the imp fact
that the actual material conditi
separating people 0 color from the
majority of white middle to upper
c people raDains unequal.
Fair competition in the
marketplace is lble only when
comoetito� hAV� m1l9hlv nl1l1'l �I'-
SECOND. THERE IS. at bes�
THIRDLY, CHANGES IN the
federal lovemment nd court
nam e
ow .... ON YOUR RESUM E .
YoU SAY you USED·to � IN :
MANUFACTU' , SHIPPING,'
AND HI- TECti ..:
••• BUT NOW YoU OPEN-UP
�N AT A 8�E "lNG ... I
I
,
I
I
,
.., DANZIOa fCI 1M! 0M1IAN 1aNCI .....
Dr. Mlnnlni
Mar.bl.
ALONG
THE
COLOR'
LINE
cess to capital aDd resourca.
net wealth of an average
household today is $47,000;
wealth of an average A
Am.erican houlebold is b
$4,000. ,
Blacks and Hispanics still ex-
perience racial discriminati at
banks in a«emptiDg to receive
n loaDS aDd mortgages.
economic deck is tlCBd,!be
i rigged .
We need more
eDlrepreDCura aDd modell of
itialive, to be lUre. But e mUll
demIDd that Black busmasll_
ctually rein t any profi
in the commUDity. IIlUI
have a fuDdamcnlll reaUocati •
uree aDd in the
CCODOJDic 0 the to
imize lUI oppo for all' .
Dr. MIIIIIIiI&t M.Gbk is
S(W of PoI#kIIl ScleJtcc IIIIIlIl
U1IlwniIy of Cobvado, IkI&IdIII