除了周序申告纽约州大案中三个个人被告外，纽约州立大学技术学院（SUNY IT）商学院还有四位终身教授投票反对周序申博士的续聘。虽然投票是保密的，但是从会议纪要中，周序申知道谁出席了会议，从中锁定了那四个投反对票的人。然后，他对那些人的学历一一进行排查, 分别去他们的学位授予学校调出官方学历证明。结果发现作为本科生部主任的Robert Orilio 教授的博士学位授予学校 Western Colorado University 已不再存在。
周序申即搜索网页和法院案件审判文件, 查出Western Colorado University 是一所正宗的野鸡大学。2010年7月27日, 周序申向商学院的认证机构---AACSB International 举报。见以下举报信中有关 Mr. Robert Orilio 的部分和大约一年半后的AACSB的回邮。而SUNY IT 收到周序申的调查举报后，仅仅是要求该教授停止使用自己的博士头衔，却没有别的处罚。见以下SUNY IT 2007-2009 和 2011-2013本科生目录。
SUNY IT’s Academic Fraud
Xu-Shen Zhou, Ph.D.
July 27, 2010
Professor Robert Orilio at the State University of New York, Institute of Technology (SUNYIT) used his doctoral degree from a diploma mill for promotion and raise. SUNYIT published his diploma mill degree in its official catalog as a Ph.D. from Western Colorado University (“SUNY IT Undergraduate Catalog 2007-2009”, page 143). Therefore, SUNYIT deceives the public, students, and parents into believe that Mr. Orilio received a legitimate Ph.D. degree just like other professors, while in fact it is not.
The following evidences show that Western Colorado University was a diploma mill.
“Western colorado university, Grand Junction, Colorado … Offered nonresident degrees in many fields at all levels. Accredited by the unrecognized National Association for Private Nontraditional Schools and Colleges, with whom they shared staff and office space” (Bear’s guide to earning degrees by distance learning by John Bear and Mariah P. Bear, 2003, page 338).
On December 3, 1982, the Minnesota Board of Psychology denied the request for a variance by Mr. Joseph E. Draganosky who received a Psy.D. degree from Western Colorado University. The reason for the denial was “that it had not been demonstrated that accreditation of Western Colorado University by the Association of Non-Traditional Schools and Colleges was equivalent to accreditation by a regional accrediting association. The Board's minutes reflect that the investigation determined that the Association of Private Non-Traditional Schools and Colleges was twice denied recognition by the U.S. Department of Education, that the President of Western Colorado University was Chairman of the accrediting standards committee of NAPNSC and that six of the founders of NAPNSC were also on the faculty Of Western Colorado University”.
In 1985, Supreme Court of Minnesota affirmed the Board’s denial (Draganosky v. Minnesota Bd. of Psychology, 367 N.W.2d 521). Further, “Western Colorado University was not accredited by NAPNSC until 1980” (Draganosky v. Minnesota Bd. of Psychology, 367 N.W.2d 521), only one year before Mr. Orilio received his doctoral degree from Western Colorado University.
Regarding National Association of Private, Nontraditional Schools and Colleges (NAPNSC), “A serious effort to establish an accrediting agency specifically concerned with alternative schools and programs. It was established in Grand Junction, Colorado, in the 1970s by a group of educators associated with Western Colorado University, a nontraditional school that has since gone out of business. Although NAPNSC’s standards for accreditation have grown more rigorous over the years, their application for recognition has been turned down many times by the U.S. Department of Education, but they plan to keep trying. Formerly the National Association for Schools and Colleges,”(Bear’s guide to earning degrees by distance learning by John Bear and Mariah P. Bear, 2003, page 57).
It is known that Western Colorado University was a diploma mill in the DegreeInfo’s Distance Learning - online degree forum[1]. Senior member John Bear appears to be the author John Bear and a leading authority on distance learning and diploma mills[2]. He wrote, “At the time I visited WCU, 1979, it was definitely 100% nonresident.”
A registered user Rich Douglas wrote, “Western Colorado University didn't just share office space with the NAPNSC, WCU created NAPNSC”. “A while back I was fooling around and doing searches on Google, looking for references to old-time unaccredited schools and diploma mills. The two that stood out to me -- because I always felt they were a bit obscure and had both been out of business for a while -- were Western Colorado and Indiana Northern. Those schools put out a lot of degrees. And my recent research implies that "real sounding" names like those--and like Columbia State--can improve the acceptability of one's degree(s). And having a degree from a school with a funny sounding name -- like Education America or Capella University -- seems to have the opposite effect.”
In 1973, Supreme Court of New York granted New York State’s application for an injunction to another Colorado “college” from selling and advertising academic degrees, and representing itself as a "college" in the state on the grounds that it did not qualify as a college (the State of New York v. Colorado State Christian College of the Church of the Inner Power, Inc. 76 Misc. 2d 50; 346 N.Y.S.2d 482). The “college”, as in the case of Western Colorado University, “has no formal entrance requirements, nor resident students; nor library or other educational facilities”; nor “curriculum accredited by any official or recognized agency.”
The court wrote, “The academic degree is still regarded as the passport to success, wealth and happiness, the lingua franca on the road of social mobility in America. The Ph. D. is looked on both as insuring its recipient a career coupling status and good pay, as well as assuring the public that the degree holder has a certain competence in his area of scholastic recognition. These are values which are worthy of legal protection.”
On February 28, 1980, a newspaper, the Modesto Bee reported, “Seven permanent faculty members of the Los Rios Community College District are receiving a $1,824 salary bonus each year for doctorates they received from an unaccredited school – Western Colorado University – although community college policy does not allow for the recognition of such degrees for salary advancement.”
[1] http://forums.degreeinfo.com/distance-learning-discussions/7504-western-colorado-university-grand-junction.html
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bear
From the evidence above, just as people would know the pornography when they see it, any reasonable person would know that Western Colorado University was a diploma mill. Mr. Orilio was hired in 1977 at SUNY IT. He could obtain his Ph.D. degree from any of several SUNY campuses, where the tuition was reimbursed for the faculty. Instead, he received his D.B.A. degree from Colorado in 1981. With his diploma mill degree, he has been the undergraduate director in business.
Conclusions
It is ironic that SUNYIT sought and obtained AACSB accreditation for its business programs, but recognizes and promotes the diploma mill degree holder itself. Furthermore, Mr. Orilio appears dual in a big picture on the cover page of official SUNY IT catalog. In many states, such as Illinois, Maine, Michigan, and North Dakota, it is illegal to use diploma mill degrees to obtain employment, get a promotion, and get a raise[1]. A diploma mill degree holder can serve jail time in some states; he serves a shining example at SUNY IT.
