http://www.casperstartribune.net/art...c1003d8d3b.txt

Tie to illegal degrees doesn't block Wyo. school licensing

By MEAD GRUVER
Associated Press Writer
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -- Wyoming licensed a Laramie-based online school last year even as its owner helped direct a Hawaii online school that was offering illegal medical degrees and was later shut down by a judge.

The owner of American Central University, Adalat Khan, was the Malaysian regional director for American University of Hawaii, a fact that Wyoming education officials concede they overlooked in the documents Khan provided on his background.

As a result, nearly eight months into an ultimately successful lawsuit filed by Hawaii's Office of Consumer Protection to get American University of Hawaii shut down, the Wyoming officials offered no objection when the Wyoming Board of Education unanimously licensed American Central in April.

And American Central has been an Education Department headache ever since.

For not having even one qualified instructor in Wyoming, the agency prepared last fall to pull the school's license -- only to have the process bog down while state attorneys deliberate how to do that.

"The whole thing is in legal turmoil," said Phil Kautz, the department's private school licensing manager, of American Central's status now.

Khan and an employee of the school in Laramie, Marcia Edwards, declined to comment.

Khan runs a school in Perak, Malaysia, called the Mina Management Institute. For a time, American Central and American University of Hawaii were listed next to each other on the Mina Management Institute Web site as "distinguished partners" of the institute.

Hawaii's Office of Consumer Protection sued American University of Hawaii in August 2003, alleging it illegally offered medical degrees. A judge ordered the school shut down in January.

Because Wyoming requires private schools to disclose whether any of their officials has ever had a license suspended, revoked or not renewed, Education Department officials say Khan may have been required to tell them he worked for American University of Hawaii.

Khan was certainly required to open up about his work with American University of Hawaii after the judge closed the school in January, according to Fred Hansen, the department's finance director and another of its private school licensing officials.

"He should have disclosed," he said.

But while Khan didn't mention American University of Hawaii in the department's licensing forms, he did say he was the school's Malaysian regional director in the third sentence of a career summary he provided to the department.

"I'm not sure we caught that sentence," Hansen said.

Khan also provided a copy of his 1999 doctorate in business administration from American University of Hawaii. Although Hansen knew American University of Hawaii was unaccredited, that was not enough of a stain on Khan's record to prevent licensing.

The nonaccreditation may have seemed relatively insignificant compared with the charges that the school offered illegal degrees.

The medical degree was offered through Yerevan State Medical University in Armenia. In Hawaii, it's illegal for a school that's unrecognized by the American Medical Association to offer medical degrees.

The lawsuit also accused American University of Hawaii of two other violations of Hawaii law: offering law degrees despite no American Bar Association accreditation and not maintaining enrollment of 25 students in Hawaii.

District Judge Shackley F. Raffetto not only ordered American University of Hawaii to quit doing business and shut down its Web site, he ordered it to pay the state $500,000.

"It was such an easy case because the promotional materials and documents spoke for themselves," said Jeffrey Brunton, a Hawaii Office of Consumer Protection attorney.

He said it was one of the larger schools of its kind in Hawaii, enrolling and graduating thousands of students, mainly from other countries.

The school's Web site shut down last month. It briefly resurfaced with an address in Clinton, Miss., but as of Thursday wasn't active.

Hansen said he would bring up Khan's work with American University of Hawaii at the Wyoming Board of Education's next meeting, in Saratoga in May, and said it could be grounds for pulling American Central's license.

Department spokeswoman Deborah Hinckley said the department wants to require accreditation for all Wyoming schools. Lawmakers in January briefly discussed requiring accreditation but set the issue aside for study over the interim.

LICENSED: The Wyoming Board of Education licensed Laramie-based online school American Central University last year -- even though its owner was a director for an online school that Hawaii was trying to shut down for offering illegal medical and law degrees.

DISCLOSURE: Department officials say the school's owner, Adalat Khan, should have told them about his work for American University of Hawaii. Khan didn't mention it on department forms, but he did mention it on a career summary he provided -- a detail the department didn't notice.

SHUT DOWN: Hawaii's Office of Consumer Protection succeeded in January in getting a judge's order for American University of Hawaii to shut down and pay a $500,000 penalty.

PROBLEMS: The Wyoming Education Department was prepared last fall to pull American Central's license for not having a qualified instructor in Wyoming. But amid state attorneys' disagreement on how to go about pulling a school's license, that process remains stalled.

FROM HERE: Fred Hansen, the department's director of finance, said he will bring up Khan's work with American University of Hawaii when the Board of Education meets in Saratoga in May.

On the Net:

American Central University: http://www.acusa.net/home.php

Mina Management Institute: http://www.minainstitute.com.my/

Wyoming Department of Education: http://www.k12.wy.us/

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