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Old 10-24-2005, 08:09 AM
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article on st. james "a hissing match on bonaire'

http://chronicle.com/weekly/v52/i10/10a05801.htm
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Old 10-24-2005, 08:53 AM
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What's up with that page?

Password ????
I would like to read the article, but I don't want to register....
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Old 10-24-2005, 09:15 AM
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Originally Posted by ricky4rs
What's up with that page?

Password ????
I would like to read the article, but I don't want to register....
Yea gotta pay for a subscription.
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Old 10-24-2005, 10:09 AM
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article

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Originally Posted by whuds
Yea gotta pay for a subscription.
A Hissing Match on Bonaire

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By MIKE CEASER
Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles
When Raja Dxxxxxxxwent shopping for a Caribbean medical school two years ago, he picked Saint James School of Medicine, on the island of Bonaire.
It offered one of the cheapest medical programs in the region. It promised the Florida native sun and scuba diving. And, most important, he figured that it would stay open until he graduated.
"This school had been around for about a year, so I'm, like, 'Well, it hasn't shut down yet,'" he recalled while stopping in one evening for Surinamese takeout across the street from the school.
Today Mr. Dxxxxxxx might prefer that the medical school would, in fact, go away. He dropped out of Saint James in May and enrolled in the even newer Xavier University School of Medicine, a kilometer away. (Xavier is unconnected with any institution in the United States.)
He and several other former Saint James students say high faculty turnover, problems with the infrastructure, and an unresponsive administration forced them to switch schools. Many are now being pursued by a collection agency hired by Saint James to demand a $4,000 fee from each student, based on what they say is an obscure clause in a contract they signed when they enrolled.
Former professors and students accuse officials at Saint James, which enrolls about 200 students, of acting unethically and making empty promises. The school's Web site boasts of a campus basketball court, which a reporter could not find during three days on the island. Students and instructors have had to use rooms with holes in the floors, several former and current students say. Most troubling, until recently Saint James claimed on its Web site that several hospitals in the United States accepted its students for clinical rotations, former students say, when there were no such relationships.
xxxxxx, another Floridian who transferred from Saint James to Xavier, says the hospitals' names were removed from the Web site only after he complained to school administrators. (Another former Saint James student showed a reporter a printout of the old version of the Web page, with the list of American hospitals.)
xxxxxxx, a Boston neurologist who left Saint James for St. Martinus University, on the neighboring island of Curaçao, says that while he was at Saint James the school assigned a professor with a Ph.D. in psychology to teach medical microbiology.
The president and chief executive of Saint James, xxxxxxxxxx, "doesn't care who covers what subject," says Dr. Sxxxxxx, who is arranging legal representation to settle his own financial claims against the school.
'It Is Cutthroat'
Dr. Gxxxx, who runs the school from an office in Chicago, denies most of the accusations against Saint James, calling some "politically motivated."
Responding by e-mail to a reporter's questions, Dr. Gxxxxxsays that students who had transferred out of Saint James did so in "blatant violation of the contractual agreement with the school," and that the school was justified in charging them a fee because it had helped them get temporary residency in Bonaire.
Further, Dr. Gxxxxxx says, the accusations that administrators had lied about clinical-rotation arrangements with American hospitals were "the product of a sick mind, and a despicable fiction."
xxxxxxxxx, dean of academic affairs at Saint James, says the school was the "victim" of what he describes as fierce competition for students between Saint James and Xavier. "It is cutthroat, but not on the part of Saint James," he says. "They came on our campus and recruited our students."
Dr. Sxxxxxx, who became dean in early July, says his goal is to "keep the highest possible academic standards." The condition of the campus is no measure of the school's academic quality, he says. "The buildings don't look fancy, but the academic standard here is good."
Caxxxxxxx, a lawyer in Bonaire, says about two dozen former Saint James students and teachers have retained her to pursue claims against the school. Many of her clients just want to be permitted to walk away without complications, she says.
"If you weren't unhappy, you wouldn't change," she says.
Getting Our Money's Worth
But Saint James has plenty of supporters. Many students here say that despite the school's weaknesses it has many good professors. According to statistics on Saint James's Web site, 66 percent of its students who took the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination in 2003 passed. By comparison, 57 percent of all graduates of foreign medical schools, and 90 percent of graduates of schools in the United States or Canada, passed.
Many students say they chose Saint James because of the ease of admission (the Medical College Admission Test is not required, for example) the school's short program (only 16 months) and its low tuition, only $4,000 per semester.
"For what they're charging us, we're getting our money's worth," says xxxxxxxxx, a second-year student from Connecticut. "We're getting an education."
Students say the school has made improvements recently: repairing floors and adding a histology lab and a student lounge. It has also expanded into unused rooms in a neighboring hospital.
Tania Ananavati, an Indian citizen who did her undergraduate studies in the United States, says her parents' business troubles made it impossible for them to pay for her to study medicine at an American school.
"I knew it would be a steppingstone," she says. "Sixteen months and it would get me where I wanted."
Rxxxxxa Dutch-trained doctor in Bonaire who, before his recent retirement, used to fill in at Saint James when scheduled professors — the school's Web site claims a faculty of 25 to 30 — did not show up at the beginning of the academic year. He acknowledges the drawbacks of the high turnover among professors, but says, "You can't compare this with a real university that's been stable for ages.
"Most of [Saint James's students] can become competent MD's," he says.
Caribbean universities' modest pay, isolation, and limited advancement opportunities, as well as some schools' shaky reputations, make recruiting talented faculty from developed nations a challenge. Saint James, which Dr. Sxxxx, the neurologist, says paid professors about $3,000 per month, employs many professors from India. It has also hired faculty members with histories of serious misconduct.
Wxxxx Dxxxxxx, who until July was listed as dean on the school's Web site, had his medical license suspended in 1999 in Illinois due to alcohol dependence and mental illness, according to the State of Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation's Web site. On Bonaire, his mental illness returned, and his family finally had to come take him back to Chicago, several people who knew him, including Mr. Mazur, recalled.
The medical license of Dr. xxxxx, now at St. Martinus, was revoked in 2002 by the state board of Massachusetts for "boundary violations with patients, including sexual misconduct with one patient," according to the board's listing of December 2002 disciplinary actions posted on its Web site. Dr. xxxx says the allegations are false and that he is still fighting the decision in court.
In his e-mail message, Dr. Gxxxx said the medical school "believes in giving someone a second chance. That is what America is all about."
http://chronicle.com
Section: International
Volume 52, Issue 10, Page A58
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Old 10-24-2005, 02:54 PM
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annoyed

i mean all u do is look for something bad about any medical school and then start chatting nonsense, when and where on EARTH are you gonna leave medical students in peace!


come on, i'm not at st. james but leave them alone!!! why are u scaring students like that? do u get paid for this(honestly)?
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Old 10-24-2005, 02:58 PM
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information

Quote:
Originally Posted by mcgrady
i mean all u do is look for something bad about any medical school and then start chatting nonsense, when and where on EARTH are you gonna leave medical students in peace!


come on, i'm not at st. james but leave them alone!!! why are u scaring students like that? do u get paid for this(honestly)?
I post what shows up, good or bad. No one pays me. Information is what students need to make an educated guess about a medical school.
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Old 10-24-2005, 03:15 PM
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never!!!

i never seen or read any positive material from u, period.
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Old 10-24-2005, 04:07 PM
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Dear Azskeptic

I know you don't need it but anyway, thanks for this and you other posts.
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Old 10-24-2005, 04:10 PM
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thanks

Quote:
Originally Posted by hdu
I know you don't need it but anyway, thanks for this and you other posts.
No, thank you. I appreciate your support.
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Old 10-24-2005, 04:54 PM
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to azakeptic

Quote:
Originally Posted by azskeptic
I post what shows up, good or bad. No one pays me. Information is what students need to make an educated guess about a medical school.
thnx for posting up the article....again like u said, good or bad post it up....its not your fault if others misinterpret it.....keep up the good work....regarding the article....actually was expecting it.....the reporter was here around end of May 2005, to write about the story.....funny he didn't mention much about how much he pursued sjsm for this story....and finally how he got it....he had to wait for more than a year for the opportunity....but glad it is finally over....viewers can have a look into it and interpret it as best as they can.....but again remember this incident took place a while back and things have changed here for the better.....if u have a closer look the reporter only deals with the issues of a handull of ppl and not the majority....the majority are content with there studies here and are in excellent terms with the administrations.....if u have any particular enquiries or concerns after reading the article...make sure u get them cleared....
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