In an effort to help to ameliorate some unpleasant circumstances, I have created some distress to the perpetrators. My actions have also caused stress among some unsuspecting individuals who entered the situation with good intentions. My stepping forward may represent one of the most important ethical decisions of my life, or maybe it seemed that way because it was such a difficult decision.
On May 1, 2009, I attended a meeting at the Department of Health of Washington State with the intention to discuss the implications of something said to me by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities:
Another former LIOS student attended, corroborating much of what I said by telling the board of her similar experiences.
This event was proceeded by the Department of Health asking me and LIOS and Bastyr University for materials which would inform the discussion. On April 7, 2009, DOH officially asked Bastyr University and officially asked the Leadership Institute of Seattle to explain their actions. LIOS responded and Bastyr responded, but at the meeting, LIOS was represented two individuals while Bastyr University apparently chose not to attend. Before the meeting, I produced a 19 page .pdf to DOH which I was to use as the basis for my presentation.
During the course of my presentation, I focused on the three main points on page 19 of this document; in fact, it was projected on the screen during our entire dialog. (I have copied the text and pasted it into this page, with some minor alterations in formatting to make it more suitable to the web.) I thought that my thesis was unassailable, though admittedly, perhaps to complex for some people to find intelligible.
The Department of Health did not handle the case with a level of professionalism that I found adequate. For the sake of decency, I will refrain from airing all of my complaints at this time. However I will mention that I'm very disappointed with the meeting minutes <http://www.doh.wa.gov/hsqa/Professions/MFT/documents/20090501.pdf> of the May 1, 2009 Washington State Mental Health Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapists, and Social Workers Advisory Committee, not merely because they are shoddy but because these notes misrepresent the facts. The following is what they said I said:
"Mr. Ball-Romney questioned why LIOS had not gotten accreditation after being with three schools and after 30 years. He had made three complaints to the NWCCU, one to the Department of Education (DOE), made follow up request under the freedom of information act to the DOE. Mr. Ball-Romney expressed concerns that people who get counseling from LIOS graduates do not get appropriate treatment."
But the following is my position:
* The NWCCU is not part of the Federal Government. The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities which accredits colleges and universities is a nonprofit organization separate from the government which is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. As the NWCCU website says: The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) is an independent, non-profit membership organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) as the regional authority on educational quality and institutional effectiveness of higher education institutions in the seven-state Northwest region of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington.
* I told the Washington State Mental Health Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapists, and Social Workers Advisory Committee that I was concerned by the inadequate assessment methods used by LIOS, the fact that some of its courses did not seem to be taught at the graduate level, for example its statistics course, but most importantly that no accredited or accrediting organization provided oversight or administration to LIOS programs during its many years of relationship with Bastyr University. I said that I have great respect for LIOS students and believe that one could reasonably expect that few if any of them knew about the reality of the situation. I know a couple of graduates who I believe have read all of the material, but have heard rumors that some students have snuck by without reading any of the assigned books. I told the committee that I believe that some LIOS graduates may be excellent at the work that they perform, but due to prevailing circumstances at that time, we had no way of knowing which of their graduates were really qualified.
As I previously stated, I came to the decision to involve myself in such a matter came with great difficulty and much deliberation. The fact that a government employee would misquote me by saying that "...people who get counseling from LIOS graduates do not get appropriate treatment" is something that I find disconcerting and unconscionable because of its potential to harm others. I have asked DOH to correct the errors made in the committee meeting minutes, yet serious errors like this one persist. I believe that many people have pursued study with LIOS because they value integrity and I honor those who have.
Let those concerned know that I have never said that the Leadership Institute of Seattle would not even consider obtaining accreditation on its own merits. In fact, I have quoted to the Department of Health of the State of Washington a few LIOS publications that seem to indicate that at one time they strongly considered making the effort (though I added the red to the text as I quoted it to DOH):
Issue #79 "ITEMS of INTEREST (December 2007) Shelley Drogin said:
As President, I will be spearheading the work to secure accreditation for LIOS. Initially we are seeking affiliation with another accredited university. Simultaneously, we are exploring the longer term process of accreditation through the NWCCU (Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities). Based on conversations we have already had, it is apparent that we have an excellent reputation and are well respected in terms of the quality of education we deliver and the LIOS faculty.
"Special Edition" "ITEMS of INTEREST" (December 2007) Dan Leahy said:
Ironically, while my goal has been integration with Bastyr, which would have meant dissolving LIOS as a separate organization, I believe we are both relationally and financially stronger than we have been in years and ready to successfully weather the coming storms of change. The faculty and staff are engaged and actually excited about meeting this challenge, knowing that the prize may be the long-desired goal of their own accreditation.
Later, in that same publication, is the following:
Robert Parson Crosby founded LIOS in 1969 in Spokane, WA. By 1973 he and colleagues Ron Short and John Sherer had designed and launched the LIOS Graduate Program, in affiliation with Whitworth College.
Issue #80 "ITEMS of INTEREST" (January, 2008) President Drogin said:
At the most recent board meeting, the strategic question of whether we will seek our own accreditation was being addressed. True to LIOS form, the dialogue dropped to a deeper level; we realized that beneath our desire for accreditation lay a desire for autonomy and independence. When we asked ourselves, “Where do we intend to be in 5-10 years?”, what became clear was the intention to maintain a differentiated stance as an organization (the ability to stand in our own integrity while joining with other organizations); and to ensure the long-term continuity of the DNA that is LIOS. And we mean to maintain our commitment to serving in the world and exemplifying the collaboration that the world
needs and hungers for.
Thus, we are intent in not losing our independence while being fully in touch with our interdependence. From this perspective, we can choose the best long-term structure to support the essence of this long-term direction. That structure may well be seeking our own accreditation, probably a five-year-long process.
Issue #87 "ITEMS of INTEREST" (June, 2008) Shelley Drogin said:
Six months ago, when I accepted the role of President, LIOS faced what was perhaps its toughest test as an institution of higher learning. Bastyr University, with whom we had been affiliated since 1992, had just informed us of their intent to terminate our agreement, as well as all plans for integration that had been pursued for almost a year. The situation was critical, even dire.
We began a careful search for a new affiliation, considering over 25 institutions of higher learning. We were immediately overwhelmed by the positive responses. Institution after institution expressed its high regard for LIOS and an openness to exploring an affiliation. During this process, we clarified the fundamental characteristics of a collaborative relationship that would advance the long-term growth and development of Leadership Institute. Simultaneously, we explored the possibility of eventually gaining our own accreditation—a five- to seven-year process.
We came to realize that, for LIOS, the most essential goal has always been differentiation—the ability to remain independent and maintain the DNA that is the Institute, coupled with the ability to be interdependent and collaborate with other organizations. While securing our own accreditation was one approach that could support such a differentiated stance, my conversations with Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center led me to believe that affiliation with this respected institution could also fulfill the essential quality of differentiation.
As of January 25, 2010, I do not know what the relationship is between LIOS and Saybrook University. For all I know, they obtain fully qualified audited financials and follow all of those other requirements that the public expects accredited schools to follow. I hope that the policies which I found of concern have been changed.
The Attorney General's Office would like to assist you in understanding Washington law governing access to public records, and obtaining those records."
Is the Department Of Health of Washington issuing “Mental Health” practitioners’ licenses to individuals who have not completed coursework from an educational program that complies with standards for education endorsed by the U.S. Department Of Education?
Outline of material to be presented to the Department Of Health of the State of Washington, as well as to representatives of the Attorney General of Washington, representatives of the mental health field in the State of Washington, and to the General Public on May 1st, 2009.
Department of Health; Creekside Three at CenterPoint
20435 72nd Avenue South, Second Floor, Room 1
Kent, Washington 98032
by
David Ball-Romney
Three Main Points:
1. In spite of what most were led to believe, LIOS has not chosen to become accredited.
2. The LIOS program differs from the regulations that accredited programs must follow.
3. DOH lacks the requisite assurance that LIOS graduates are competent to current standards and therefore cannot safely award these graduates licenses.
Disclaimer: I am not an attorney and therefore cannot give legal opinions or advice. Although I present various opinions about what transpired, the parties involved have not given me all of the information that I need to make accurate judgement about all of the facts; I attempt to the best of my ability to present the facts of the relevant circumstances. In a public forum, I will not share the names of some of my fellow former students, when I relate their stories, but where feasible, I will provide DOH and related parties with relevant supporting material, which currently amounts to hundreds of pages.
Narrative: what I knew and when I knew it...
Summary: Before I enrolled at the Leadership Institute Of Seattle, Bastyr University’s Department of Applied Behavioral Science, in January of 2006, I assumed that LIOS was part of Bastyr University. I soon left LIOS in part because their vague, subjective criteria for assessing students. Later, as a result of a few apparent accounting errors on the part of LIOS, some of which LIOS has not yet explained, I commenced a process of inquiry which gradually revealed problems far more widespread and serious than I had ever imagined. My inquiry included interactions with the Better Business Bureau, the NorthWest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU), the U.S. Department Of Education, and of course extensive communication with Bastyr University and the Leadership Institute Of Seattle
Before I enrolled at the Leadership Institute Of Seattle, Bastyr University’s Department of Applied Behavioral Science, in January of 2006, I assumed that because they use the same campus, web site, Student Catalog and Financial Aid office, and that I was a Bastyr Student with a Bastyr Transcript, that LIOS was part of Bastyr University. Their web site <
http://www.lios.org/students/ask_a_question.cfm> currently says things like:
“The LIOS/Bastyr degree is highly respected and may help to earn a promotion, to launch a new career or to increase confidence in a current position.”
and
“LIOS curriculum currently meets state of Washington requirements for licensing as a Mental Health Counselor, and meets curriculum requirements for licensing as a Marriage and Family Therapist with the addition of one elective course, also offered by LIOS. Graduates who are licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist with the state of Washington qualify for membership with the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT).”
I went to the Bastyr University campus where LIOS had its offices and library, for my interview process. A few days later I went to the Doubletree Hotel for our first “residential module”. My initial payment to them went to a bank account that bore both names.
One of the first things that we were told was that we would need to demonstrate our knowledge of the material by speaking up in our group meetings. With about 65 of us in the room, that meant that we would each need to make a few brief statements every “module” to demonstrate that we had read the material. I heard a rumor that some have managed to get through the program without doing any reading, but I suspect that they would have to at least have skimmed most of the reading to pass the end of the year exam. As far as I could tell from the outline of the schedule, we would have only two exams in our first year. The first exam was to test our knowledge of statistics, and the material to be studied appeared much less rigorous than what I was required to learn as an undergraduate student of Psychology at the University of Washington. A small amount of written assignments could not have possibly covered all of the course topics for which we were to be given academic credit. However, there was a lot of required reading and the second exam occurred at the end of the year and would be comprehensive.
LIOS prided itself on teaching “Emotional Intelligence” and this aspiration is perhaps its strength. I was told that this would involve placing students in circumstances of interpersonal openness that would be too challenging for some people. However, the judgements made about relatively intangible qualities of individuals does not translate into clearly definable criteria for students. I had a vague idea of what I was supposed to do, but because LIOS also claimed to implement an “experiential learning” approach, I assumed that I would learn what I needed to know while I learned their process.
The faculty divided us into something akin to “Group Therapy” groups called ‘“I-Groups” which were similar to the “T-Groups” used by some organizations which teach sensitivity training. One of the members of my I-Group had actually completed her second year but was not allowed to graduate for failing to demonstrate enough emotional competence and therefore was required to repeat her second year. During one of our sessions, she disclosed some of her feelings how it felt to be back under those circumstances.
As I disclosed information in the prescribed manner, members of the faculty started asking me if, considering my life circumstances, I thought that I could continue the rigors of LIOS. I realized that I may think that I could and think that I was showing progress, but that ultimately the subjective judgement of the faculty might be that my decision to stay indicated a lack of emotional competence or poor judgement. If that were to happen, I would have wasted a lot of time and money by staying and suffer the fate that a few from each class suffer each year: having to repeat some of their work.
As a “Systems Counseling” student, working toward a degree that would enable me to work as a counselor, I was required to take their human sexuality course. The instructor explained that because of complains from the previous year and “issues” expressed by at least one of the students, she was teaching a toned-down version of what was taught in the previous year. The “Marriage” portion of the “mini-module” mainly involved an instructor reading his notes from his attendance at a John Gottman seminar, which happens to be local and cost less money. The whole experience felt like going back to high school and I didn’t take LIOS seriously after this experience, because the level of academic rigor did not seem adequate to even the junior college level, much less graduate level work, but hoped for improvement further along.
The fact that the dedication of some of the students impressed me a lot provided some of the impetus to stay. LIOS does a good job of encouraging camaraderie. For example, a member of my I-Group found a way for some of us to get hotel rooms for a much lower rate than what we could get through LIOS -- I didn’t stay long enough to avail myself of this, however, and she left soon after I did.
Almost three months after I enrolled, further difficult life circumstances transpired and I realized that the instructors questioning the appropriateness of my attendance would only increase. Before attending the third module, I announced my withdrawal (on April 5, 2006) from the program to the faculty and staff. My initial plan was to return to join the fall class, after things cooled down. I was rather disappointed with the response that I received (underling added):
On Apr 5, 2006 3:21 PM, Julia Sondej
wrote:
Hello David:
I am sorry to hear about the difficulties you are facing. Leaving the
program at this point, before the first formal faculty assessment,
equals having to repeat it from the very beginning if you ever decided
to return to LIOS.
I am attaching the Leave of Absence/Withdrawal From the Program form.
Please fill it out and return it to me ASAP so I can officially inform
Bastyr Registrar of your decision.
I trust that you continue to work with Eva Szyszka from Finance and
Susan Farley from Financial Aid to satisfy your financial obligations.
Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance. Good luck!
Julia :-)
Julia Sondej
Director of Academic Administration
Leadership Institute of Seattle/Bastyr University
School of Applied Behavioral Science
e-mail: jsondej@lios.org
Telephone: 425-939-8131
It would have been nice to know that because LIOS doesn’t give “the first formal faculty assessment” until the end of the year that a “Leave of Absence” would lead to such difficulty. In some ways, it was as if I had never been there, but in other ways, of which I was not aware, it was as if I had done a lot more work than I recall.
A friend of mine who was supposed to graduate a few months after I left, and two of her classmates, were apparently told that even though they had fulfilled all of LIOS’s academic requirements and 600 internship hours, that they had not demonstrated sufficient “competence” in the category known as “commitment”. To demonstrate commitment, they would have to redo their 600 hour internships. My friend’s mother burrowed $10,000 to help support her while she was working for free and not having as much time to work for pay, much less the higher level of pay that she had expected to receive. It does not seem consistent with NWCCU standards <http://www.nwccu.org/Standards%20and%20Policies/Standard%203/Standard%20Three.htm>, specifically:
Standard 3.C - Academic Credit and Records
Evaluation of student learning or achievement, and the award of credit, are based upon clearly stated and distinguishable criteria. Academic records are accurate, secure, and comprehensive.
3.C.1
Evaluation of student learning or achievement, and the award of credit, are based upon clearly stated and distinguishable criteria. Academic records are accurate, secure, and comprehensive. Credit is defined and awarded consonant with the Glossary definition.
3.C.2
Criteria used for evaluating student performance and achievement including those for theses, dissertations, and portfolios, are appropriate to the degree level, clearly stated and implemented.
In my opinion, attending an accredited graduate school for a couple of years demonstrates a high level of commitment; apparently “commitment” is not a clearly stated and distinguishable criteria, as standard 3.C.1 indicates. A year and a half later, I learned something from Bastyr University which seemed like “the other side of the coin,” relevant to standard 3.C.2, a circumstance perhaps more common which ostensibly seems to the benefit of the students, but to the detriment of the public, and will be discussed later in this document.
LIOS did not keep accurate financial records, LIOS did not use GAAP. One of the students from my I-Group who left complained to me of gross inaccuracies in her financial statements and of their removing funds from her financial aid account in a manner which seemed inappropriate to her and strongly encouraged me to take a close look at what LIOS sent to me. Another person from my I-Group, who also left LIOS during the first year, an attorney, didn’t seem to think that she owed as much as they were charging her and negotiated for a lesser amount. Later that year, LIOS hired a new person to keep its books, but probably should have at least hired a CPA to audit its financials, according to my understanding of the standards of the NWCCU regarding accounting <http://www.nwccu.org/Standards%20and%20Policies/Standard%207/Standard%20Seven.htm>;
“Standard 7.C – Financial Management
The financial organization and management, as well as the system of reporting, ensure the integrity of institutional finances, create appropriate control mechanisms, and provide a basis for sound financial decision-making.”
7.C.4 The institution has clearly defined and implemented policies regarding cash management and investments which have been approved by the governing board.
7.C.5 The institution’s accounting system follows generally accepted principles of accounting.
7.C.6 For independent institutions, the governing board is responsible for the selection of an auditing firm and receives the annual audit report.
7.C.7 Independent institutions are audited annually by an independent certified public accountant and the audit is conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. The audit includes a management letter. A summary of the latest audited financial statement is made available to the public.
...
see also: <http://www.nwccu.org/Standards%20and%20Policies/Eligibility%20Requirements/Eligibility%20Requirements.htm>;
“16. FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY
The institution’s financial records are externally audited annually by an independent certified public accountant or on a regular schedule by a state audit agency. The audit must include an unqualified opinion on the financial statement. (Standard Seven – Finance)”
I had no idea of the amount of difficulty I would eventually have with LIOS because of its shoddy accounting, nor that this would be indicative of other, more serious problems.
While visiting my grandmother at the beginning of 2007, I noticed a letter from a collection agency. When I returned to my home, I immediately contacted LIOS to inquire about it, in part because the agency fees seemed to be more than the law allows. LIOS’s “accountant” told me that she had phoned everybody that she was sending to collections to warn them, including me, but I had received no call, LIOS had my father’s number and had actually called him around the time when I first enrolled and my credit card did not work, but he had received no such phone call; grandmother had no recollection of such a call either. Furthermore she said that LIOS had sent a certified letter that LIOS had sent a couple of months earlier. I asked for further information but was met with resistance. For example, I did not recall from the terms of the promissory note that I had signed that they could charge so much and I wanted to see a copy. One would think that a group sending someone to collections would provide them with a copy of their signed agreement, or at least have one available, but LIOS did not. Therefore I sought the “ombudsperson” for Bastyr University and Vice President Susan Weider, Dean of Student Affairs, agreed to take on that role.
Initially, Dean Weider seemed very helpful and did in fact obtain information for me that LIOS had not provided. She had access to my file at LIOS and verified that there was no record of a phone call to me.
On Apr 16, 2007 8:49 AM Louise Donaldson wrote:
David, I have been here since last July, and I know I have sent out statements and we have made phone calls to your number, and I know that Julia Sondej sent emails out to all students before I submitted your account to collections. ...
Because what Louise said wasn’t actually true (perhaps she was confusing me with someone else?) I responded to her with:
Apr 16, 2007 4:56 PM: I haven’t gotten a single phone call from LIOS regarding these matters. What number have you been calling? ...
Apr 16, 2007 5:05 PM: I have just checked my e-mail archives and have found nothing from Julia Sondej since your arrival -- if she really did send me something, please ask her to resend it so that I’ll at least know what you think I have read. ...
LIOS’s accountant, who didn’t really make those calls nor know of anyone making those calls, and who may have realized that e-mail that wasn’t really sent, didn’t respond to inquires like these that I made. I also asked Vice President Weider of Bastyr about the contact that the accountant was probably supposed to have made, and on Jun 5, 2007 8:11 AM Susan Weider ; wrote:
... You asked for copies of emails or notes from phone calls. There are no notes from phone calls, and you have already received copies of emails that are in your file.
After asking several times, Dean Weider had the following to say, on May 21, 2007 about the promissory note that LIOS had me sign:
... there is not a promissory note in your LIOS file, either because one was never signed, or because it was misfiled.
Perhaps I embarrassed LIOS’s bookkeeper by showing that at least some of her claims were not true. As I continued to question LIOS through Dean Weider and eventually through the Better Business Bureau as well, I obtained some of the documents that I requested, it took nearly four months for LIOS to release these. Ms. Donaldson’s irritation apparently crescendoed on June 11, 2007, when she wrote an e-mail to the presidents of Bastyr University and LIOS and Dean Weider, and amazingly to me as well, that I regarded as defamatory. The administration opted to not follow her lead, and instead soon issued the following apology:
Good Morning David,
On behalf of my organization, I apologize for the reference Ms. Donaldson made about you in her email message of 6/11/07. It was inappropriate and she has been reprimanded for her laps in judgment. As our accountant, she does not have access to student records which are not directly related to their financial accounts. Therefore her statement does not reflect an organizational opinion about you.
Again, I apologize and assure you this will not happen again.
Sincerely,
Dan
Another former LIOS student had told me a tiny bit about a similar experience that she had endured, before my own. When it happened to me, I was glad to have someone with whom to discuss the matter. I admit that she may have had an emotional reaction to the fact that I thought that she was incompetent and should be fired, but I had made an effort to refrain from statements of that sort. Months later, after I initiated a BBB complaint, LIOS “suddenly found” the promissory note.
I actually filed two Better Business Bureau complaints, and each helped me to obtain information answers to questions that LIOS would not answer. Case # 22116848 opened 05/22/2007 and closed 06/28/2007 , <https://alaskaoregonwesternwashington.app.bbb.org/complaint/view/22116848/c/v5uiva>; at the Better Business Bureau serving Alaska, Oregon & Western Washington, a complaint against the Leadership Institute Of Seattle. BBB Complaint Case#359897, opened 05/31/2007 and closed 01/15/2009 < https://charlotte.app.bbb.org/complaint/view/359897/c/pd1iti> a complaint against the collection agency used by Bastyr University and LIOS, at the Better Business Bureau, Charlotte, NC.
In BBB Case #22116848 I questioned the ethics of one of LIOS’s billing practices, mainly the practice of billing students who leave before the beginning of a module for hotel room charges that would have been incurred during that module. Some of the information for my complaint came from my direct communication with the hotel:
from Linda Marciniak
to David Stephen Ball-Romney...
cc Paolo Flores
date May 16, 2007 4:19 PM
subject Guest Room
mailed-by dtseattle.com
Hi David,
My name is Linda and I am the sales manager with LIOS. We have nothing to do with the room charges. All of those charges go to LIOS. I checked into history notes on your reservation and we have you called at 7:59 pm and the message was that you might not show up. Then again at 8:42 pm and said you would not be showing up. We have not charged you for anything. You will have to contact LIOS. Thank you
Linda Marciniak
Doubletree Guest Suites Seattle Airport / Southcenter
from David Stephen Ball-Romney...
to Linda Marciniak
date May 16, 2007 4:24 PM
subject Re: Guest Room
mailed-by gmail.com
So if LIOS were to have charged me for those dates, it wasn’t because you initially charged them due some intractable policy of having to have 30 days worth of notice?
from Linda Marciniak
to David Stephen Ball-Romney
date May 16, 2007 4:30 PM
subject RE: Guest Room
mailed-by dtseattle.com
No, our cancellation policy is 4 pm day of arrival.
Linda Marciniak
Perhaps from this communication I concluded that I had been wrongfully charged. And from the amount assessed by LIOS, it appeared that I had been charged for both halves of the double-occupancy price. LIOS demonstrated no effort to obtain a single-occupancy room for the person who was to share a room with me nor any effort to put that person into a triple-occupancy room, if there were charges incurred for my absence. The issue may not interest DOH directly, but it does demonstrate a sort of behavior which should not be found in accredited schools, according to the aforementioned rules. Does this issue interest the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Washington?
BBB Case #359897 was my effort to compel LIOS’s collection agency to answer questions that were not in their best interests to answer. From the accounting numbers that LIOS eventually gave to me, plus LIOS’s explanation of collection fees, the amount on my bill was almost exactly $1,000 higher than it should have been. Thanks to this paper trail alone, I believe that I can now demonstrate that the damages for which I could sue for their not following laws regarding collection now exceed any claim that they could hope to obtain.
After nearly six months of trying to get answers to questions about an inaccurate student account which LIOS and Bastyr University insisted that I pay regardless, I decided that if the President of Bastyr University was not going to address the issues that I presented to him, then I needed to appeal to a higher authority, the U.S. Department Of Education. I filled out a form online and on “Wed, Aug 22, 2007 at 10:34 AM” received the following response:
Dear Mr. Ball-Romney:
This is in response to your email to the Inspector General’s Hotline concerning Bastyr University.
After a careful review of your email, we have decided that the issues you raised may fall within the responsibilities of the Department’s Federal Student Aid (FSA), Program Compliance. Therefore, I have provided below information on how you may contact that office directly.
Victoria Edwards
Chief Compliance Officer
FSA, Program Compliance
U.S. Department of Education
830 First Street, NE - UCP III, 8th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20202-5265
If you need additional assistance, please feel free to contact that
office on 202-377-4277. I hope this information is helpful to you.
Sincerely,
Inspector General’s Hotline/mh
on “Thu, Sep 27, 2007 at 3:02 PM” I received the following from the local office of the DOE:
Dear Mr. Ball-Romney:
You recently filed an e-mail complaint through the U.S. Department of Education’s, Office of Inspector General’s, “Hotline”.
After review, the Office of Inspector General informed you that the issues you raised may fall within the responsibilities of the Department’s Federal Student Aid’s Chief Compliance Officer to which you then provided a copy of the aforementioned complaint. The complaint has now been referred to the San Francisco/Seattle School Participation Team, and to my attention as a member of that team, for evaluation and response.
As your complaint indicates and as we have separately confirmed, you have not received any loans or grants via the Federal Student Aid Programs related to your enrollment in the LIOS program. Accordingly, in that respect, we have determined that mediation or other resolution of the issues relating to your specific circumstances do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Department or of Federal Student Aid. Accordingly, should you elect to continue pursuing this matter, you must do so through other available means.
If it is helpful, we would observe that any resolution of the transactions under dispute should most appropriately be based on the content of any written contracts or other agreements between yourself and the LIOS Program/Bastyr University.
If you feel we have misinterpreted the issues you have presented or wish to provide us further information that you feel might change our determination, please feel free to do so. The most appropriate method to provide further information or response to us would be via e-mail or regular mail.
Richard P. Reinhardt
Senior Institutional Review Specialist
San Francisco/Seattle School Participation Team
Program Compliance
Federal Student Aid
U S Department of Education
701 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2550
Seattle, WA 98104
(206) 615-3642
(206) 615-2508
e-mail: richard.reinhardt@ed.gov
Mr. Reinhardt and I had further communication, which ended with my believing incorrectly that he had dropped the matter. He told me that the complaints I had may be appropriate for the NWCCU rather than the DOE and as a result I initiated a dialog with them, starting on “Fri, Sep 28, 2007 at 2:35 PM”.
My BBB complaint against LIOS’s collection agency ended for a few months when the agency told the BBB, on “Monday, October 08, 2007 3:20 PM” that LIOS was suing me. After waiting a while for service of process, I wrote to President Leahy and others, on “Mon, Oct 29, 2007 at 9:23 AM” and asked if I should go pick up the Summons, but they did not respond nor did they tell me the name of the attorney, nor even if they had filed a lawsuit. To date, I have not received service of process. I was almost a year later before I could get anybody to even tell me the name of the attorney representing LIOS and when I wrote to him asking if I was being sued, he did not answer and has yet to respond to me or to my attorney in any manner. I wonder if filing the lawsuit was merely a ploy to prevent me from asking any more embarrassing questions.
My communication with the NWCCU soon became interesting for me when I learned that Bastyr University had decided to rid itself of LIOS. Unaware at the time that Richard Reinhardt of the DOE had pressured Bastyr University to do something about the problem of an unaccredited organization using Bastyr University’s identity to obtain Title IV aid, I speculated that Bastyr University might have actually took heed of what I had said. It seemed prudent to postpone my formal complaint.
At times I have wondered if some form of deliberate impropriety was an issue with the accounting at LIOS. Eventually I asked Bastyr University and LIOS if there was any sort of investigation for embezzling that was preventing them from answering my questions. When Dan Leahy resigned almost immediately after my questions about embezzling, my suspicions grew. However, from documentation that I recently obtained from the US Department Of Education, a reasonable person could ascertain the obviously compelling reasons for Bastyr University and LIOS to act as they did. To date, neither LIOS nor the collection agency that they and Bastyr University use have adequately explained the apparent padding of my bill by almost exactly $1,000.
During this time I also learned something interesting, relevant to NWCCU accreditation standard 3.C.2. As I continued to try to find answers from Bastyr University, I learned that I had actually received actual graduate level credit; on “Tue, Dec 18, 2007 at 11:53 AM” I wrote the following to Julia Sondej of LIOS and Dean Susan Weider of Bastyr University:
I’m wondering how much academic credit I have from Bastyr (LIOS). I should have something to show for my efforts in spite of LIOS’s “Leaving ... before the first formal faculty assessment, equals having to repeat it from the very beginning “ policy.
Your records will show that I did complete a couple of modules and a mini-mod, so my question is:
How many accredited academic credits do I have from Bastyr that I may transfer to another institution?
And on “Tue, Dec 18, 2007 at 2:37 PM” Julia Sondej answered with “Hello David: You have 9.5 credits on your transcript.”
Obviously, I thought that this was really weird. (Note: At that time Dean Weider told me via e-mail that I may have an unofficial copy of my transcript. I had intended to present DOH with a copy. Unfortunately, Bastyr University is currently vehemently denying that I may have a copy of this.)
I filed three separate complaints with the NWCCU. The first complaint, on January 10, 2008, focused on a couple of issues relevant to Bastyr University and mentioned issues that the administration of LIOS needed to address but which I believed they might address for the sake of perpetuating the existence of LIOS; NWCCU responded by saying that I had not provided sufficient information for them to act. My May 17, 2008 complaint, focused on LIOS, included 46 pages of attachments, and covered issues that I have already mentioned in this presentation; NWCCU brushed it off too. This second complaint brought up an issue that is still relevant:
Issue Three: LIOS grants graduate level credits before giving the relevant exam.
When I gave notice to LIOS of my departure, I was soon told (see pp. 19-23 of the attachments) of the comprehensive end of year assessment and that not even LIOS would transfer what I had studied. Examinations have been a part of every “for credit” learning process I have experienced, so I assumed that I had received “incompletes “or something perhaps “nothing”. I had assumed that I had not received any credits, until I noticed that I was billed for completed coursework.
During my brief time with LIOS I did not sit for any exams, but according to Bastyr University I was awarded 9.5 graduate level credits. (see page 20 of the attachments) I did turn in a brief autobiography and I drafted an outline of my “sexual history” which LIOS did not require me to submit, and for your sake I haven’t included either of these. There was only one other very brief assignment which I submitted to LIOS. The assigned work could not possibly have assessed my understanding of the material covered, especially since it was not directly relevant to most of it. When I asked Bastyr University about my grades (see page 19 of the attachments) they told me that it was up to interpretation, that my grades were a subjective rather than an objective matter.
The NWCCU apparently did not agree with my assessment of the situation, so on June 16, 2008 I filed my third complaint, which reworded my second complaint and incorporated my second complaint to focus specifically upon Bastyr University as the NWCCU did not seem interested in pursuing LIOS. On June 30, 2008, President Elman wrote a response which included the following:
To reiterate, LIOS is not accredited by the NWCCU, nor is it a candidate or pre-candidate institution with the Commission. LIOS is not now, nor has it ever been, governed or administered by Bastyr University.
Had Bastyr University placed in its catalog or on its website in a prominent location a statement similar to the statement issued by President Elman of the NWCCU, I can say with certainty that I would not have applied to LIOS, and having experienced what I have experienced, I can say so with even greater certitude.
One confusing part of “being sued by LIOS” was the fact that their attorney did not serve me with paperwork. Another confusing aspect of this circumstance was the fact that neither LIOS nor its collection agency told me the name of the attorney representing LIOS. I eventually learned the attorney’s name thorough the Better Business Bureau, and immediately attempted to contact him, while informing related parties of this:
LIOS, Bastyr University & WF Corp.,
cc: “Attorney Stephen Bernheim”
President Drogin of LIOS, et al., I believe that I have an ethical obligation to inform you of the following.
This morning the BBB had the following to say:
On Mon, Jul 7, 2008 at 6:35 AM, Hilda Cohen wrote:
Good morning David:
I have spoken with William & Fudge and they have advised me that it is out of their hands since your case was turned over to a lawyer for further action.
They have provide the name and phone # for the attorney that is handling your case, please get in touch with him to continue the pursuit of your case, since the BBB can no longer handle your case.
Attorney Stephen Bernheim Phone # 425-712-8318.
I have cc:ed an address that I suspect is your attorney’s, which I found through a Google search. At this point, I see no reason for me to attempt to contact your collection agency yet again in an effort to obtain the information that federal and state law says that they were required to present to me, which I have repeatedly requested but which they have failed to present. The BBB url which I sent to you documents some of our interaction and includes the false information that they provided and a partial narrative of what they would not provide.
I’m no attorney, but I believe that when I asked you if you had obtained legal representation you were supposed to tell me about it. Perhaps you have only consulted with an attorney, in which case it probably isn’t illegal for me to contact you, but if I’m wrong I want you to tell me now so that I can obtain my own legal representation, who will contact your attorney on my behalf. I’m aware of some of my rights under RCW 19.16 and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and it seems quite probable to me that you would pay for my legal fees.
To date neither LIOS nor their attorney, who apparently now serves in the City of Edmonds on position 6 of their city counsel ; I have not tried reaching him at City Hall. After an arduous process, I obtained an attorney a couple of months later. She filed a notice of appearance with the court, and has heard nothing from LIOS or its attorney. I called the court house and asked why the matter wasn’t removed from the docket after no action had been taken for over a year; she said that it will remain on the docket until 2018, at which time they have the option to refile.
On a whim, at the beginning of October of 2008, I called the Department Of Health and started a process of asking questions about why they’re issuing mental health practitioner licenses to an organization that “... is not accredited by the NWCCU, nor is it a candidate or pre-candidate institution with the Commission. LIOS is not now, nor has it ever been, governed or administered by...” an organization that is accredited. The first person with whom I communicated seemed rather surprised that LIOS wasn’t really part of Bastyr University. I’m not sure what to say about the rest of the process.
When I learned that LIOS had found a new sponsor school, I assumed that the administration would circumvent oversight by a DOE approved accrediting agency as they had done with Bastyr University. Curious about the process, I contacted Richard Reinhard of DOE on “Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 6:22 PM” and when the message bounced, contacted “Donna Foxley, SRR” and “Eric Earling, DSRR” who I found via the internet later that day. On ‘Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 10:01 AM” Julie Arthur responded to my appeals, saying “Mr. Reinhardt retired at the end of August. Your complaint has been assigned to me.”
Julie Arthur’s statement of “Mon, Dec 29, 2008 at 12:50 PM” was quite interesting indeed:
Dear Mr. Ball-Romney:
I am in receipt of the e-mails you sent to Richard Reinhardt, to Donna Foxley, and to me, regarding your concerns related to the eligibility of students enrolled in classes provided by the Leadership Institute of Seattle (LIOS) for Federal Title IV Student Aid funding through Bastyr University. I have also talked to Sandra Elman at Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) regarding the complaints you filed with that agency, and I have copies of the responses you received from NWCCU.
Upon determination that Bastyr University may have been responsible for accessing Title IV funds on behalf of ineligible LIOS students, steps were taken to immediately stop the ineligible funding.
Subsequent to this action, Bastyr University and LIOS ended the contractual agreement between the two entities.
Additionally, this office is carefully reviewing the arrangement between Saybrook and LIOS.
Thank you for all the information you have provided. The Department will continue to monitor all use of Title IV funding for program compliance by participating institutions.
Sincerely,
Julie Arthur
Julie Yeager Arthur
Institutional Improvement Specialist
School Participation Team-San Francisco/Seattle
Federal Student Aid, US Department of Education
701 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2550
Seattle, WA 98104
Phone: (206) 615-2232
Fax: (206) 615-2508
julie.arthur@ed.gov
There is more information that would probably interest DOH of the State of Washington, and a follow-up conversation on the phone proved even more interesting to me. On “Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 4:17 PM” I wrote:
Dear Ms. Arthur,
Thank you for talking with me today about your continuing investigation of the Leadership Institute Of Seattle (LIOS). I look forward to your response to the inquiry that you have with Saybrook. Hopefully Saybrook has the complete file of my complaint to the NWCCU, and will compel LIOS to use a CPA to audit their books so that the Department of Education will know that Federal Financial Aid accounts are charged for the proper amounts, and not overcharged for things like hotel room bills when students aren’t there or for amounts that the accountant “forgot” to include. Hopefully FFA accounts won’t be “double-charged” when students are forced to repeat completed coursework because of intangible reasons like “emotional competence”.
I invoke the Federal Freedom Of Information Act and insist that your office provide me, in writing, with a narrative of the interaction between your predecessor and your office with Bastyr University regarding the matters that I brought to your attention. I would specifically like to know about the ultimatum given by your office to Bastyr University (and LIOS), such as specific changes that were required and the consequences of noncompliance, and their reaction(s).
As I recall, you said something like:
Mr. Reinhard told Bastyr University that if they did not do certain things, that they would no longer be able to receive Title IV Aid any longer, and that as a result the Leadership Institute Of Seattle went elsewhere.
The horrible circumstances that I described to you today must not happen again! Apparently LIOS has been obtaining FFA without having to fulfill the usual requirements, and students have been overcharged in at least the two ways I have described above. Furthermore, every year, a few students have been told, based upon intangible reasons, that they would have to repeat all or part of their otherwise satisfactory academic progress, leaving them between a rock and a hard place, to either leave without a degree and the debt they thought that they would incur, or take on larger loans (FFA) to repeat what they had just completed; obviously no institution is going to transfer two years worth of credit into a two year program! I have 9.5 academic credits from Bastyr University and I haven’t taken a single exam, do you think that my credits meet standards for accreditation?
Sincerely
David Stephen Ball-Romney
As a result of my FOIA request, I have obtained over 40 pages of documentation, which I have turned over to the Office of the Attorney General of Washington and the Department Of Health of the State of Washington. I’m still quite curious about what has transpired between DOE and Saybrook University, though obviously Julie Arthur deserves thanks for disclosing this vital information.
Three excerpts from the US DOE’s response to David Ball-Romney’s initial FOIA request:
“Tue 3/25/2008 3:03 PM” Richard Reinhardt of DOE:
Bastyr will “hire the LIOS staff eff 4/1 ... LIOS could reassume control of the faculty if they choose and if they want to take the faculty as another ABS program package to another school (which might be difficult if it expects the program to obtain either regional accreditation under another school (which might be difficult if it expects the program to obtain either regional accreditation under another school and/or for its students to be eligible for Title IV aid -- due to the same issues both ED and NWCCU had.
Any guess as to what those “issues” making it difficult for LIOS to obtain accreditation might be?
“Monday, March 10, 2008 1:24 PM” Richard Reinhardt DOE, to Sandra Elman NWCCU:
Sandra -- FYI --
I know you are also tied up in the middle of this issue with Bastyr. FYI, here is some info I have sent to Susan Weider at Bastyr re our position related to the current and past status of Title IV eligibility associated with LIOS students. The LIOS people have also been making frequent contacts with us trying to influence the process or ask a lot of “what if’s”, and I have hesitated geting too involved with them since our only involvement in this matter is related to Title IV student aid eligilility and since our “Program Participation Agreement” is with Bastyr (not LIOS).
I hope this helps, and I will keep you aapraised of any future developments on our side.
Rick Reinhardt
As I recall, this communication occurred when I was in the process of complaining to the NWCCU about Bastyr University.
“March 8, 1993” UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, REGION X, to Bastyr University:
Unfortunately, the several students to whom you alluded are not students to whom Bastyr could provide Title IV aid. It becomes necessary for me to ask you to provide to me a listing of all such students, including name, social security number, and the amount and types of Title IV student aid provided to them by Bastyr. Such aid becomes a liability to be returned to the Department. In addition, please notify the guaranor (e.g, Northewest Educational Loan Association) of any guaranteed student loans certified by Bastyr for such students that because such students were in attandance at in ineligible location, their loans were improperly certified by Bastyr.
... You may prefer to simply write off such loans as uncollectible.) In addition, your school will be assessed the costs of any interest and special allowance carges incurred by the federal government as a result of the improper certification of these loans.
I wonder what DOE did with the process of inquiry that I started. I do not know, but I suspect that the process is ongoing.
An example of why the danger to public health and safety merits immediate action by the Department Of Health:
Two excerpts from the pdf that David Ball-Romney has already sent to DOH: (emphasis added)
pp. 15-16
With respect to the sexual assaults at issue, in relation to the timeline of events, A.O. recalls that “these sexual assaults occurred after I had been a resident at Deschutes for several months after the carrot incident involving Patsy and the other resident^.”^^ When describing the most traumatizing rape, A.O. explained:
As I was naked and on hands and knees being raped by Jason, Tori, the staff member, walked in while I was being raped. Tori did not do anything but, instead, turned around and walked away. To the best of my knowledge, Tori never did anything in reaction to having observed me being anally penetrated in my anus by Jason. The fact that Tori did not do anything did not surprise me because that is the way the staff at Deschutes handled the-residents, in other words, by doing nothing.24
Ms. Klaila, the former staff member that quit due to Ms. Blackstock’s inappropriate supervision style and overly permissive disposition, noted that:
According to Patsy, this was all in the course of a new therapy that she had learned about at Lios (grad school).
And when staff suggested changes be made, Patsy told staff to make sure boys went up to their respective rooms at night and if there were any issues she would address them personally.
... Jason [the boy that raped A.O.] became more aggressive during
the time that Patsy was the director. 25 And again, it is not disputed that Ms. Blackstock was fired for having created this overly permissive and sexually charged atmosphere. The only issue remains whether or not PSSS and the State should be held liable for the corresponding negligence.
p. 34-35
C. Ms. Blackstock’s supervision style caused indifference and inaction on the part of the counselors at Deschutes thereby further lending to the consequence free environment.
Ms. Blackstock’s inappropriate supervision style led to indifference and inaction on the part of other counselors at Deschutes further contributing to the overly permissive atmosphere and propensity for harm to the residents. For example, on the first day the A.O. was placed at Deschutes, he was urinated on by two other boys. A.O. recalls that “I told a staff member named Tori what had happened, and Tori did not do anything to discipline the other residents. The inaction on the part of Tori was the way that the staff always handled complaints like mine, and none of the residents seems to feel like there were any consequences for their wrongfiul actions.”43 Jason Vargas was one of the boys who was not disciplined for urinating on A . o . ~ ~And it was not long after that
Jason Vargas raped A.O. too.
A.O. describes the fact that a counselor, Tori, actually walked into the room while he was being raped by Jason Vargas, and that the counselor failed to intervene and elected to just walk back out of the room.45 The indifference on the part of the counselor was observably consistent with the supervision style and standard as described by another counselor, Ms. Klaila: “Patsy told staffto make sure boys went up to their respective rooms at night and if there were any issues 43 CP 54-59 44 Id. 45 CP 54-59 she would address them personally.”46 And according to Ms. Blackstock, “this was all in the course of a new therapy that she had learned about at Lios (grad school).”~~It is not disputed that Ms. Blackstock created this “overly permissive”atmosphere. Based upon this evidence, the trial court must be reversed.
Three Main Points:
1. In spite of what most were led to believe, LIOS has not chosen to become accredited.
On June 30, 2008, President Elman wrote a response which included the following:
To reiterate, LIOS is not accredited by the NWCCU, nor is it a candidate or pre-candidate institution with the Commission. LIOS is not now, nor has it ever been, governed or administered by Bastyr University.
Do we really care how many times the NWCCU visited Bastyr University? I’ve visited the NWCCU a couple of times, and until recently have probably had much more contact with them than LIOS ever did, but I’m not “accredited”. Nobody “governed or administered” LIOS to ensure its compliance to NWCCU standards before its recent association with Saybrook; I have no idea what oversight Saybrook will require, do you? Considering the fact that LIOS resides in the State of Washington and operates in the State of Washington, wouldn’t it be logical to require LIOS to obtain -- on its own merits -- accreditation in the State of Washington?
2. The LIOS program differs from the regulations that accredited programs must follow.
Ask LIOS for copies of its “audited financials” and you will find that they haven’t followed that NWCCU standard.
Accredited schools avoid “conflicts of interest” but Dan Leahy was “President of LIOS” and a “Vice President at Bastyr University” at the same time.
Would it be safe to say that both LIOS and Bastyr University have an issue with “Institutional Integrity” when considering that they did not disclose that LIOS was not accredited and apparently led the public to believe that LIOS was part of Bastyr University?
The subjective criteria for evaluating students’ emotional capacities do not constitute the required “clearly stated and distinguishable criteria”.
But more importantly:
If you were to ask LIOS for copies of the specific requirements written assignments associated with each of the courses required for licensure of therapists, as well as mid-term and final examinations (and laxity of exam parameters), and presented these to a committee of graduate level professors from state universities, they would tell you that LIOS does not adequately assess student knowledge.
Some of these courses aren’t even taught at what would be considered a “graduate level,” like for example LIOS’s “statistics” course.
3. DOH lacks the requisite assurance that LIOS graduates are competent to current standards and therefore cannot safely award these graduates licenses.
I fully admit that it is possible that some LIOS graduates are good therapists. But based upon the lack of adequate assessment of LIOS students, I cannot tell you who among that group has demonstrated the requisite knowledge and neither can you.
