The American Association for Higher Education and Accreditation began in 1870. Or so says its Web site.
But that claim, along with a number of others, falls apart on close inspection. For example, though it lists a Washington, D.C., location, that address turns out to be a Post Office box. Its actual headquarters are in central Florida.
More significantly, AAHEA has assumed the identity of a now-defunct organization with a similar name — the American Association for Higher Education. It has even acquired AAHE’s old phone number. That comes as an unpleasant surprise to AAHE’s former leadership, including Michael B. Goldstein, a higher-education lawyer with the Washington law firm Dow Lohnes, who is a former member of AAHE’s board. “Some of their activities appear, on their face, to be clearly unacceptable,” he said.
What are those activities? The association’s Web site says the group is “dedicated to the advancement of higher education.” However, its only stated goal for 2008 is dealing with “the problem of bullying in school.” Under the heading “Sponsored Programs,” a collage of photographs features the twin towers of the World Trade Center in flames, and what appear to be bloody footprints. Beneath it are the words “to be announced.”
A Chronicle investigation has raised questions about AAHEA, which advertises itself as both a scholarly research organization and a college accreditor. The investigation has also led to the resignation of Charles Grant, the group’s chief executive, after only a week in office.
The apparent operator of AAHEA is D.A. (Doc) Brady. While his name is not on AAHEA’s Web site, he is listed in the association’s corporate records, filed with the State of Florida in 2007.
In several interviews and e-mail exchanges, Mr. Brady defended his organization against critics he contends are biased against him. He said he and his colleagues were motivated solely by the personal satisfaction of running AAHEA, not by any monetary considerations. “Not a single person has benefited a nickel out of this thing,” said Mr. Brady.
It’s not for lack of trying. The association offers annual memberships for $99, and its Web site includes a page for visitors to make donations, ranging from $10 to $1-million; those who give the top amount would become honorary presidents of AAHEA. Among proposed programs that the money will support, according to the Web site, are safari trips to Africa, online art shows, and a “Learning Course of the month contest.”
Fuzzy Details
When asked about his background, Mr. Brady said it was “none of your business.” An online biography describes him as self-taught but also says he holds doctorates in clinical hypnotherapy and business administration, though it does not mention the originating institutions. According to the bio, he has worked as a consultant for television programs, including Dr. Phil, and is a “nationally certified motivational instructor.”
Mr. Brady is chief executive of the National Board of Professional and Ethical Standards, which offers doctorates in clinical hypnotherapy, among other degrees. The doctoral program costs $4,998 and says it uses the Ericksonian method of hypnosis. According to its frequently-asked-questions page, the organization is under review for accreditation from Mr. Brady’s other organization, AAHEA, which it notes is “very old.”
Charles Grant said he responded to an advertisement for the position of chief executive of the group. He had just retired from San Jacinto College North, a community college in Houston, after 25 years. He started there as an instructor and ended as president. The idea of helping a higher-education organization like the association, he said, appealed to him. “I’m a sympathetic person,” said Mr. Grant.
When pressed, he said he had no idea how many members the group had or what exactly it did. Nor had he ever met Mr. Brady in person, or anyone else from the organization. He didn’t know its financial state or where it was located. He was also unaware of Mr. Brady’s other organizations.
Mr. Grant said that he had not received any money from AAHEA, but that he had been told he would receive a salary. A few days after his interview with The Chronicle, Mr. Grant sent an e-mail message to AAHEA with the subject line “Not Working,” resigning from the position, and forwarded a copy to The Chronicle.
Connection Disputed
All along AAHEA has claimed that it is the same entity as the American Association for Higher Education. In fact, AAHE, which promoted the scholarship of teaching and learning for nearly four decades, closed its doors in 2005, after a sharp decline in membership.
Its president was Clara M. Lovett. Ms. Lovett, who is president emerita of Northern Arizona University, said she had never heard of AAHEA. Neither had Mr. Goldstein, the AAHE board member. Both disputed the notion that AAHEA is in any way a continuation of AAHE.
Other assertions by Mr. Brady have been contradicted as well. For example, he said the archives of AAHE, housed at the Hoover Institution Archives, at Stanford University, are scheduled to be transferred to AAHEA’s headquarters once there is sufficient space.
Not so, according to Brad Bauer, associate archivist for collection development and curator of the Western European collections at Hoover. Mr. Bauer, who is in charge of the AAHE archives, said that he had heard “nothing of the sort,” and that any such transfer would be extremely unusual. “I’ve had no discussions of any sort with any organization claiming to be the successor to AAHE,” he said.
Mr. Brady has also said his organization is going through the review process to become an approved college accreditor. Jane Glickman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Education Department, said a check revealed that the department had had no contact with AAHEA. Jan Riggs, director of membership services and special projects at the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, said she had been contacted by Mr. Brady but “had no idea what he was talking about.”
In response, Mr. Brady criticized the approval process for accreditors, saying it was too cumbersome. “I think it’s retarded,” he said. In an e-mail message, he indicated that his association may reconsider becoming an approved accreditor because it’s “not worth all of this aggravation.”
Along with its other problems, AAHEA appears to have borrowed material on its Web site without attribution. In June a law firm working for the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education & Training, an accreditor recognized by the Education Department, sent the association a letter demanding that it remove documents it had copied directly from the council’s Web site. In some cases, the documents still had the training group’s name in the text.
AAHEA did not respond, said Roger J. Williams, executive director of the council, until this week, when the documents were taken down. In an e-mail message, Mr. Brady wrote that the documents were not copyrighted, and that the material had not been taken verbatim.
When informed that Mr. Brady had accused him of unfairly attacking AAHEA, Mr. Williams was unable to suppress his laughter. “I find their indignation surprising, to say the least,” he said.
http://chronicle.com Section: The Faculty Volume 55, Issue 2, Page A14