Grand Canyon Education Inc., which owns Grand Canyon University, has settled a whistle-blower lawsuit over recruiter-pay practices for $5.2-million, The Arizona Republic reported. The Phoenix-based company said the settlement had been approved by the U.S. District Court in Phoenix, where the case was filed under seal in 2007. Formerly a nonprofit institution, the university was acquired by investors in 2004 and went public in 2008.
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6 Responses to Grand Canyon U. Whistle-Blower Suit Is Settled for $5.2-Million
wisensale - August 19, 2010 at 10:14 am
How times have changed. I remember the days when the administration at Grand Canyon (a small Southern Baptist college of 400+ enrollees) asked students to save books of Green Stamps that eventually were to be converted into the purchase of a samll plane as part of their “Wings for Christ” program in which young, budding student-ministers would fly all over the state to preach “the word.” Capitalism is like bacteria – always seems to win in the end, despite the development of new antibiotics (regulations) that apparently mutate and become ineffective over time.
mabeelrc - August 19, 2010 at 10:28 am
Wisensale, you’re right on. But capitalism isn’t the problem. It’s bigger than that. Greed is the problem.
11286747 - August 19, 2010 at 11:28 am
Maybe the problem is neither capitalism nor greed; perhaps it’s the changing business model of higher education which is making it difficult for small independent colleges to survive, let alone thrive when completing with heavily subsidized public institutions. I’m not sure that we have a sustainable business model for the small independents. In that context, the emergence of the for-profit higher education sector has created opportunities for the kinds of abuse that we’re seeing exposed in situations like the one described here. A number of small, independent institutions are being sold to for-profit corporations because they are no longer financially viable. Wasn’t that the case with Grand Canyon? It’s tempting to blame capitalism or greed but perhaps it’s time to revisit how we as a nation are going to fund higher education. If we believe that a vibrant independent sector is in the public interest (and i do), we need to ensure that it survives.
saluki87 - August 19, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Capitalism is the best system there is for most situations. In certains markets (such as utilities) it is not and perhaps higher ed is one of them. Mabeelrc, you are correct that greed is the primary problem.
22079340 - August 19, 2010 at 4:48 pm
The problem is that colleges can’t recognize when their work is done and they need to shut down. Howewer, the folks who would make those decisions are the highest paid–kinda like those Wall Street types who take huge salaries and bonuses even as they lead their organizations to ruin.
drtkd - August 23, 2010 at 10:44 am
Capitalism is a morally neutral means of social exchange. In the hands of good, i.e. moral and ethically responsible, people, it can function well. But there has to be a community with a conscience using it. There has to be a desire among those using the social exchange that we are all in this thing together and need to, in our social practices, build in care especially for the most vulnerable. The problem comes when bad, i.e., immoral and ethicially irresponsible, people use capitalism as a means for gaining often extreme amounts of wealth at the expense of the community, especially those who do not own much and thus have little power (cf. Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick). Globalization has radically complicated everything, including how we relate to one another as human beings. That’s why the big corporations keep switching production to the countries that have the cheapest labor. China dominated production (just look at the tag of everything in the “Cracker Barrel Old Country Store:” Made in China” is on 95% of all the pretend down-home country crafts. But more and more have Vietnam or Thailand on them because labor is cheaper there now: 15-20 cents an hour as opposed to China’s 25-44 cents and hour. The question becomes: what is my relationship to and with the 13 year old girl in Vietnam who is working 12 hour days at 11 cents an hour to make my Nikes?