Tuesday, December 18, 2001

California State U. Investigates a Dean's Ties to 'Degree.com' Institution By ANDREA L. FOSTER The chancellor of the California State University System has suspended a dean at its Monterey Bay campus pending an investigation into the dean's affiliation with a distance-learning institution that was fined in October by Texas. Armando A. Arias Jr., dean of social and behavioral sciences at Monterey Bay, was placed on leave about two weeks ago, a spokesman for the university said Monday. He said the office of Charles B. Reed, the system's chancellor, is leading the inquiry into Mr. Arias's connection to the Center of University Studies Graduate College. The institution uses the Web address http://www.degree.com. The Texas commissioner of higher education, Don W. Brown, fined the institution $213,000 after he said it had no authority in the state to grant degrees or call itself a university. Mr. Arias was once listed as the president of the distance-learning institution on a Web page showing its administrators and faculty members. But after an article about the institution appeared in The Chronicle last month, the page disappeared. Still, his name, title, and photograph remained on another page of the Web site as of Monday afternoon. Mr. Arias could not be reached for comment Monday, but he told The Chronicle last month that he was unaware of the fine against the distance-learning institution. At the same time, he confirmed that he was its president. A spokesman for the University of California-Monterey Bay said the investigation of Mr. Arias is scheduled to last no more than 90 days. Background article from The Chronicle: Texas Fines Distance-Learning Institution (11/5/2001) Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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