August 7, 2008

New Mexico State U. Threatens to Revoke Fired Professors' Degrees

New Mexico State University has a new beef with the two former professors who have been fighting their dismissal from the university since March, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported. The professors, John Moraros and Yelena Bird, received letters last month in which a university official said the two had never submitted proof that they had earned medical degrees from the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez.

The letters, from Valerie Pickett, director of New Mexico State’s Office of Enrollment Management, gave the professors until August 14 to provide final transcripts from the Mexican institution, or face “appropriate action, up to and including the possible revocation of your above-referenced graduate degree from NMSU.”

Four letters from the Juárez university were presented to New Mexico State officials this week, the newspaper said. Those letters verified the couple’s degrees and asserted that the Mexican institution had, in fact, sent final transcripts for Mr. Moraros and Ms. Bird to New Mexico State in 2002.

Bernadette Montoya, assistant vice president for enrollment management at New Mexico State, told the Las Cruces newspaper that graduate-school processors would probably go through the documents and verify them with the Juárez institution, and that the professors would be notified in writing of the decision from the graduate school.

Mr. Moraros and Ms. Bird, who are a married couple, have been at the center of a roiling controversy at New Mexico State since their contracts as professors in its College of Health and Social Services were not renewed. The saga has included allegations of plagiarism against the couple that were pressed by the university’s president, who has since departed, and confrontations with the chairman of its Board of Regents. —Charles Huckabee

Comments

1. Sorry ———- to say this but after spending a long time in Brazil I trust very little about Latin American institutions, or believe Latin American educational institutions educating students at the same level US universities do..

   It is better to assume these folks are bogus until proven different.

   — Archie Haase    Aug 7, 02:46 PM    #

2. That came off sounding totally bigoted and racist. I’m sure you didn’t mean that—but you can set me straight…

   — Max Macias    Aug 7, 03:24 PM    #

3. Parochial or bigoted or whatever, the case remains that they were awarded advanced degrees from NMSU, and the administration is apparently trying to catch them in a bureaucratic game of tag. I know nothing about their abilities, but Archie is simply mistaken: it is not better to assume these folks are bogus (unless NMSU grants degrees to bogosity).

   — bp    Aug 7, 03:37 PM    #

4. I’m waiting for an explanation from Archie myself, but then my point of reference for graduate study is the almighty University of Phlorida.

   Landrum Kelly

   — Landrum Kelly    Aug 7, 03:40 PM    #

5. NMSU had the responsibility and opportunity to vet the applications of these two twice; once when they applied to graduate school, since they received their Ph.D.s from NMSU, and once when they were hired. Either this is a witch hunt, or someone did not look carefully the other two times.

   — Hugh    Aug 7, 03:44 PM    #

6. Have to disagree with bp on this one… as a standard practice in academe as well as industry, we usually assume you do not have a credential until it is verified that you do (not the other way around.) Shame on the U for not figuring that out when they hired them, but the onus is on the applicant to provide documentation and honest representation.

   Archie can reply to Max on his/her own, but I believe posting #1 made reference to the unreliability of institutions in a region/set of countries, not to a race of people. I guess I can read into it as an inference that Archie assumes that a certain race of people are responsible for the regional Univs, and perhaps a racial flaw caused such unreliability, but that seems like a pretty big stretch. Archie, were you casting aspersions on people or university systems, and upon what evidence?

   — HIED doc    Aug 7, 03:46 PM    #

7. Sorry to say this but you sound like Archie Bunker on education Archie. Spending time in Brazil, I guess, makes you an expert on Latin American Institutions. Now who is bogus?

   Lou

   — Lou    Aug 7, 03:48 PM    #

8. Anyone who has followed this story knows that investigating the veracity of the professors’ medical degrees is just another installment in this institution’s truly inexcusable behavior. This is all well-documented in The Chronicle, but off the top of my head I recall that the President sent these professors pornographic images (verified), intimidated them (allegation with evidence), and intimidated faculty into frivolous investigations of their theses (allegation with evidence).

   Even if the degrees are bogus—and even if their veracity could possibly have any bearing on degrees conferred upon them by another institution—anyone with even the most remote of connections to NMSU should be alarmed by the President’s and other administrators’ crude, abusive, thuggish, and shameful antics.

   — DLS    Aug 7, 03:56 PM    #

9. I don’t know anything about Latin institutions, so I can’t affirm or deny Archie’s assertions. I can say, however, that I’m getting bored with those who immediately flash the race card when a speaker makes a statement that the speaker considers to be intellectually honest, however harsh it might sound to others. The truth is not always popular and what is popular is not always true. It doesn’t help the discovery of the truth, especially in academia, to immediately accuse a speaker of racism or regionalism or any other ism. Respond with facts or some other rational argument. Save the race card for when it is factual and demonstrable.

   — Edgar    Aug 7, 03:59 PM    #

10. OK then, it’s parochial. But point is that untested observations about latin american universities give us no basis to assume that the candidates are “bogus.” It simply doesn’t follow. Moreover, NMSU awarded them an advanced degree (whether or not they should have on technical grounds is another question, and yes, they should have checked). Thus we have reason to assume the opposite of what Archie wants us to assume: that the profs are qualified. Archie wants us to draw a bad inference. Whether he wants us to do it for racist reasons is known only to him. Or her.

    — bp    Aug 7, 04:01 PM    #

11. It is perfectly sound to deny acceptance or require extraordinary proof of degrees issued in a particular country where falsification of documents is a common practice. My office (the state of Oregon’s degree evaluator) routinely denies acceptance of degrees issued by nonpublic colleges in St. Kitts, Belgium, Liberia, Senegal, many small island nations and a few other places, simply because of large-scale falsification of documents or lack of appropriate oversight in these places. It has to do with corruption and incompetence, not with skin color.

    We also routinely deny use of unaccredited degrees issued by private providers in Idaho, California, Alabama, Mississippi, Colorado and Hawaii for a similar reason: ineffective quality control by the state.

    There is never an obligation to accept a degree. The degree user must prove it is valid.

    — Alan Contreras    Aug 7, 04:10 PM    #

12. The former president, Michael V. Martin, was rewarded wirh the chancellorship at LSU.

    — JR    Aug 7, 04:15 PM    #

13. Agreed, it is parochial to make such an assumption. But I’m not sure that race is even a factor when speaking of South America. Brazil was settled by Europeans (Portuguese), as was Argentina (Italians) and European influence is strong in a number of other countries there. The progeny of the Incas, arguably the most intelligent race that has ever populated Planet Earth, are in the South American gene pool, as are Africans and other native peoples. I might buy an argument that Archie is a culturalist, but to narrow it to race is quite a stretch. There are too many races represented in South America to accuse someone of racism for criticizing an aspect of South American culture.

    — Edgar    Aug 7, 04:21 PM    #

14. In regards to #11, I understand not accepting degrees from some foreign countries, but how does Oregon deny the use of degrees from other States and not violate Article IV, sections 1 and 2 of the US Constitution.

    — reader    Aug 7, 04:22 PM    #

15. The former president did not send the pornography rather, if I remember correctly, a former assistant dean did. The former President did enough on his own to make me disappointed in my alma mater for hiring him. We will see what happens next at LSU.

    — gl    Aug 7, 04:23 PM    #

16. Manuel Armijo’s classic remark in the early 1800s, “Poor New Mexico! So far from Heaven and so close to Texas,” comes to mind.

    — Green Eyeshade    Aug 7, 04:31 PM    #

17. Both Archie Bunker and Alan Contreras are way off point. Regardless of what you may think of the quality of the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez, the fact is that its medical school (Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas) is fully accredited by the Republic of Mexico, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME). It is hardly the equivalent of the “nonpublic colleges in St. Kitts, Belgium, Liberia, or Senegal.” As others have pointed out, this is another example of NMSU’s incompetent…well, incompetent just about everything regarding this sordid affair. The letter verifying the degrees of Moraros and Bird also indicated that the Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas had, in fact, submitted documentation of the degrees earned as long ago as 2002.

    Perhaps it is NMSU’s accreditation that should be questioned.

    — Fidel    Aug 7, 04:32 PM    #

18. I love it. NMSU is going to get these two no matter what.

    — Book Guy    Aug 7, 04:40 PM    #

19. Wow. These administrators just don’t know when to quit. And they keeping digging themselves deeper. Anyone following this story, esp. the 2 previous CHE pieces hyperlinked above, should look with great caution on the motivations of the administration here. Apparently “Archie” missed those stories… hence some real ill-informed commentary…

    — Passion Phd    Aug 7, 04:54 PM    #

20. Its much more than race PEOPLE—come on—you people act like you have NEVER heard of Colonialism, genocide in the amerikas, etc..

    There can be black, brown, and whatever who are more ethnocentrically “White” western civilzation centric than most euros—duh!
    Academia in the states plain sucks—I mean we can’t even produce our own engineers…

    I don’t care what you are sick of hearing or not…

    I do NOT respect academia on iota…

    :-)

    — Max Macias    Aug 7, 05:34 PM    #

21. Max,

    Not only did you miss the entire point of the blog post, but you’re thoroughly incorrect. The U.S. has the finest schools in the nation, bar none. See The Economist. And, on the myth of a shortage of scientists, see The Chronicle. These are two of the many sources from which you could choose.

    Your assertions are nothing more than a mark of your stark and probably hopelessly irreparable ignorance.

    — DLS    Aug 7, 06:05 PM    #

22. #14 there are many institutions in the US who are accredited by an accrediting body approved by the Dept. of Education which do not accept degrees or credits from other US institutions accredited by an accrediting body approved by the Dept. of Education. How does that fit with your constitutional statement and your questioning of the Oregon statement?

    — RB    Aug 7, 06:09 PM    #

23. What part of # 11’s “unaccredited degrees from private providers” does # 14 fail to understand? The U.S. Constitution says nothing about requiring states to accepted degrees from unaccredited private schools and, as one who has seen the ugly side of some institutions that were allowed to operate in the very states Dr. Contreras mentioned, Oregon does well to remain vigilant. [As I recall, Oregon has been one of the leaders in fighting against bogus degrees for some years.]

    — Former SHEEO Staffer    Aug 7, 06:16 PM    #

24. Article IV: Section 1:
    “Full faith and credit sahll be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state.”

    Section 2. “The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citzens in the several states.”

    Thus, if one state authorizes a school to award degrees, each state must give “full faith and credit” to that act.#22 – I am talking about states (such as Oregon) not Institutions here. #23 I believe the Constitution does require states to accept the “acts” of other states. In fact, I know it does, as I have quoted above. Again, if one state says a school can award degrees legally in that state, other states must give full faith and credit to the act.

    — reader    Aug 7, 06:36 PM    #

25. It’s obvious that any degree from a foreign country is immediately invalid. I mean, really, if the degrees were any good, they’d be taking jobs from ultra credentialed Oregon-approved uber-US-degree holders. Oh wait…they are.

    I find it hysterical that Brazilian-educated tech support workers walk my US PhD students through how to attach a file to an email.

    In my own experience, I graduated from an Ivy League university but then chose to complete my PhD overseas because my research required a lot of direct field research — the kind which Ivy League U said they could not support. I had to go through three defenses and publish three peer-reviewed articles before I could receive the doctorate. I was never once asked for a bribe nor did I offer payments. If I chose to stay in the region, I had guaranteed job placement. I paid the local tuition rate. The program was a meritocracy. Compared to my experiences both as a US student and faculty member, the foreign system was ten times better.

    I’m not sure why Oregon has self-appointed itself the watchdog of global academic quality. I’m sure the Belgians lay awake at night worrying that they can meet the standards of The Beaver State. But does the University of Antwerp take Beaver-State-approved University of Phoenix credit. One wonders…

    — TonyP    Aug 7, 06:46 PM    #

26. I stand with those “posters” who have written under the theme of “enough is enough”. NMSU hired these two individuals and later admitted them to their graduate school. Where was NMSU’s due diligence at the time of those two actions? Why wasn’t NMSU interested in checking their transcripts at those two critical points in time? If these two folks had left quietly, when it became clear they were not wanted at NMSU, none of this silliness would be going on now. NMSU, your transparency in this matter is laughable and frankly, at this point, you are just “piling in”. Your approach has moved my sympathies away from NMSU and into the camp of these two individuals – a shift that seems to be growing among many others as every day passes.

    — Bill    Aug 7, 08:06 PM    #

27. I am not an expert, but I am familiar with the universities involved. Having lived many years in El Paso, Texas, teaching at UTEP, I attended many conferences, professinal meetings, and cultural events at both NMS and UACJ. My general impression was that both institutions were far inferior to the University of Texas at El Paso. Also having taught in Colorado and done work in Minnesota I sense a unique academic culture along the US-Mexico border, that Minnesotans would call super laid-back. I have been spending quite a bit of time in Mexico City the past six years and could take any of you to slick print shops that can print you, seals and all, any university diploma or document you wish. So beware. The doctor at your HMO with the degree form the Universidad de Guadalajara may be bogus. As for racism against mestizo and indigenous Latin Americans, you can see just how alive and well it is in the US by watching Lou Dobbs or Glenn Beck. I hope that this helps the discussion.

    — Gera Rosy    Aug 7, 08:23 PM    #

28. Are these people insane?

    I mean NMSU administration.

    What the hell do they think they are doing?

    President Martin felt the fire and left, now Bob Gallagher is using Cruzado, I predict that she will be going away too because of her incompetence.

    I graduate tomorrow and this situation has reached levels that are so embarassing for some of us joing the workforce.

    I am proud to have finished my degree but am terrified of the possibility that NMSU might revoke it, if I disagree with them.

    In fact, there is a lot of corruption in CHSS and it is prevalent in nursing!
    Shame on you Waded Cruzado-Salas for being involved in this scandal.

    There are worse days ahead of this great institution.

    — Nursing Student    Aug 7, 08:26 PM    #

29. As someone who completed my medical school studies in UACJ, Mexico, I am very proud of both my education and training.

    It took me six long and hard years to receive my degree so I know what these folks went through.

    As for my suspicious U.S colleagues, I will submit to them that when I came to the U.S and completed by medical residency in family practice, I found myself far more advanced than many of my American counterparts.

    UACJ is not a-for-profit, private University in Mexico! The name Autonoma indicates that it is a state and federal Institution of Higher Learning with very high standards!

    I will request all of you to read the links to the two letters presented in the Las Cruces Sun News and I bet you the majority of you would be hard pressed to tell which letter was written by a University (UACJ) in a supposed third world country (Mexico) but composed with respect, class, professionalism, and dignity toward its students/graduates and which one was written by a University (NMSU) in a developed country (USA), which was more in line with a threatening, intimidating, disrespectful, and menacing letter one should expect was composed by a dictatorial regime gone insane?!

    Then again a dictatorial regime gone insane is exactly what NMSU and the USA have become! and I thought we had problems in Mexico.

    — UACJ MD Graduate    Aug 7, 08:40 PM    #

30. Hey, if an undocumented alien can study at the university…no documents at all…then what does it matter if the documents these two presented were bogus or not. Why don’t they just tear them up and declare, “Documents? What documents? We ain’t got no documents. We don’t need no stinkin’ documents!” That ought to settle it, huh.

    — Jester    Aug 7, 09:01 PM    #

31. Dear Reader:
    Oregon schools are not obligated to honor degrees from Oregon institutions, either. It has nothing to do with the full faith and credit clause of the constitution and everything to do with screening out credits from bogus schools—of which there are plenty in US states and plenty more offshore.

    As for NMSU, I’m with everybody who is wondering, what on earth is wrong with that administration? Clearly a vendetta is afoot. I mean how often do they start checking transcripts AFTER phud school and after hiring someone onto the faculty. Those people just need to shut up and hope we all forget this whole sordid academic soap opera. Or Oregon is going to start wondering about NMS transcripts, too.

    — BertW    Aug 7, 09:03 PM    #

32. Dear Bert (#31),

    I never cleaimed that Oregon “schools” had to do anything regarding other “schools” in the state, merely that (I believe) a “state” cannot make it illegal to use degrees from another “state”. What schools within a state do with each others’ degrees isn’t covered in the full faith and credit clause which deals with how “states” must accept the acts of other “states”,( i.e., inter-state rather than intra-state actions). One state cannot bar the holder of degrees authorized by another state from claiming to have them without violating the US Constitution. By your logic, Oregon could refuse to allow someone with an MD from Harvard from calling him or herself “Doctor” within it’s borders. Again, the Constitution prohibits such action on the part of a “state”.

    — reader    Aug 7, 09:21 PM    #

33. He y’all…it’s about states’ rights, ain’t it? Hell, that’s what we Southerners was fightin’ for back in the Great War of Northern Aggression. But then, there was that whole slavery issue. Well, we was half right.

    — Jester    Aug 7, 09:31 PM    #

34. I am very confused by anything and everything that has to do with our administrators living, working and presiding over at Hadley Hall at NMSU.

    Since when is a Provost’s personal responsibility to clarify, inspect and verify academic transcripts of graduate students? Correct me if I am wrong but it was my impression this was the graduate school’s job.

    The white elephant in the room has always been, and still remains, why Bird and Moraros were and continue to be treated differently than any other student and/or faculty member at NMSU?

    If you are following this story, even remotely, the answer is as obvious as those pesky little elephant ears sticking out of the blanket!

    The ugly truth that no one wants to admit deals with racism, discrimination, hatred, malice, harassment, intimidation and retaliation eminating from the higest levels of our corrupt NMSU administration (President Martin, Regent Gallagher, Deans, Associate Deans, Department Heads and dare I say even our dear Provost with aspirations for the Presidency Waded Cruzado).

    Provost Cruzado is in a no-win situation and needs to abandon legal counsel Kite’s inept and disastrous schemes and Regents Gallagher’s morally deprived and catastrophic advise and just come clean.

    They messed up these two (Bird and Moraros) big time, like they have so many others before them, only these two refused to go away quietly into the gentle night!

    I for one say, GOOD for them!

    — NMSU SW Faculty    Aug 7, 09:42 PM    #

35. This isn’t particularly important in terms of the story, but since we have so many NMSU people on here, can someone explain how/why on earth NMSU hired two “faculty” members who were simultaneously admitted as graduate students?

    — DLS    Aug 7, 11:10 PM    #

36. Reader:

    The constitutional provisions you cite mean that state A must recognize marriages, judgments, etc. which were established by the legal authority of state B. That is very different from what is at issue here. The degrees in question were not issued by any state (the comment said “nonpublic institutions”) and thus are not official state acts.

    — CU Alum    Aug 8, 01:58 AM    #

37. I am an NMSU faculty member and can explain some of these puzzlers. Moraros and Bird, the dismissed faculty members, obtained their doctorates in medicine from the Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez in 2002. They then applied and were accepted to the Public Health masters program at NMSU, finishing up their degrees in 2004. Dr. Larry Olson, associate dean, was their thesis advisor. John Moraros won a University award for his thesis which was on the nature and extent of victimization of pregnant women in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Note that NMSU did not award them their doctorates, only their masters degrees, so there has been some mis-reporting here. Perhaps what might have upset the applecart once again regarding Moraros and Bird is that they have re-enrolled as graduate students at NMSU in the school of social work. Both the public health and the school of social work are in the College of Health and Social Services. It’s a sad and beleaguered place these days since this entire scandal erupted. Its Dean and Associate Dean have stepped down. Both department heads for Public Health and Social Work have also stepped down. An old Dean was pulled out of retirement to head the college. The whole situation is thoroughly unsavory and quite disturbing but much of it is due to from President Martin’s total lack of understanding of the academic side of a university, much less how to run one. Most of us were happy to wave goodbye to him.

    — Becky    Aug 8, 03:07 AM    #

38. Having completed my undergraduate work at Wassamatta U and several years of graduate study at the School of What’s Happening Now, I speak from a position of authority when I say, “Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit outa my hat…oops, wrong hat!”

    — Bullwinkle    Aug 8, 07:17 AM    #

39. Dear 36,
    I believe you are in error. ALL schools (public or not) must have authority from an individual state to issue a degree. Thus, when a degree is earned in one state, another state cannot prohibit the holder from saying he or she has that degree. Otherwise, Oregon could prohibit an MD from Harvard (a private school) from calling him or herself “Doctor” within its borders.

    — reader    Aug 8, 07:36 AM    #

40. #21 (DLS response to Max): I love your defending, against, as you write, the “hopelessly irreparable ignorance” of people, like Max, who think U.S. universities are unequal to those of other countries, by writing, with indignity, the following: “The U.S. has the finest schools in the nation, bar none.” No doubt, you have been educated exclusively in these finest U.S. schools of the nation.

    Overall: the real point should be NMSU’s administration spending so many resources harassing people. Surely NM, one of the most impoverished states of the union, can find better ways to spend its very limited resources. And surely, academia in NM should be quite upset about NMSU’s administration’s very bad judgment and actions, all around.

    — Jesse    Aug 8, 08:07 AM    #

41. While I agree that the circumstances of this investigation into the validity of degrees from a foreign university are suspicious at best, and NMSU has better things to do with its limited resources, I wonder… why stop with Professor Morales and Professor Bird. This may be slightly off topic, but as long as NMSU is doing this type of “investigation,” they should also take steps to verify the degrees of some of the NMSU administrators involved in this situation.

    — Mina    Aug 8, 08:13 AM    #

42. Dear 39,
    Every institution in the US has the right (and responsibility) to determine the criteria for admissions to its academic programs. As long as it does not discriminate on impermissible grounds, it is not obligated to accept degrees earned at other institutions, domestic or foreign. (It might be foolish to be too selective on such grounds, however, since this would limit the pool of talented applicants to its graduate programs.) Likewise, it is not obligated to accept credits for specific courses earned at other institutions when a student applies to transfer. That’s why most states have developed articulation agreements between community colleges and four-year institutions. Further, universities’ inter-institutional policies have little to do with whether a credential earned at an out-of-state institution qualifies one to practice a profession in a given state, which is a matter for professional licensure boards.

    In any case, this is a side issue relative to the New Mexico brouhaha. My 2 cents: I’m with the folks who say the university had several opportunities to vet Moraros and Bird’s credentials (when they applied as students; when they were awarded their New Mexico degrees; and when they were hired as faculty members). To do so now is simply vindictive—doubly so since Moraros has distinguished himself by earning a research award and both were given a significant seal of approval when they were hired despite being graduates of the university.

    — BobP    Aug 8, 08:14 AM    #

43. Archie is a troll. And you all fell for it.

    — TrollWatch    Aug 8, 08:18 AM    #

44. Yes, Jesse, I had a slip of the “tougue” (keyboard) and said “nation” instead of “world.” Is a typo worse than a sweeping statement that’s based in no evidence whatsoever?

    — DLS    Aug 8, 08:20 AM    #

45. Dear 42,

    You are entirely correct about institutions setting their own standards. My comments here refer to states refusing to accept degrees granted by authority of other states. For example, Oregon seems to think it can prohibt people who legally earn a degree in another state from mentioning that degree while in Oregon. As I’ve said, that would mean they could tell the holder of an MD from (private) Harvard that it is a crime to refer to himself or herself as “Doctor” within the borders of Oregon.

    — reader    Aug 8, 08:42 AM    #

46. Some lawyers are going to get rich over this!!!!

    — Joe the screwed    Aug 8, 09:49 AM    #

47. Dear reader:
    Your position is indefensible, as any student who has read a basic Intro American Government text can tell you. The U.S. Constitution is given meaning by decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, which has many times interpreted the “full faith and credit” clause as allowing exceptions for “public policy” reasons. Any state that has strong objections to an action by another state is free to ignore it for reasons of “public policy.” Were this not the case, the controversy over gay marriage would have dissipated long ago. See Lowi, Ginsberg & Shepsle, American Government and use the index. States and Universities make their own rules with near total impunity.

    — Mervyn Emrys    Aug 8, 10:09 AM    #

48. Dear 47,

    Sticks and stones. My, how rude you are. My position is defensible or Oregon would not have had to settle when they were sued last year. States certainly do not have total impunity or again, Oregon could prohibit a Harvard MD from calling himself or herself “Doctor” within the state. Would you suggest that they could do that?

    — reader    Aug 8, 10:26 AM    #

49. Someone should go to a bookstore in Oregon and look for John Gray’s “Mars and Venus” books. At least some of them list the author as John Gray, Ph.D. though his doctorate is from a school Oregon prohibits mentioning. Will the state of Oregon remove all those books from the bookstores and libraries and charge Gray? I doubt it, since they know they cannot defend doing so.

    — reader    Aug 8, 10:33 AM    #

50. I’m relatively new to Chronicle blogs and am left wondering how many of the respondents actually work in education? While much of the conversation here is intelligent and astute, several of the responses (e.g., 9,13,21,30) reflect very poorly on the field and on the cogency of the respondents. Are these people serious or merely ‘posers’?

    — John    Aug 8, 11:23 AM    #

51. NMSU administration including Cruzado are known for outright lies. Its my understanding that a dean sent porn. The provost, now interim president Waded Cruzado- Salas made a public statement/press release that the dean was no longer employed by NMSU. However, the porn sending dean has been rewarded to teach human sexuality this fall. How bizarre is this?

    This administration truly needs a clean up!!

    — M.S PhD    Aug 8, 11:33 AM    #

52. Anyone for staying on topic? NMSU hired the two professors, then accepted the two students into a degree program. (Bird & Moraros) In a third acceptance, conferred degrees on them. (Do I have this right?) A fourth acceptance of all previous credentials occurred when they were admitted to yet another degree program. (From what I have read, this is accurate) NMSU, well after they awarded degrees, is trying to revoke them. I can not claim to be an expert in either the legal precedents or academic ethics, but unless the university has incontrovertible evidence of malfeasance of their faculty/students while at NMSU, their behavior is morally and academically dishonest. And that is really the point of discussion, right? No matter the race of the people involved, the nation in which the original degrees were conferred, and so on, these students/ professors earned degrees. Is it not a little late to start worrying about the validity of the degrees held before they were admitted to NMSU? And if these two people were not qualified, what does that say about NMSU’s programs? If unqualified students can earn degrees, just which school is substandard? The Mexican school, which, as a previous poster pointed out is well thought of in the world medical community, or NMSU, which appears to be acting like the University of We can Do Whatever We Feel Like Doing and if You Don’t Like it, Too Bad!. Perhaps national accrediting agencies might investigate degree awarding procedures at NMSU as well as the academic integrity of those persons involved in this affair, from the NMSU president, though each and every member of the faculty and staff involved in the attempted firing, down to Bird & Moraros. Turn the scorching light of truth on everyone, and see who gets burned. So far, NMSU’s president has fled, a number of the other administration officials have left town with coats over their heads like felons in a perp walk, while Bird and Moraros are still there, facing the fire. I can not claim omnipotence, but so far, I see two people with courage and a lot who have cut and run. You decide who is who.

    — paul d.    Aug 8, 11:33 AM    #

53. NMSU will be seeking reaccreditation. Here is a statement from their website, the section on ‘criteria for accreditation.’ This item deals with the mission and integrity of the university.

    Criterion One: Mission and Integrity
    The organization operates with integrity to ensure the fulfillment of its mission through structures and processes that involve the board, administration, faculty, staff, and students.

    Core Components for Criterion One:

    The organization’s mission documents are clear and articulate publicly the organization’s commitments.
    In its mission documents, the organization recognizes the diversity of its learners, other constituencies, and the greater society it serves.
    Understanding of and support for the mission pervade the organization.
    The organization’s governance and administrative structures promote effective leadership and support collaborative processes that enable the organization to fulfill its mission.
    The organization upholds and protects its integrity.

    — Ann    Aug 8, 12:05 PM    #

54. 1. US universities have well-established processes for evaluating foreign credentials, using evaluators designated by the US Department of Education. It is a well-established and legitimate credentialing process.
    2. In Latin America, the honorific “Doctor” is used for lawyers and others who earn five year degrees. When some of these people come to the US they may not realize that we do not do this. They are usually credentialed at the masters degree level, but they may be only credentialed at the bachelors degree level, depending on the field of study. Some of these individuals have been known to continue using the honorific “Dr.” in the US, thereby drawing aspersions on their degrees/schools that are unwarrented.
    3. In some states, anyone can hand out (sell) pieces of paper with degree titles on them. The state does not have the legislation or a regulatory process in place to monitor this activity.
    4. In most states, there is such a process, and institutions must seek state approval to award degrees. State approval is not accreditation by one of the US Department of Education approved accrediting entities. Only institutions who go through that DoEd approved accrediting process are automatically considered reciprocally accredited in other states.
    5. States may have a separate accrediting process if they choose to. Texas, for example, has a higher education coordinating board that has an additional accrediting process. Public colleges and universities must meet state accreditation requirements as well as SACS requirements. Faculty credentials are checked by both entities during that process.
    6. New Mexico allows a wide variety of institutions and schools that Texas does not. For example, the University of Phoenix, Webster University, and Lesley College have set up in New Mexico just across the border from El Paso, Texas, because Texas will not allow them to operate in the state because they lack the facilities, libraries, etc.
    7. The two professors in question went through two evaluation processes at NMSU and their credentials were assessed and approved at that time with all the necessary documents, approved translations etc. If not, NMSU could be sanctioned for its own accreditation status. The university is not going to allow this.
    8. Dr. Contreras is absolutely correct, and his is a process followed at all accredited universities and colleges. It is well-established and legitimate. There may be some marginal issues and disagreements, but the process is standard.

    I teach (or have taught) at NMSU, UTEP, and El Paso Community College, and was an administrator at EPCC.

    — Kathleen    Aug 8, 01:57 PM    #

55. Archie’s #1 comment is incorrect as far as I know. I had the opportunity to visit an outstanding university and program in Costa Rica and can affirm that their quality was the highest.

    Since I grew up in the Southwest, I also came to know several graduates of programs in Mexico, Spain, and even Brazil and all of those teachers and professors absolutely knew their stuff!

    Archie: you need more data points!

    Sometimes people do slip through the cracks: there was a colleague of mine at another major Eastern university; it turned out that not only were his supposed degrees bogus but that there seemed to be NOTHING about him that anyone knew for sure!

    — David from Darkest PA    Aug 8, 02:19 PM    #

56. I think that it is important here to look at the big picture…. NMSU awarded these two professors (Dr. Bird and Dr. Moraros) multiple graduate degrees (MPH & PhD)… why now – after 6 years are they going after their professional careers first citing plagiarism and now going after their credentials among all the other attempts? The answer is that this is a calculated plan of action to get them removed from the university community – the next thing they will do is probably attempt to expel them from the campus all together based on even more calculated corrupt moves by Provost Cruzado, Legal Counsel Kite, and Chairman Regent Gallagher. The news media is only picking up on stories that the University brings upon themselves by behaving in a reckless and illegal manner. Bird, Moraros, Cheteni and the rest are forced to defend themselves against the power of the university and try to protect their own rights as our state agencies that should be helping these individuals choose not to intervene… including Governor Richardson. Let’s all think about this for a while – why are the state agencies failing to do their jobs? Could it be that the connections of NMSU are so tightly woven into the political landscape of New Mexico that state government will not protect the people of our community?

    — Skewed    Aug 8, 03:01 PM    #

57. My apologies to all for going off topic but I remain puzzled by “reader”‘s choice of metaphors to bolster his/her argument, to wit

    “States certainly do not have total impunity or again, Oregon could prohibit a Harvard MD from calling himself or herself “Doctor” within the state.”
    this example is both irrelevant and fails to support the argument.

    The Oregon posting said that Oregon reserves the right to decide which degrees provide sufficient academic qualifications to enroll in an Oregon program. That has nothing to do with prohibiting use of the given degree within the state of Oregon.

    Second, every state has a medical licensing board. The MD from Harvard still has to meet the requirements of the Oregon licensing board before being allowed to practise medicine in Oregon. So that seems to invalidate reader’s argument or am I mistaken?

    — jane    Aug 8, 03:04 PM    #

58. Dr. Bird and Dr. Moraros are great professors and wonderful people. I was fortunate enough to be one of their students and they were both far superior to the majority of my other professors. They really cared and supported their students.

    They earned their MD degrees from UACJ (Mexico) in 2002 and their MPH and PhD in Molecular Biology degrees from NMSU (USA) in 2004 and 2007, respectively.

    What the administration at NMSU has done to them and continue to do is nothing more than a witch hunt, pure and simple.

    I am ashamed to be a student of this University and I dread going back to the Department and College. But what can I do, I am close to graduating and I want to get the hell out of here in the worst way.

    What a hellish experience. I really feel bad for Dr. Bird and Dr. Moraros but I feel even worst of what I hear is happening to my classmate in the MPH program Freedom Cheteni by the NMSU administration.

    It is sad, bizarre, unfathomable and unconscionable that RACISM has reared its ugly head so publicly in an Institution of Higher Learning.

    The NMSU administration should be really ashamed of themselves.

    — MPH Student at NMSU    Aug 8, 03:16 PM    #

59. What will NMSU do when they learn that these two people received perfectly legitimate degrees from Mexico? (Because the odds that they didn’t earn these degrees are really small).

    My guess is that they will desperately try to find something else to pin on them in an attempt to justify the ongoing witch hunt. It will require some creativity but they will do it. They may even have to hire Archie #1, he sounds like just the kind of guy they need for a job like that.

    Alternatively, they could stop digging this hole now.

    — Ba'al    Aug 8, 03:19 PM    #

60. Dear 57,

    I think you have misread Oregon’s post. It had nothing to do with which degrees qualify one to enroll in an “Oregon program”. “ My office (the state of Oregon’s degree evaluator)”. There are several colleges and universities in Oregon which all set their own standards for admission (as it should be). The STATE of Oregon makes it a crime to claim one has a degree awarded in another state if it is not on Oregon’s approved list of schools. The paractice of medicine depends on the licensing board as you say, but that has nothing to do with one’s Constitutional right to use the term “Doctor” when one has earned an MD. In fact, in all states an MD must be followed by at least one year of residency before a medical license can be obtained. Again, just to be clear, Oregon has criminalized the act of saying one has a degree from a college in another state if that college is not on Oregon’s list of approved schools. Following their logic, they could prohibit a Harvard MD from CALLING himself or herself “Doctor”. I am not arguing, nor have I argued that states cannot regulate the practice of a profession. If you would read my argument, you might see that it is not irrelevant. I hav enot argued anything about what SCHOOLS may require of students, only what I believe the STATE may not do. Please read my posts before attacking them as irrelevant.

    — reader    Aug 8, 03:20 PM    #

61. TrollWatch is absolutely right. The Archmeister (# 1) is a blog troll and an total jerk who at least initially got the discussion completely off the message to be gleaned from the article—the total incompetence, venality, and vindictiveness of powers-that-be and powers-that-were at NMSU—and who has been reading and laughing all day long.

    Becky (#37), thanks so much for your enlightening insider’s account and clarification of things. Thanks too to MPH Student (#58) and other NMSU insiders for their insights and viewpoints in this discussion.

    — Dave    Aug 8, 05:40 PM    #

62. So he’s a troll. The issue he raised—if inelegantly and with tinges of racism into the mix—was one that has crossed my mind in the past. That is, I’ve wondered why NMSU would pursue such a blatantly vindictive and prosecutorial strategy toward these two professors, and sometimes wondered whether we Chronicle readers were being left to draw a conclusion that perhaps there is more to the story. After reading some of the comments here, I am even more convinced that the situation is yet another instance of an administration gone wild.

    — BP    Aug 8, 05:56 PM    #

63. The problem at NMSU since Mike Martin’s fateful arrival as our President has always been his tendency to infuriate the populace with his brash and outrageous comments and blatantly discriminatory practices. Mike Martin employed crude but effective tactics of intimidation and retaliation against anyone within the NMSU community with a semblance of intellect and dignity, and especially against those who had the courage to raise any legitimate questions and strong objections to his many corrupt shenanigans and underhanded dealings. Martin single handedly run out of town many of these good people and deliberately replaced them with like-mined corrupt cronies, whom he strategically appointed in powerful positions across our University. The end result of Martin’s distorted and corrupt view and vision of the academe has led to the impending catastrophe NMSU is facing right now, in which Bird and Moraros only served as the catalyst of a chain of events that were already in motion long before their discrimination experiences became public knowledge and national news. Maybe there is a silver lining underneath this very dark and ominous cloud; a general and sweeping catharses, which would lead to the exodus of practically all of Mike Martin’s appointed administrators (discriminators), hopefully starting with the inept Waded Cruzado-Salas, and concluding with the appointment of a President with the integrity and courage to do the right thing so our University could regain its moral balance and national academic reputation.

    — Faculty at NMSU    Aug 9, 06:54 PM    #

64. Javier Post #64

    I am in agreement with your post for the most part but I beg to disagree with you on one account. RACISM had everything to do with what has happened to these wrongfully dismissed professors at NMSU. They are minority but highly qualified, very popular with their students, well spoken, highly driven and very successful. Thus, and not surprisingly, their appointments posed a threat to the white establishment within their own Department of Health Science (practically lily white), their superiors in the College (all white) and the good ol’ white boy network ruling NMSU. For all its claims to being a land-grant University and minority serving Institution, NMSU has less than 1% African Americans, less than 1% Native Americans, and less than 10% Hispanics among its faculty ranks. Yet the student body is more than 50% minority in composition and the University is located in a county, Done Ana with a population that’s predominantly Hispanics.

    The problem is NMSU talks a good game when it comes to “diversity” but in so far as implementing is concerned it simply does not translate.

    NMSU hires very few qualified minorities for faculty appointments and the ones that are unfortunate enough to get selected very rarely stay around long enough to receive tenure.

    I should know, I am one of the many qualified minority faculty members originally hired by NMSU, who had to move down the road to UTEP (El Paso, Texas) before I was allowed to find professional peace and prosperity.

    NMSU racial problems are deeply rooted and even though stupidity, corruption, and incompetence are quite abundant, RACISM was and still remains the proverbial “straw” that continuously and hatefully stirs the NMSU political and professional “drink.”

    — Former NMSU Faculty    Aug 10, 12:43 PM    #

65. Thank you to those that have tried to keep this discussion on point: that the NMSU administration has intentionally harassed two highly productive faculty members and students in the College of Health Sciences. As an outsider, who has followed this story from pretty early on, I am at a complete loss to explain why the University’s governing board, the NM Attorney General’s Office or the Governor has not stepped in to put an end to the vicious, reckless and sure-to-be costly machinations of a group of hooligans posing as university administrators.

    Already, students have been demoralized, faculty made ashamed of the institution, and the reputations of NMSU, its Las Cruces campus and the State of NM tarnished beyond easy repair.

    Please correct me if I misrepresent the facts, gleaned entirely from published accounts of the NMSU debacle, understood as follow: Drs. Bird and Moraros were popular faculty members with outstanding teaching records. They brought in more grant funding, published more papers and made more professional presentations than all other members of their academic department combined. A committee of their faculty peers unanimously recommended renewal of their faculty contracts. Prior to their review, Dr. Moraros asked the Associate Dean to stop sending him pornography through the University email network. The Associate Dean threatened to make Dr. Moraros “disappear” if Moraros gave him any trouble. The Associate Dean was instrumental in hiring a friend of his from outside the University to head the department in which Bird and Moraros served. The new department head told Bird and Moraros he was not renewing their contracts (despite their apparent value to the department and University and the unanimous approval of their colleagues) and refused to explain his decision—giving the appearance of acting as hatchetman for the lewd Associate Dean. In huge numbers and with great perseverance, students and faculty protested the shabby treatment of Bird and Moraros, only to be dismissed without hearing by an administration that chose to circle the wagons, rather than investigate the situation. (Please correct any inaccuracies.)

    Since then, in the unflattering glow of national attention, the administration has waged an unrelenting campaign akin to a reign of terror to discredit the two dismissed professors, but every accusation has been shown to be without any merit; as a result, the University continues to suffer from increasingly damaging self-inflicted wounds, all hailing from an apparently mean-spirited, incompetent excuse for a real administration.

    One might blame the recently departed president, but no other administrator, save the Dean of Social Work, publicly challenged unethical behavior of those that have “piled on.” The latest attacks against Bird’s and Moraros’ credentials should easily win over any who have doubted that an administration could behave so badly and get away with it. From my reading there has been a continuing conspiracy not only against Drs. Bird and Moraros, but also against students, notably one Mr. Freedom Chetini, an African man, who was Dr. Moraros’ graduate assistant.

    While the administration bears direct responsibility for this terrible series of events (and should be dismissed to the last person), one must ask, “Where are the Regents (or whatever the members of the governing board are called)? Where is the Attorney General? Where is the Governor? Where are the leaders that can restore sanity to NMSU-LC?” Doesn’t accountability extend to those levels? Not only is this a disgrace to the campus, the University and the state, it is an embarrassment to all of higher education. The students of NMSU are paying a terrible price; but, of course, there will be a reckoning, as no one could possibly doubt that Moraros and Bird by now must have retained legal counsel. The citizens of New Mexico soon will be paying for damages resulting from the unrestrained rampage of a band of small-minded people who did not serve their constituents well.

    Certainly, the administration blew it—and it appears ill-will was as much a part of the situation as incompetence. But the ability of the administration failing (which it did) it all seems very clear to me that someone above the University president should have stepped in sooner; a lot of damage to individuals and the institution could have (and should have) been avoided. Unsubstantiated attacks on the credentials of Drs. Bird and Moraros only serve to confirm that the NMSU administration still is out of control and needs to be reigned in immediately.

    — Bill, too    Aug 11, 12:05 AM    #

66. It is true – racism is the ugly beast that is fed by this current NMSU administration. There are mutitudes of individual experiences within the NMSU community that will attest to this. Las Cruces is a university town… NMSU is the largest employer in town. People here are trapped in a situation where they are not merely fearful of those in power but “terrified” of the power these arrogant and closed minded individuals hold. The NMSU administration reacts swiftly to any and all individulals that dare to speak up regarding non-compliance, discrimination, sexism, racism, retaliation, student rights, and ethics by eliminating their presence on campus – that could mean not renewing them, firing them, setting them up for expulsion, or ( like in the case of Bird and Moraros) they have come after them with “atomic weapons” of “mass destruction” by trying to throw every possible negative scenario/allegation at them hoping that something – anything – will stick!
    The truth here is that NMSU is sinking fast and the National Spotlight will continue to shine on their incompetence, arrogance and ignorance as long as they continue to create their own headlines with these outrageous and illegal actions.

    — say it out loud    Aug 11, 12:05 AM    #

67. Race or not I have not seen much go on in Latin America without greezing hands. Like it or not the place is corrupt from the inside out. Maybe that is why out borders are full of people trying to get here.

    — Archie Haase    Aug 12, 02:39 PM    #

68. Degrees shmeees—what ever—all this talk about degrees and quality and credentials—can they do the work? Can they adequately perform the functions of the job? Are they good people?
    Check these credentials out:
    University of Missouri Bachelors Degree: Economics
    University of Missouri
    Master’s Degree: Economics
    University of Houston
    PhD: Economics

    Earned by: Kenneth Lay

    — real    Aug 12, 06:25 PM    #

69. It is nice and convenient to blame all criticism of Latin American incompetence on white north European racism. Nice try but it does not fly.

    — Archie Haase    Aug 12, 11:00 PM    #

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