posted 04-20-2005 10:52 AM         

Its the first or second story on the Anti-page.

posted 04-20-2005 12:35 PM         

Oregon made it a crime to apply for a public or licensed job and list a degree that does not have regional accreditation (with a very few acceptions). Here's the link. It's handy if you ever need to check the legitimacy of an applicant's diploma. http://www.osac.state.or.us/oda/unaccredited.html

posted 04-20-2005 01:10 PM            

In this country, regional accreditation is the gold standard, but not the only standard. There are other types of legit accreditation. For example, the American Bar Association accredits law schools and The American Psychological Association accredits many psychology programs. Both accreditors are recognized by the US DOE, and they are both legit accreditors. There are many specialty accreditors - too many to list here - and they are important to the polpulation they serve. Many state licensing boards are interested not in regional accreditation, but accreditation by the specialty accreditor of the particular discipline in question. (Most shcools are accredited by both the regional association AND the specialty association, so the specialty organizations get lost in the background even though they become important for licensing requirements, but a school need not be accredited by both to be legit.)

There are six regional accreditors, one national accreditor for distance learning schools (the DETC), some religious school accreditors (e.g., TRACS), and a host of specialty accreditors - all recognized by the US DOE (or the CHEA, another organization that makes an accreditor legit). Anybody with a degree from an institution accredited by one of the many recognized accreditors can claim a legit degree. (There are other non-accredited schools that are well-known and respected, which makes it problematic in formulating a policy such as the APA's or ASTM's.)

Schools outside the US are generally not regionally accredited, but they should meet what are known as GAAP standards, making them equal to our regional accreditation.

It is interesting to note that the APA (our organization - not the "big" APA) has not become a recognized accreditor by the US DOE. I don't know if it doesn't meet the standards, or nobdy has ever thought about it. Does anybody know if they ever sought recognition? I'd like to see them do so.

posted 04-20-2005 01:40 PM            

Nobody here disrepects Jim Matte or his contirbution to polygraph. Somebody obviously learned he got his degree from a school that was shut down for being fraud. (Just read the government's own literature on the topic. The government got really mad when it was learned that the US had spent a whole lot of tax money on phoney degrees for its employees.)

Many people were had by CPU and others like them. Others knew exactly what they were doing when they "earned" their degrees through CPU (and the other "schools" like them). This thread started when Ted asked if we saw Jim had been slimed. The problem is, George is correct, which doesn't help polygraph at all. He's not just talking trash, he's got good ammo this time, and that's a problem we must realize. The lingering question is this: did Jim Matte know the school granted degrees with little to no work (compared to traditional, accredited schools), or did he know and not care? (Most people who were innocent victims of CPU have thrown their diplomas away.)

The ironic thing is that Jim might have done work equal to a legit school's requirements, but we'll never know since CPU has no credibility. Were you to testify in court, the issue that one of your instructors (he taught me too) has a CPU degree could come up. I suspect Jim will have to battle it in court himself now that word is out. It's yet to be seen what that will do for him. In other types of cases it has been a death blow. (It usually arrises as an issue of one's qualifications as well as an ethical issue. He'll be battling the latter I suspect. Some professors have lost their jobs or pay based on CPU degrees!)

I'm not sure how George learned of Jim's CPU degree because Jim doesn't list the source in the textbook many of us own and use regularly, which makes me think somebody in the polygraph community let the cat out of the bag.

For the record, I like and respect Jim Matte. I've contacted him on occasion with questions since polygraph school, and he's always been cordial and helpful. There's no question of his devotion to polygraph, nor can it be argued he's not an expert in the field. He's an asset to the field. I'm bothered by this whole discussion, but ignoring it just because we like Jim is not the right response.

posted 04-20-2005 08:16 PM         

If you have ever heard the man lecture, within a few minutes, you quickly understand that he is highly educated and he knows his field!

Remember too that George Maschke is nothing but a "Spin Doctor" putting his own foul spin on anything good in the polygraph field.

Dr. Jim Matte earned his PhD a full eleven years before the school was closed. It would take no more than a minor change in school administration to change a respected instution into a diploma mill in a very short time. It happens all the time mainly due to the instution going broke and needing the quick tuition money.

Dr. Jim Matte will continue to be one of the people I call when I need the tough questions answered.

Ted