YSU hires company to check credentials

The associate professor in question is paid $60,000.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State University's Office of Human Resources has hired a firm to review the credentials of all new hires.
The action comes as a YSU professional conduct committee works to decide if an associate professor misrepresented his academic credentials to get his job.
Ron Cole, YSU manager of news and information services, said Gall and Gall Co. of Dayton has been hired to investigate the degrees, credentials and employment backgrounds whenever relevant.
Until now, Cole said, staff in the university's human resources office has been responsible for completing such checks.
The cost to YSU will range between $20 and $100 depending on the number of credentials to be verified, Cole explained.
The allegations
The firm was hired in the wake of allegations that Dr. William Bruce Neil, an associate professor of human ecology, received his master's and doctorate degrees from a nonaccredited university and that he misrepresented some of his employment history.
Neil, 53, received both degrees in 1995 from LaSalle University in Louisiana. The correspondence school was indicted by the federal government on fraud charges and its founder was sentenced to time in federal prison in 1997. After a name change, the school eventually closed.
A committee has been formed to review the validity of Neil's degrees and r & eacute;sum & eacute;.
The committee also will review the policy under which Neil was hired, Cole said.
The professor was offered his position in September 2002 and started teaching in August 2003 at a salary of $60,000.
Administrators also are reviewing the process through which Neil was appointed as they await the committee's report.
"The question of how it happened has been raised to the administration and it is under review," Cole said.
Faculty resentment
Meanwhile, the situation has caused some concern among other faculty members.
"There is a considerable amount of faculty resentment that someone with these credentials is being paid $60,000 as an associate professor," said Michael Finney, president of the YSU faculty union.
YSU policy says the university recognizes only degrees awarded by post-secondary institutions accredited by one of six regional accrediting agencies or by one of several professional accrediting agencies.
Although certain accrediting agencies are recognized throughout academia, several agencies are considered inadequate or fraudulent by the academic world.
The policy requires the academic department chairman or chairwoman recommending a hiring to forward official transcripts to the dean, who forwards them to the provost.
The provost forwards official transcripts and supporting materials to the Office of Human Resources. The responsibility for verifying that the transcript is from an accredited university rests with that office.
Such verification is required before an appointment can be made, the policy says.