Fact Seventy-one (November 7, 2007) – Capella University’s Chief Shyster, Liar Greg Thom, Cashing in on Insider Options

Every time Capella’s stock goes up, several of their insiders cash in on their stock options – this time, their chief shyster, Greg Thom (who has lied to Federal Law Enforcement agencies) made almost a third of a million dollars ($297,070.00) in less than two days. Perhaps he’s afraid he won’t get many more opportunities to do so after his lies are finally exposed during the upcoming trial against Capella University. As Capella’s other lying shysters, especially Sir Chrisy the Sissy L’Orange and Horse’s Ass, Capella Stella Fey Epling, have consistently refused to turn over documents (they’ve already been reported to a Federal law enforcement agency), we’ve posted the Security and Exchange document which shows Shyster Greg Thom’s latest transaction. ( CLICK HERE to view it. )

One of Greg Thom’s most infamous lies concerns the fact that he knowingly and willfully lied to a Federal law enforcement agency that he (and Capella University) intended to reply to the student they were retaliating against and allow that student to reenroll at Capella. Shyster Greg Thom made that statement on December 29, 2004. ( CLICK HERE to read the full story. )

Later, Greg Thom then lied again, this time to a different Federal law enforcement agency that this same student was “not officially disenrolled [Capella-speak for “expelled”] until 1/3/2005” – a mere five days after he told the other law enforcement agency that the student would be allowed back.

It is an irrefutable FACT that shyster Greg Thom lied, multiple times, to Federal law enforcement agencies (yes, that’s plural) as well as to a Federal Court. CLICK HERE to view some of the details. BTW, Greg Thom also lied about turning over education records belonging to the student he abused, which a Federal law enforcement agency has just found TEN violations of law – and that investigation is still open! It would also appear that shyster Greg Thom and charlatan Diane Stottlemyer are having a race – to determine who can either tell more lies or buy more degrees, respectively. It’s a good thing shyster Greg Thom is cashing in on his stock options now – before his lies and unethical behavior are fully revealed in Federal Court.

Fact Seventy (November 6, 2007) – Capella University Kickback Scam in the News Again

Once again, the Capella University kickback scam is in the news again. According to today’s Chronicle of Higher Education reports,

“KICKED BACK: An arrangement under which Capella Education Company had been paying the University of California at Irvine $500 for each UC student who transferred to Capella was abruptly halted in October, two weeks after it was made public in a Chronicle news story. The UC system said, in a written statement, that it was ending the five-year relationship because outsiders were "misconstruing this as somehow being, if not illegal, unethical." Under the arrangement, Capella paid Irvine $500 for every continuing-education student referred to it. Capella had paid at least $12,000 to Irvine under the program. The cancellation also affected a three-year relationship Capella had had with the University of California at Berkeley. No money was paid to Berkeley during the period, other than an initial $5,000 set-up fee.”

Of course, Capella’s unethical lying president’s (Michael Oaf Offerman) refusal to disclose how many other schools Capella pays kickbacks to is not mentioned – that would require that Offerman abide by his bogus initiative, “Transparency by Design” which is nothing more than a publicity stunt - along with Michael Offerman personal involvement in the fact that Capella University has (and continues to) violated Federal law. As reported a few weeks ago, Capella University has already been found in violation, on TEN counts, of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

Fact Sixty-nine (November 4, 2007) – Capella University Can’t Keep Faculty or Employees!

Sure, Capella University is a scam – their President, Michael Oaf Offerman, engages in lying, intentionally violates Federal law (FERPA) and continues to do so even when his “school” is found guilty on TEN DIFFEREN COUNTS by a law enforcement agency, continually exploits the media with endless publicity stunts (such as his latest “Transparency by Design” initiative) which makes absurd bogus claims about the importance of “accountability”; their “executive directors” (Capella-speak for “dean”), such as Kurt Linberg, are inarticulate morons who can’t spell even the simplest of words or write a complete sentence and yet are placed in positions that any real university, would never consider for such a position – especially when, like Linberg, have no real teaching experience; and retains charlatans, such as Diane Stottlemyer, who have literally bought and used fake degrees from diploma mills.

Just a revealing is the FACT that Capella University can’t keep their “faculty.” While Capella’s hiring practices, designed to save as much money as possible (no wonder fakes like Diane Stottlemyer are permitted to “teach”) by employing a whopping 86% of their “faculty” as “independent contractors” (Capella-speak for “adjuncts”) – which, by itself, reveals just how little respect they have for having real academics on their payroll, they keep another, very disturbing, set of statistics well hidden from public view (as we’ve noted, Michael Oaf Offerman is a blatant liar who intentionally HIDES information from public view – so much for his bogus concern for “accountability”). That information would include reporting on the extraordinary turnover of their full-time “core faculty” (which only amounts to a mere 14% of Capella’s instructors).

So, how does Capella University hide this major problem? It’s really quite simple – just try to find old editions of their “catalog” – unlike real universities, Capella withdraws all previous versions from their web site as soon a new edition appears. Let’s take a quick look at just two of these “catalogs” which cover a period spanning just three years – the first was obtained in July 2004 and the second one which from this month 2007. Just for fun, we thought we would look at Kurt Linberg’s “schools” – back in July of 2004, Linberg was the “executive director” for Capella’s now defunct “School of Technology.” After a huge scandal and the previous “executive director” of their “School of Business” was fired, let go, or was asked to resign, Capella combined both “schools” into one entity – their “School of Business and Technology.” According to their July 2004 catalog, the “School of Technology” had ten “core faculty.” Today, a mere three years later, a whopping 80% of those “core faculty members” no longer appear in Capella’s catalog! An examination of Capella’s 2004 “School of Business” “core faculty list” reveals that 79% are no longer listed in their 2007 catalog! Then, when one looks at Capella’s combined 2004 “core faculty” lists and compares them with the “core faculty” list from this year, an incredible 79% no longer work for Capella! That’s right, of the 24 total “core faculty” members who were on Capella’s payroll in 2004, an incredible 19 of them are gone!

Now, let’s take a look at just how unstable Capella’s faculty really is. Assuming that only 14% of Capella’s instructional staff is employed as full-time “core faculty,” their current School of Business and Technology, should consist of roughly, 24 full time and 147 part-time (independent contractors) or 171 instructors in all. As only five members of their “core faculty” has survived over the past three years, their so-called “School of Business and Technology” currently contains less than THREE PERCENT of what should presumably be considered their most important asset – full-time experienced educators. How many real universities have turn over rates that are so abysmal?

Wait a minute! Capella’s inability to keep employees isn’t just limited to “core faculty” – it’s appears to be endemic across all employees listed on their apparently full-time employee lists for the “School of Business and Technology!” In comparing the lists from 2004 against those from November 2007, only 16 out of 75 employees remain! Again, that’s a turnover of approximately 79% in just three years!

As always, we’re sure that Capella’s sleazy and unethical shysters from the “law firm” of Drinker Biddle & Reath, Sir Hank Christian L’Orange the Liar and Horse’s Ass Capella Stella Fey Epling, would also intentionally ignore the hard documentation that notes Capella’s employment problem, so we’re providing links to the actually materials that confirm the fact that moron Linberg just can’t seem to keep his employees; click on each of the following to view the two sets of lists from 2004 (for both “schools”), along with the new one from November 2007. We’ve taken the liberty to highlight, in red, those faculty members and employees on the 2004 lists who are now apparently gone from Capella’s payroll.

* 2004 Administrative Directory for School of Business and School of Technology
(lists have been combined) – employees that appear to be gone are highlighted.

* 2007 Administrative Directory for School of Business and Technology – employees that have lasted three years (impressive) are highlighted.

In conclusion, Capella’s School of Business and Technology appears to go through instructors faster than Diane Stottlemyer can buy degrees!

Fact Sixty-eight (November 3, 2007) – Capella University’s Spelling Champ, Kurt Linberg, Teaching Experience?

At Capella University, those with previous teaching experience need not apply. That’s right – no EXPERIENCE needed. All that counts is the self-centered desire to make big bucks while, at the same time, abusing students (oops, make that LEARNERS). Take, for example, Capella’s dishonest “Executive Director” for their so-called “School of Business and Technology,” Kurt Linberg – you know the one, the guy that can’t write a Capella sentence if his life depended upon it and never did learn how to spell even the simplest of words. (CLICK HERE to view a sample.) So, just how does a dishonest liar like Linberg become an “Executive Director” (Capella-speak for “dean”)? According to his resume (which is freely available on the Internet) Kurt Linberg has NEVER TAUGHT as a full-time faculty member at ANY institution of higher learning or, for that matter, at a diploma mill. That’s right, Capella’s most dishonest “dean” has apparently NEVER taught! Of course, why should we be surprised? Don’t believe us? Take a look at a copy of his resume! CLICK HERE to view it. (We’re sorry for the continual emphasis on links to documents that prove what a dolt Linberg is but Capella’s unethical and lying shysters from the “law firm” of Drinker Biddle & Reath, Sir Chrisy the Sissy L’Orange and Horse’s Ass, Capella Stella Fey Epling, have a nasty habit of ignoring hard evidence – especially when they’re lying to the court).

Let’s take a look at another one on Linberg’s bios, this one came from Capella’s own web sight [sic] (Yes, Linberg is unable spell something as simple as that). As will soon be noted, Linberg’s illiteracy is highlighted by the fact that he begins EVERY SENTENCE with the personal pronoun “I.” While that may fit his ego, it certainly says a lot (oops, according to Linberg alot [sic] is a compound word) about someone who serves as a “Dean” at a “university.” Why would any real school hire someone, like Linberg, who has never taught and who is unable to write a simple sentence? Just for fun, here’s Linberg’s bio from Capella’s sight [sic]:

“I received my PhD in Applied Management and Decision Sciences from Walden University, an MS in Software Engineering from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a BS in Applied Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Stout. I have also published a number of papers on topics such as IT management, software development, and project management. I hold eight patents on mission-critical IT implementations. I am also a longtime member of the IEEE, ACM, and ASQ, and currently serves on the Advisory Board of NUTN. I have held executive level positions with the ACM SIGITE organization as well as the Minnesota Information Professional Society.”

In case you missed it, there were five sentences (we know that Sir Chrisy the Sissy L’Orange has a fetish for counting things), all of which began with “I”:

1. “I received”
2. “I have”
3. “I hold”
4. “I am”
5. “I have”

Impressed? We’re not. Perhaps Linberg’s literacy problem is part of the reason he hires and retains charlatans, such a Diane Stottlemyer (who literally buys and uses fake degrees from diploma mills) and allow snot-nosed punks, like Brian Imholte (who only has a BS), to serve as chief kangaroo on one of Capella’s Kangaroo Courts against graduate students, in which Linberg retaliates against those who stand up to his abuse, incompetence, and illegal actions. These matters also say nothing at all about Capella HUGE personnel problems (which we’ll be disclosing in our next post).

Fact Sixty-seven (November 2, 2007) – Capella University’s Spelling Champ, Kurt Linberg, Gets a Hangnail

Oops, we should have said that Capella’s moronic “Executive Director,” Kurt Linberg of their “School of Business and Technology” just accepted yet another meaningless award (i.e., another opportunity for a press release) – this one bestowed by the “Minnesota Tekne Awards.” What, you never heard of it? Gosh, what a surprise. Of course, this is just another example of Capella receiving an “award” from a Minnesota-based awards presentation (we were surprised to find that, unlike other meaningless awards they’ve received, Capella wasn’t listed as a sponsor). A quick glance at the “About the Award” page for the “Minnesota Tekne Awards” web site is essentially nothing more than a description of what the “award” looks like (gosh, that’s impressive); specifically:

“Each sculpture incorporates a unique piece of Blenko Glass that has been hand fractured and mounted behind a steel Tekne ‘t’ logo. Each sculpture is unique in that each piece of handmade glass exhibits distinctive characteristics of shape, color, bubbles and swirls in the color and density that are the result of the process of pouring the molten, handmade glass and then hand cutting each piece.”

As far as we’re concerned that probably also accurately describes Linberg’s feeble brain – with lots of “bubbles and swirls” that is also very “dense.” Perhaps that’s why Kurt Linberg is such a blatant liar who hires alot [sic] (according to Linberg, “alot” is a compound word) of charlatans like Diane Stottlemyer, who literally buy and use fake “graduate degrees” from diploma mills). Of course, Linberg is such a liar, that he also fraudulently uses Stottlemyer’s fake “titles” (i.e., DOCTOR Stottlemyer) to law enforcement agencies when they’re investigating Capella University. Not surprisingly, Linberg is such a moron that he refuses to cite (or was that sight or site) where Stottlemyer bought her “degrees” (Lacrosse “University)? Heck, Linberg is such a moron that he wouldn’t know the difference between these or other homonyms – CLICK HERE to view an actual example from a web sight [sic] that moron Linberg actually posted on the Internet – and was left there for seven years. BTW, that web sight [sic] was created for the “doctoral degree” he bought from the esteemed “Walden University” (another online “school” also from Minnesota [Where else?]) Linberg finally removed it from the Internet after we pointed out his embarrassing web cite [sic]! About the only thing worse than Linberg’s innate ability to bastardize the English language would be the ever-evolving lexicon now widely recognized as “Capella-speak.” Between Linberg’s ineptitude combined with Capella-speak, there are now alot [sic] of knew [sic] words for LEARNERS to yous [sic]. It’s just too bad that someone from Minnesota doesn’t give Linberg an award for being the most moronic “executive director” at Capella University. Now that would be great material for their next press release!

Fact Sixty-six (November 1, 2007) – Capella University’s Moronic CEO Drivels About “Transparency by Design”

Once against Steve Tonka Shanks, Capella’s moronic CEO has driveled all over the Internet regarding Capella’s profits and Michael Oaf Offerman’s “Transparency by Design” initiative. Capella University’s lying shysters (Hypocrite Hank Christian L’Orange and Capella Stella Fey Epling, from the “law firm” of Drinker Biddle & Reath) favorite mantras in their frivolous and pernicious countersuit concerning how much “damage” those who exercise their First Amendment Rights have caused Capella's to the seemingly endless and ever-increasing flow of money into Capella’s coffers, not to mention all of the LEARNERS (Capella-speak for “student”) who are continuing to spend big bucks at Capella, shows what a bunch of morons these shysters are – Capella’s bottom-line remains astronomical. According the Tonka Shank’s own PR spittle, just released today, Capella’s

“Revenues for the three months ended Sept. 30, 2007, increased by 26.5 percent to $55.5 million, compared to $43.9 million in the third quarter of 2006.” and

“Total active enrollment reached 20,268, an increase of 23.8 percent over the same period in 2006.”

The old adage that “There's a sucker born every minute” certainly applies here – if prospective “LEARNERS” are willing to spend big bucks at Capella University – it’s their loss. Just the same, for Sir Chrisy the Sissy Hank L’Orange and Horse’s Ass Capella Stella Fey Epling to whine about how much “damage” those who speak out about Capella’s unethical and illegal actions cause, is simply ludicrous.

Let’s move on to some of Steve Tonka Shank’s most absurd oral excrement that has just been spewed at the media:

“We are also pleased with the progress that has been made nationally on important higher education issues such as accountability in learning outcomes transparency,” said Shank. “As part of the Transparency by Design Initiative, Capella and a group of other higher education institutions will publicly share information that will provide prospective students with quantitative data to help choose where they want to pursue their post-secondary education. Our work in this area reflects our vision to lead the definition of high-quality adult online education,” concluded Shank."

Oh really Mr. Tonka? Perhaps you should stop following the lead of your unethical and lying administrators and shysters and start telling the truth! For starters:

1. Why not tell all about the fact that your degrees-for-dollars “school” has been, and continues to, violate Federal law! That’s right, Michael Oaf Offerman and chief shyster Greg Thom have been PERSONALLY involved in Capella’s refusal to abide by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act for MORE THAN THREE YEARS. When are you going to disclose the TRUTH and provide “provide prospective students with quantitative data” that Capella University continues to violate the law?

2. How about disclosing a list of ALL schools that Capella University pays kickbacks to (the story of which was recently exposed by the national news media) as well as disclose the amount of cash flowing into Capella’s coffers from those schools? As you know, Michael Oaf Offerman and his equally unethical buddy at the University of California, Irvine, Gary Moneybags Matkin, intentionally tried to HIDE their kickback scam (until the media exposed it). Why won’t the so-called “leader” of “Transparency by Design” – again, Oaf Offerman, tell reporters how many schools Capella has kickback agreements with? Yes, it is a FACT that Offerman has been REFUSING to answer that and related questions. Guess that makes Steve Tonka Shanks an unethical hypocritical liar just like the other Capella goons.

3. Capella has been forced to disclose the FACT that yet another law enforcement agency, the United States Department of Education, Office of the Inspector General, has been auditing Capella’s books for the past year and a half for stealing “less than a million dollars” but refuses won’t provide all of the details. Why not?

It’s a good thing that Shank’s “vision to lead the definition of high-quality adult online education” is based upon ongoing violations of Federal law and unethical conduct.