Columbia Students Tell President Bollinger: Reform Kaplan University

Here's the latest jaw-dropping news about Kaplan University, the commercial chain of schools that made $1.5 billion for the Washington Post Company in 2009.

Turns out Kaplan, as well as other for-profit colleges, explicitly trains its admissions staff to exploit 'pain' and 'fear' as they recruit their typically low-income students. "Uncover their pain and fears," a newly-released Kaplan training document instructs recruiters who are trying to sell potential students on classes. "Once they are reminded of how bad things are, this will create a sense of urgency to make this change."

These underhanded tactics, revealed earlier this week by Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, are bad enough. But the truly horrifying thing is that many students end up worse off, not better, after attending Kaplan, saddled with thousands in debt and unable to find the lucrative "American dream" they were promised. Today, though, they got some new advocates: Students at Columbia University.

The Columbia University College Democrats Activist Council today kicked off a campaign on Change.org to tell Columbia's president, Lee Bollinger, to speak out against unethical practices at Kaplan University, or else exit the board of the Washington Post Company.

Why? Bollinger sits on the Board of Directors of the Washington Post Company, which owns Kaplan. That's right -- Bollinger, a staunch advocate of affirmative action and quality higher education, is currently lending his credibility and stellar reputation to one of the most controversial and widely-criticized education companies in the country.

From his high position, Bollinger has the opportunity to put Kaplan University - which is currently being investigated by Florida's attorney general - back on the right path. "Sitting on the board of the company that owns Kaplan, President Bollinger can make a difference," the students' petition reads.

"We must encourage him to use that voice, to stand up for these students, just as he would for us," states the petition. "Ask him to stop the malicious recruiting practices.  Ask him to cut the lobbying.  Ask him to support governmental reforms.  And if he can’t, ask him to quit Kaplan.  Because he can do better than that."

Kaplan and the for-profit industry have received criticism from the Columbia community before. In a November Bloomberg News story reporting that executives of for-profit colleges make as much as 26 times more than executives at traditional universities, Columbia professor Henry Levin spoke out against for-profit schools.

“For-profit colleges are reaching into the public trough to finance luxurious lifestyles at the expense of people who are going to have to pay back loans,” Levin, a professor at Columbia's Teachers College, told Bloomberg. They're a "private enterprise that's almost entirely publicly funded," he said in the story.

But instead of answering the calls for reform, the Washington Post Company's Chairman, Donald Graham, continues to lobby against any federal regulation of Kaplan, ignore pleas from former students to commit to better practices, and let the Washington Post's reputation be increasingly tarnished.

President Bollinger can make a difference - either by speaking out against the practices at Kaplan, or by exiting the board. Here's to the Columbia University students who have stepped up to create positive change in this embattled chain of colleges. You can read their letter to President Bollinger here, and check Change.org for more updates on their campaign.

Photo credit: Columbia University