Brick by Brick

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The last post in this blog was about Timothy J. Feeney’s insistence on referring to himself as Timothy J. Feeney PhD or Dr. Timothy J. Feeney when he is neither, at least not in the United States.

As I stated earlier, both his masters and doctorate degrees were issued by a diploma mill called Greenwich University, a non-accredited college that floated back and forth from California and Hawaii in the 1990s before going to Norfolk Island off the coast of Australia in 1998. It closed in 2003.

In truth, Mr. Feeney has a good working knowledge of people with brain injury and, were he able to step up to the plate and shed the guise and present himself as he is, he could be a formidable and helpful presence in the world of community-based brain injury rehabilitation.

In his February 8 e-mail Mr. Feeney asserts that members of the New York State Department of Health have known all along that his degrees were issued by a diploma mill and were satisfied with this.

If Mr. Feeney’s assertion is true, it is deeply troubling and it is all a symptom of our culture’s addiction to dishonesty and penchant for greed.

Did members of the New York State Department of Health know Mr. Feeney’s degrees were, in short, bogus? Did the DOH know this and still sign Mr. Feeney and his company, School and Community Support Services of Latham, New York, to contracts for nearly 15 years?

What group of dysfunctional minds felt morally comfortable and at peace with the notion of giving so much influence to someone who has no doubt impacted the lives of hundreds of brain injury survivors, their families and community-based healthcare providers in New York State?

Mr. Feeney’s insistence on misrepresenting himself is, sadly, not unique. The tragedy for Mr. Feeney is that choosing to do so undermines the very real qualities and knowledge that he brings to the table because it destroys trust, and once trust goes out the window, one’s ability to be effective in their therapeutic endeavors goes out the window with it.

Here is a critical point to all of this, because it points to a larger picture. This writer and any reader of this essay would be flat out wrong to villainize Mr. Feeney or those DOH officials who, according to Mr. Feeney, knew full well the reality of his degrees. While Mr. Feeney et al are certainly responsible for their choices, we have all in one way or another contributed to the creation of a culture that promotes this kind of mindset, and thus we are all responsible for dissembling it, brick by brick, if you will.

We can and must hold people accountable, but we must do so without hatred, without cruelty. We must allow people to step up to the plate, apologize, make amends. We can dislike the choices, even hate them at time, but we are stepping into emotional quicksand if we allow ourselves to hate our brothers and sisters.

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GREENWICH UNIVERSITY: SOME BACKGROUND

Note: In a recent blog post I referenced Greenwich University which has been listed on a number of non-accredited college lists and diploma mill lists. It is important that readers are provided with good faith honesty, so this post is the text of a web site issued by the Australian Government.

The link to the website can be found at the end of the text.

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Alert on Greenwich University

The Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training receives regular queries about the status of 'Greenwich University', a private institution which operated on Norfolk Island from 1998 until December 2002. (NOTE: Greenwich University Norfolk Island is in no way connected to the University of Greenwich in the United Kingdom.)

On this page

The following information provides responses to our most frequent enquiries.

Do Greenwich University degrees meet the academic standards of Australian universities?

I obtained a degree from Greenwich University (Norfolk Island). Is it 'legal'?

Is Greenwich University an accredited university?

Will employers recognise a Greenwich University degree?

Will Australian universities recognise my Greenwich degree for entry and/or credit?

What is the status of the Greenwich University Act (Norfolk Island) 1998?

Where can I obtain more information?

The following information provides responses to our most frequent enquiries.

What is the status in Australia of a degree obtained from Greenwich University (Norfolk Island)?

The Australian Government does not vouch for the quality of awards issued by institutions not listed on the register of the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) . The AQF is the policy instrument by which Australian governments vouch for the quality of higher education institutions in Australia. Greenwich University on Norfolk Island was never listed on the relevant register of the Australian Qualifications Framework.

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Do Greenwich University degrees meet the academic standards of Australian universities?

On the one occasion when Greenwich's academic and financial standing was subject to independent assessment by the Commonwealth, an expert review committee of five persons found that "the standard of its courses, quality assurance mechanisms and academic leadership fail to meet the standards expected of Australian universities."

No independent evidence has since been provided to the Australian Government that Greenwich University degrees meet the academic standards of Australian universities. It is open to Greenwich to apply for accreditation in Australia and to demonstrate that it does meet the standards required of an Australian university. It has not done so to date.

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I obtained a degree from Greenwich University (Norfolk Island). Is it 'legal'?

Between 30 June 1998 and 2 December 2002, Greenwich University (Norfolk Island) degrees were lawfully awarded under legislation approved by the Norfolk Island Government, using its powers of self-government. While the Commonwealth Minister for Territories assented to legislation, this does not mean that Greenwich University awards were ever recognised by the Federal Government of Australia.

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Is Greenwich University an accredited university?

To our knowledge, Greenwich University has never been accredited by any recognised government accreditation authority to deliver higher education awards. It authorises itself to award degrees in its company objects.

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Will employers recognise a Greenwich University degree?

The recognition of degrees for employment purposes is a matter for individual employers. Decisions about recognition may be based on official accreditation status. We are aware of some employers and professional bodies that will not recognise a Greenwich degree for employment or promotion purposes.

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Will Australian universities recognise my Greenwich degree for entry and/or credit?

Individual education institutions are free to decide what recognition they give to degrees for entry and credit, including degrees obtained from non-AQF listed and non-accredited institutions. We are not aware of any Australian universities listed on the AQF that would enrol you in a degree program solely on the basis of an award completed at Greenwich University.

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What is the status of the Greenwich University Act (Norfolk Island) 1998?

On 2 December 2002, the Federal Government of Australia enacted legislation to regulate the use of the title university and the delivery of higher education in the external Territories. This legislation overrode the operation of the Greenwich University Act 1998 (Norfolk Island). From 2 December 2002 the Greenwich University Act (Norfolk Island) 1998 is of no effect, even though it remains on the statute book of the Norfolk Island Legislative Assembly.

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Where can I obtain more information?

The Commonwealth Department of Education Science and Training (DEST) operates a website which alerts the public to the operation of unaccredited higher education providers. On the website, inquirers can access an email service to query the status of higher education providers.

Following is the link itself:

http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/higher_education/policy_issues_reviews/key_issues/assuring_quality_in_higher_education/alert_on_greenwich_university.htm
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BRAIN INJURY AND THE SHADOW OF FRAUD

Like any field, the field of brain injury has a wide range of participants. There are those who put their hearts and souls into making sure those of us who live with brain injuries are treated as equals, because we are. Then there are those too who see us as a way of making money and or a way of making a name for themselves.

In the next few weeks I will likely be writing a story about an individual who for more than a decade has claimed to have college degrees that don't exist, unless of course you want to include college degrees issued by a non-accredited college, a diploma mill.

This individual - a contract employee with a state government - has impacted the lives of many brain injury survivors and their families as well as the lives of many health care providers who offer services to survivors, all the while having degrees that are not recognized as valid anywhere in the United States and this writer has been unable thus far to find any place in the world where these degrees are considered valid other than the non-accredited school that issued them.

Diploma mills as they are called are sadly plentiful.

Greenwich University is a case in point. A non-accredited school that was located in Hawaii and California in the 1990s, it moved to Norfolk Island off the Coast of Australia. The Australian Government later issued an alert in the Internet making it clear that Greenwich (not to be confused with the prestigious University of Greenwich in London, England) did not live up to its educational standards.

Greenwich closed its doors in 2003 and, it seems, reopened in Hawaii as Akamai University, also a diploma mill.

Both Greenwich and Akamai are on numerous diploma mill lists.
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HEALTHCARE BULLIES

I have seen my fair share of bullies in the healthcare field. Since my first foray into the healthcare arena in 1985 to this day, I have seen healthcare workers from management to ownership, from clinical staff to line staff, use their positions to control and bully people who are, in many cases, tragically susceptible to this treatment, often because of the healthcare system design itself.

When you require a form of support and services in order to stay in the community and, in some cases, stay alive, it is hideously unconscionable that you are subjected to this kind of treatment.

I know of one community-based provider for brain injury that may still have one management employee who locks the doors when he begins his workshops and, if one of the participants needs to use the bathroom, they find themselves locked out of the workshop when they return. They are told that they should have gone to the bathroom before the workshop. Never mind they are deserving of respect and dignity.

I know of another program director in New York State that last I heard still tells new employees that anyone who has suffered a brain injury is incapable of thinking. Having been shot in the head myself and living with a bullet lodged in my brain, I am utterly baffled as to how I can write these words to you, much less write any damned thing in the first place, were this program director, who I will call Biff, correct in his observation..

I once asked Biff how was it that I am able to think.

Biff said, “You’re abnormal, Peter.”

I said, “I’m well aware of that, Biff. But that was true long before I was shot.”

A week or two after this conversation with Biff, it comes to my attention that a young man with a brain injury was refusing to leave his room. I go to Biff and say, “Why don’t I go talk with him and see what’s up?”

Biff says, “Go ahead if you think you'll do any good.”

I go to see this young man. He is 19 years old. He had been an athlete and suffered his injury when he was hit by a car. My dialogue with this young man went something like this. I’ll call him Paul

I knocked on his door, “Mind if I come in?”

“Come on in,” Paul says.

I say, “Listen, first thing I want to tell you, the last thing I plan on doing is try to get you to leave this room. You cool with that?” I knew people had been pressuring him to leave his room because they felt that was what he was supposed to do.

“I’m cool with that.”

“I wanted to know if you would teach me something.”

“Sure… What do you want to know?”

“Can you teach me, help me understand what stops you from leaving the room?”

“Look at me,” Paul says, his voice suddenly choked with emotion. “I leave this room, walk 10 feet, I can’t find my way back. One day I’m this really good athlete, next day a car hits me, it was a car that hit me?”

“It was.”

“One day this fucking car hits me, now I can’t remember shit, my balance sucks, I’m not an athlete anymore and I can’t find my way back to my own room, it’s scary as hell.”

I say, “Thanks for helping me understand, bro. Can I ask a favor of you?”

“Sure."

“All right if I come to see you, we can hang out here all you want.”

“I’d really like that."

I got up to leave. I say, “It was really good meeting you, Paul.”

He stands. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Can I get a hug?”

“Not a problem,” and I give this 19-year-old boy who is understandably afraid to leave his room because he couldn’t find his way back a hug.

I go and find Biff and relate my conversation with Paul to him. I conclude by saying, “You still want to say that’s not thinking.”

Biff looked at me and said, “That’s not thinking, that’s feeling.”

I say, “You're stupid, you know that, right?”

There are and always will be bullies among us. But there is good news. There are canyons of courage in the hearts and minds of those of us who have been wounded in life, physically, emotionally and spiritually. And if there is any universal truth to any bully, it is this, they are cowards.
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