By Charles Loiacono     

Perfectly Legal?

           Far be it from me to contradict a legal eagle, but I can’t help wondering how the county attorney could render a legal opinion on a situation that took months to investigate. She never read the investigative report put together by a former FBI agent and a team of crackerjack investigators—a team that was in constant touch with federal agencies.

            I don’t know the county attorney, but she must be pretty good to have given this administration the go-ahead without knowing the facts. She never spoke to me. She never spoke to the investigative team. She only knows what this administration and their lawyer told her. Of course, they never saw the investigative report either.

            I wonder about many things:

Is she familiar with the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations?

Does she know that F-1 Visa students were moved from the college into adult education?

Does she know that the law states that F-1 Visa students cannot attend an adult education school “if the adult education program is funded in whole or in part of a grant under the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, or by any other Federal, State, county or municipal funding.”

Does she know that Jack Ostling convinced the Board of Trustees to renege on an agreement to put F-1 Visa students back into the college by showing them how they could pretend that these foreign students were residents and thereby get state aid in violation of residency requirements? This might help

her understand. It’s from a memo to the BOT written by Jack Ostling:

“A final cost-related issue is the possible imposition off non-resident tuition charges. Currently the ELI is different enough from other college programs to exempt students from residency requirements. As a CED adult education type course, the ELI is taught by a different faculty, has a different curriculum from the credit college, is run through an administrative entity (not an academic department), and is attended by students who pay a different rate for instruction. If ELI is taught by regular college faculty and other college regulations and processes come into play via the AFA CBA, there may come a point when all students who are not county residents (e.g., by definition all F-1 visa students) are subject to double tuition.”    

Trustees bought into the idea of pretending that foreign students were residents (Jack told them that by definition all F-1 Visa students were not residents). So, the trustees knew what they were doing. It was a scam to make money, and trustees jumped on board. The problem is that the Federal Code says if F-1 Visa students attend an adult education center, they cannot be supported by taxpayer money. And this administration has amassed millions in state aid and property tax money in possible violation of that law.

            This is only one of several possible violations of Federal Law uncovered by the investigative team. But I am sure that in her legal opinion the county attorney explained why none of those laws apply.