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COLOR COUNTRY
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The western sky takes on a pallet of colors
as the sun sets over Cedar Valley and the Library.
The weather in Cedar City has been surprisingly
warm with temperatures reaching at least 50 degrees
and similar temperatures are expected for this weekend.
KEN HANSEN / UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
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DSC develops,
gets accredited
in 3 programs
By KRISTEN NEEDLES
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
Dixie State College received accreditation for its four-year
degrees, competing with SUU for students and much-needed
state money in a state-wide educational family that already
has too many mouths to feed.
Dixie already offered programs that are important to SUU,
but the accreditation gives those programs credibility,
said Dean O’Driscoll, assistant to the president
for university relations.
Dixie now offers accredited bachelor’s programs
in elementary education, business administration and computer
and information technology.
Dixie does not, however, view itself as a competitor to
SUU, said Mark Petersen, Dixie Public Relations and Marketing
director. Dixie strives to offer programs that are needed
for community members and do not compete for students
with SUU, he said.
O’Driscoll said although Dixie is an obvious competitor,
SUU strives to consider the entire state system of higher
education when preparing programs and administering student
services. SUU seeks to offer a university education with
personalized service. That’s one way SUU competes
with the nearby college and other institutions of higher
learning in the state for the much needed education dollars
offered by increased enrollment and retention, O’Driscoll
said.
Utah Valley State College and Utah State University take
more potential students than Dixie, O’Driscoll said.
SUU administration would like to make those students aware
of the university and what is has to offer.
- “Utah County is exploding, and there is a huge
number of students staying home and attending the University
of Utah,”
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O’Driscoll said. “We’d like
to find out what we can do to get some of those students
as well as those right in our backyard.”
Ed Rogers, director of Enrollment Services at Dixie, echoed
O’Driscoll in the concern that UVSC has made recruiting
in Utah County difficult. Both institutions would like to
find a way to tap into that market.
The weak economy is forcing more students to stay home and
live with family to decrease expenses, O’Driscoll
said.
“SUU is a residential campus in a rural location so
we face some serious obstacles in recruitment,” he
said.
Bruce Barker, College of Education dean, said SUU has not
seen a decrease in the enrollment of elementary education
students, and he doesn’t see Dixie as a competitor
but as a colleague for students.
Barker said it is the availability of the shrinking state
dollar that is keeping the program from growing, not competition
for students.
“There is definitely a strain on resources with the
addition of another education program in the state,”
Barker said.
When asked if he thought the Board of Regents should limit
the fouryear programs Dixie is allowed to offer, O’Driscoll
said the Board should have encouraged educational diversity
across the state long ago instead of allowing all the universities
to offer basically the same programs.
“If each school had a certain set of specialized programs
instead of wasting tax payers’ money replicating similar
programs in every university, each institution could thrive
in a more win-win environment,” O’Driscoll said.
“It is the responsibility of the Board of Regents
to monitor the delivery of programs across the state in
order to maximize resources, and the success of each institution
of higher learning,” Barker said.
He said it is difficult to stay competitive and so it is
incumbent on SUU to not only continually improve existing
programs but research carefully any new additions to the
curriculum.
The Integrated Engineering program is a good example of
SUU’s drive to stay competitive with adjacent and
state universities, O’Driscoll said. SUU didn’t
want to replicate programs offered by the University of
Utah or USU but to provide new options for students. The
addition of the program made SUU competitive with research
institutions.
Although with the approved tuition hike, SUU will cost approximately
$900 more per year than Dixie, and only $200 less than that
of Utah State University. O’Driscoll said he does
not think this will make SUU less competitive.
“If you’re bragging about being the cheapest,
you’re not saying much,” O’Driscoll said.
We don’t want to be the cheapest, we want to offer
what the larger universities can’t — a quality
university education with personaized service.” Persian
Gulf in case of war. This deployment followed a Dec. 24
order to send about 25,000 troops to the region.
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Charges filed
against Infinium
By HEATHER DARATA
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
Federal officials filed charges last week against seven companies,
including Cedar City’s Infinium, Inc. and Market-Reps.com,
and Assail, Inc. of St. George, accusing nine defendants of
engaging in deceptive activities in connection with marketing
of advance-fee credit card packages.
The court temporarily stopped the defendants’ operations
and froze their assets on Jan. 9, a Federal Trade Commission
press release said. A receiver was appointed to assume responsibility
for the finances of the corporate defendants, the release said.
Secret Service agents raided the companies Jan. 15, sending
employees home and confiscating computers and financial records.
Approximately 240 Cedar City residents worked for Infinium,
including 50 SUU students.
The FTC press release said the defendants are accused of running
a scam targeting people with poor credit histories and telling
them that they were guaranteed credit cards that never came.
The credit-card packages were marketed under the
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names Capital First, Premier One and Advantage Capital.The
defendants did not actually provide credit cards, the release
said. A verification process was used to cover up thefact that
what the credit-card consumers were offered was actually a package
that included an application to apply for a “pay-as-you-go
card.”
That card never appeared, the release alleged, but the defendants
debited consumers’ bank accounts for “up-
sells” of $50 to $100 each that were slipped in at the
end of the verification process.
The non-existent credit-card package sold for $174, the release
said.
An SUU student who worked for Infinium said its representatives
made the operation sound plausible.
“They made up every excuse in the world to make it sound
legitimate,” said Jake Truman, a junior criminal justice
major from Parowan.
Truman said he believes Infinium is “100-percent guilty.”
While he worked there, he said, he believed that the projects
were “rip-offs.”
Cedar City resident Brian Schofield, president of Infinium and
Market-Reps.com, was one of nine individuals charged in the
case.
The FTC accused the defendants of using a “well-orchestrated
customer service scheme” designed to frustrate consumers’
attempts to obtain refunds and cancellations. Consumers were
rarely successful in canceling their debits entirely, the release
said.
The complaint was filed on Jan. 9 in the U.S. District Court
in Waco, Texas. It accuses the defendants of violating the FTC
Act, the Telemarketing Sales Rule and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley
Act.
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