(This update corrects information about Phoenix and the VA.)

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A second campus in the University of Arkansas System is now publicly expressing opposition to a proposal that the system affiliate with a nonprofit organization that would buy the for-profit University of Phoenix.

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock‘s Faculty Senate and the Student Government Association have adopted resolutions opposing the plan, which is coming up for a vote before the UA System’s Board of Trustees on Monday.

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Though the UA-Little Rock faculty senate approved its resolution April 7, we didn’t learn of the matter until today. The SGA letter of opposition was undated.

You can read the faculty senate’s letter to Bobbitt along with its resolution as well as the SGA’s letter at these links.

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As you may recall, the faculty senate at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville also recently adopted a resolution opposing the proposed acquisition.

At UA-Little Rock, 36 faculty senators’ typed names were at the end of their letter to Bobbitt and the system’s board of trustees.

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By all accounts, Phoenix has had a troubled financial and regulatory history. Supporters of the acquisition, though, say Phoenix has changed and is no longer plagued with its past problems.

But faculty members questioned that assessment. They wrote: “More importantly, it is not at all clear that University of Phoenix really has changed. This income stream may not yet have run dry, but it most certainly is running crooked”

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University of Phoenix spokeswoman Andrea Smiley said in an email late today, that despite a statement to the contrary by the faculty senators, “at no point did the [Veterans Administration] halt veterans from using their GI Bill benefits at University of Phoenix.” Smiley referred to a 2020 Washington Post article that quoted a VA spokeswoman at the time as saying the agency believes the five schools [including Phoenix] have taken “‘adequate corrective actions to avoid suspension.'”

The faculty letter closed with this statement: “We at UA Little Rock support this goal of providing accessible higher education to all Arkansans. Indeed, this is part of our mission as a metropolitan institution, which is why UA Little Rock has offered extensive night and later online programs since our inception. We urge you to stop looking outward for the solution, and to start looking inward; invest your time and energy toward expanding access to courses and programs at the existing University of Arkansas campuses. Such efforts will provide sustainable benefits to Arkansans and offer much greater long-term value to the System and state than will be an affiliation with the much-tarnished University of Phoenix.”

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SGA President Thomas Forcum said in his letter, “This acquisition does not meet your stated goal of providing service to adult Arkansans without college degrees, as fewer than 1,000 University of Phoenix students reside in Arkansas.”

The acquisition plan has been under consideration about two years but only came to the public’s attention in late January. Bobbitt has said the acquisition would not involve any public funds and that Phoenix would not become a part of the UA System. Rather, an Arkansas-based nonprofit that would affiliate with the UA System, Transformative Education Services Inc. or TES Inc.would buy Phoenix and gradually convert it to a nonprofit. 

In extolling the proposed deal, Bobbitt has said no public funds would be involved but that the UA System would receive $20 million annually from a licensing agreement.

But Forcum wrote, “The resources involved in this deal would be better spent at in-state schools. We believe the respect that comes with the University of Arkansas name is invaluable; therefore, major risks to that name are unacceptable. By risking harm to its name, we believe the University of Arkansas system risks long term financial harm to itself, its hardworking faculty and staff, current students, and alumni.”

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