Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Federal court-appointed Receiver, Mark E. Dottore responded last Friday to the USDOE’s Feb. 27th letter, terminating financial aid for Argosy students.

Dottore first expressed his “sincere disappointment” that USDOE “has steadfastly refused to work with me to promote the well-being of the students enrolled in the Argosy University system.”

When he was appointed by the federal court on Jan. 18th to be the Receiver for Argosy, Dottore said he looked forward to partnering with USDOE “to find a way to complete the tech-outs for certain campuses and transfer other campuses to new owners who would be able to find success running” the university system.

“Instead, the Department [USDOE] has adopted a cold, and, as was demonstrated in your letter, an outright antagonistic approach,” Dottore wrote to Michael J. Frola, director of USDOE Multi-Regional and Foreign Schools Participation Division (MRFSPD).

“The people who will feel the strongest sting are students who will lose the semester, and an unknown number of credit hours as they scramble to find new schools to continue their studies,” said Dottore, who then moved to “correct a number of inaccuracies contained” in Frola’s Feb. 27th letter.

Among the issues cited by Dottore are USDOE’s concerns over the reduction of personnel. “The reductions in force were one of the principal tools used to keep the schools open through today,” he said, adding that more than 1,700 staff jobs were cut by the Receiver.

However, “we did not cut any faculty’s teaching positions and we certainly did not drag professors out of their classrooms mid-lecture to fire them,” he said, and challenged USDOE to provide the identities of those who made these allegations to USDOE, because they are “patently false”.

USDOE “has been quick to make accusations regarding the propriety of the cost-cutting measure I have employed, but has not offered any suggestions regarding what it would deem appropriate and sufficient measures to be used instead,” he wrote.

Dottore also provided specific responses to fiduciary, financial, and administrative issues raised by Frola, who was asked to provide specific detailed information/questions in order for the Receiver to give a proper and informed response.

Dottore noted that the financial data provided, as requested by USDOE, was based on data from DCEH’s “complex systems”.

Despite his best efforts, Dottore said it appears that the failure of the Argosy system was “pre-determined” before he was appointed Receiver.

And this resulted in “thousands of students left with a wasted semester, student loans they will seek to rescind, and the need to find another school to accept them and allow them to continue their studies, with no help from the failing school [Argosy] or the Department [USDOE], was avoidable,” he further noted.

“In fact, should the Department decide that it would be best to help these students move on with their education, please know that I stand ready and willing to work with the Department in whatever manner I can, to facilitate a positive outcome for the students,” Dottore concluded.

Dottore’s response letter was also filed last Friday with the federal court.