Administrator denies
ties to isle college
of pharmacy

The president of a Nevada university said a troubled startup pharmacy college on Oahu lied in telling prospective students he was a top official of the college.

Harry Rosenberg, president of the University of Southern Nevada, is identified in a Hawaii College of Pharmacy student handbook as the chairman of the college's board of trustees. But Rosenberg said neither he nor the university has had any official relationship with the Hawaii college.

"I can categorically tell you that I never agreed to anything like that," Rosenberg said of his identification as chairman of the board of trustees. "It was totally without authorization."

Rosenberg's comments, made yesterday, appear to support student accusations that Hawaii College of Pharmacy administrators misled them about the school and its affiliations before school started.

H.A. Hasan, dean of the Hawaii College of Pharmacy, did not return calls.

Founded by Rosenberg, the University of Southern Nevada started in 2001 as the Nevada College of Pharmacy. It changed its name last year after it added nursing and business administration programs.

Rosenberg said that two of the Hawaii College of Pharmacy's founders used to work for the Nevada College of Pharmacy. Denise Criswell was a financial officer for the Nevada college, and David Monroe was a librarian, Rosenberg said. But he said their affiliation with the Nevada school ended when they left.

The handbook also identifies Rosenberg as vice president and chief executive strategist of Pacific Educational Services of Nevada, which was set up to develop the Hawaii college. But Pacific Educational Services' corporation filing with the state of Nevada does not list Rosenberg as an officer, and Rosenberg said he never has been one.

The filing identifies Criswell as Pacific Educational Services' president and Monroe as corporate secretary.

Rosenberg said he offered Monroe advice about starting the college but that Monroe did not heed it. For instance, Rosenberg said, he told Monroe that the Hawaii College of Pharmacy should be a nonprofit. Instead, the school was founded as a for-profit institution, charging students $28,000 each in annual tuition.

"Both of them have no experience starting a school of pharmacy," Rosenberg said of Monroe and Criswell. "It's just crazy what they're doing over there."

Monroe and Criswell could not be reached for comment late yesterday. Monroe previously has referred questions to Hasan.

The Hawaii College of Pharmacy is not affiliated with the College of Pharmacy that the University of Hawaii is developing in Hilo.

Rosenberg's comments come at the end of a tumultuous academic year for the Hawaii College of Pharmacy, which culminated earlier this month with the suspension of several students and news that the Hawaii Office of Consumer Protection was investigating the college based on student complaints.

The Hawaii College of Pharmacy began its three-year doctoral program last fall with five full-time faculty and four or five part-time faculty to teach its inaugural class of more than 240 students. In the past year a stream of faculty have left the college, and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education in Chicago has asked the college to withdraw its application for accreditation.

Unless a school is accredited by the council, graduates cannot practice as pharmacists in Hawaii and most other states.

Earlier this month, in an attempt to address concerns of the accreditation council, the college unveiled a plan to promote only 100 first-year students to their second year. Another 100 would be asked to take their first-year courses again, regardless of whether they had passed their classes. The rest would be allowed to take classes elsewhere and return to the school for the 2006-2007 academic year.

The announcement caused simmering tensions to boil over. The college suspended several students, alleging they had caused a riot on campus and were planning more rioting and violence. The students say there was never a riot and that they have only sought answers. On Monday a hearing will be held in state Circuit Court on whether to issue an order keeping the suspended students off campus permanently.

The handbook listing Rosenberg as chairman is one of at least two handbooks created by the college. A second handbook, given to students after school had started, does not list Rosenberg.

Tony Mai, a former student who left the college earlier this year, said he received a copy of the first handbook a couple of weeks after he received his acceptance letter in late 2003. Mai said he was impressed by the college's affiliation with Rosenberg, the founder of an accredited pharmacy school. The handbook also states that in its first year, the Hawaii College of Pharmacy and the Nevada pharmacy school "will share faculty in all areas of pharmaceutical specialty."

"I thought there was an affiliation with these people," said Mai, who was the Hawaii college's student council president. "It's on their paper; that's what it says. So what are students supposed to believe?"