Pharmacy school
attorneys promise
investment

The shuttered Hawaii College
of Pharmacy says it has a plan
to bring in an investor

Attorneys for the Hawaii College of Pharmacy are meeting today with counterparts from the Hawaii Office of Consumer Protection to discuss a plan for a new investor to take over the defunct start-up school in Kapolei.

The announcement of the meeting came yesterday during a hearing before Circuit Judge Sabrina McKenna, who earlier this month froze the college's assets after the state presented evidence that the college had illegally misled students about the school's accreditation. The state claims the college told students that the school was making progress toward accreditation, when it was not.

Graduates of unaccredited schools cannot become pharmacists in Hawaii and many other states, and McKenna has said she froze the college's assets, and effectively shut down the college, to prevent students from continuing on at an institution that appeared to have little prospect of accreditation.

Yesterday, McKenna welcomed news that a new group might be willing to step in and save the school.

James Kawachika, an attorney for the college, did not provide details about the investor but said he previously had discussed a general plan for new investment with the Office of Consumer Protection, which rejected the proposal. Kawachika said the school could resume operations by October or November if the investors acted quickly.

McKenna said the two sides should discuss the proposal and scheduled a closed-door settlement meeting for today with Circuit Judge Randal Lee.

At the same time, McKenna declined to unfreeze what few assets the state has found, saying students seeking tuition refunds should have a priority claim on them. McKenna said a new investor would have to demonstrate the financial wherewithal to run the school without using the frozen assets, as well as the academic expertise to operate a doctoral pharmacy program.

Jeffrey Brunton, an attorney for the Office of Consumer Protection, said the office had rejected the college's previous offer because it was too vague and appeared to be the same kind of "thin strand of hope" that had been dangled before students during the past year.

Brunton also noted that under state law, anyone with the money and expertise to take over the pharmacy college simply could open a new school and take on students and faculty of the Hawaii College of Pharmacy.

The announcement of the settlement meeting came amid an emotional hearing yesterday, where parents and students made impassioned statements for and against the college, whose closing has left some 230 students with no place to attend pharmacy school next year.

A tearful Donya Kooshki said she had flown from Los Angeles to plead with the judge to keep the college open for the sake of her daughter. Student Navid Noghrayan asked the judge to give the college a chance to find investors.

But Jane Hunyen Nguyen, another student, told the judge it was time for students to move on.

"I want the school so much. ... But I have to stop myself," Nguyen said. "We cannot throw away another $28,000 (in tuition) for two more years and get nothing."

McKenna repeatedly expressed sympathy for students and their parents, but said she had little choice but to freeze the college's assets based on the state's evidence.

"I know that many of you have suffered greatly and my heart just goes out to you," McKenna said. "I wish you the best and suspect many of you will go on to be pharmacists; unfortunately, it will not be at this school."

Although a state lawsuit asks for refunds for 143 students who have filed official complaints against the school, it is far from clear whether the students will get their tuition back.

Of the nearly $7 million in tuition money initially deposited into a Bank of Hawaii account, Brunton said the state has located just $960,000. Brunton said his office has sought to find other accounts of the school's founders, Denise Criswell and David Monroe, but has come up with little.

After the hearing, Brunton told concerned students that federal authorities would have broader jurisdiction to find money that has been transferred out of state.

"If this money has gone out of Hawaii, it's difficult for us to get it," he said.

Brunton also told students that the Office of Consumer Protection could not bring criminal charges against Monroe and Criswell.

"I want them to go to jail," said student Taruna Prasad.