One Good Way To Make Christian Schools Look Bad. Owen Paris III | denelecampbell

 This would make a great movie,
including the hiring of one guys's female friend
as a secretary for Oren Paris III - for $50,000 -
when the faculty were paid peanuts and the students lived
in Third World shacks called "dorms."

Owen Paris III | denelecampbell: "Home » Posts tagged 'Owen Paris III'

Tag Archives: Owen Paris III
Do the Ends Justify the Means?

Posted on March 4, 2017 | 2 Comments


Following 2015 charges against “19 Kids and Counting” star John Duggar for molesting his sisters and the rape of a young girl at the hands of a former employee of Rep. Justin Harris who had adopted the girl then ‘rehomed’ her to the man who would rape her, the latest moral scandal in Arkansas has to do with a scheme of kickbacks in exchange for funneling state tax dollars to a tiny religious college. Earlier this week, former Sen. Jon Woods, Ecclesia College president Oren Paris III, and a business consultant friend of the two, Randell G. Shelton, were named in federal indictments.


Former Rep. Micah Neal
Previously indicted on several counts in the same scheme, former Rep. Micah Neal entered a plea of guilty to taking kickbacks. Other indictments may follow for additional persons, one of whom is referred to as “Businessman A” and for Ecclesia College, assumed to be “Entity A.”

The federal investigation has been ongoing for a couple of years and covers a period from 2013 to 2015. Until news of the investigation leaked out in the summer of 2016, Neal had been running for county judge. He dropped out of the race, citing residency concerns as his reason. News of his indictment came later.


Former Senator Jon Woods
Woods announced in November 2015 he wouldn’t run for re-election, possibly due to knowledge of the investigation.

Here’s the set up. An Arkansas law allows leftover money from the General Improvement Fund to be allocated for pet projects in legislators’ home districts. If approved, grant requests disperse the money through economic development districts toward worthy nonprofits. It’s a system ripe for abuse.

Currently in session, the legislature is expected to take away this honey hole at the urging of our rather embarrassed governor, Asa Hutchinson, a former Congressman, head of the Drug Enforcement Agency, and more recently, head of Homeland Security.

But the cash cow is already out of the barn, at least for this highly religious group. A total of thirteen indictments against former Senator Woods alleges he committed fraud and took a bribe of $40,000 plus “an undetermined amount of cash” in exchange for helping funnel more than $350,000 to Ecclesia College, purportedly for land on which to build student housing.

But there was no need for student housing. The grant request claimed that the college needed housing due to “rapid growth.” The college with an enrollment of less than 200 mostly off-campus students already owned 200 undeveloped acres. Records show that the GIF money paid for about fifty additional acres at an inflated price. To date, no building permits have been sought to build on any of this land, so evidently the ‘urgent’ need for housing wasn’t so urgent after all.

While indictments do not constitute a conviction, chances are good that plea deals will follow. The money was there and they wanted it and they had a handy nonprofit, namely Ecclesia College, by which to obtain it. According to the indictments, as early as January 2013 these three men “devised a scheme and artifice to defraud and deprive the citizens of the honest services of a public official through bribery.”

A March 3 write-up in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reveals a tangle of people eager to get their sweaty hands on state tax dollars. Never mind that Woods and Neal, as elected officials, both swore to uphold the state’s constitution. Never mind that Paris served as president of a college presenting itself as a Christian institution. The elaborate diversions through which the money flowed portrays clear evidence these men knew they were doing something wrong.[1]"



'via Blog this'

How Money Helped Ruin Higher Education

 "We are here to learn how a couple can
start a one-building college and give it to their children
as their own tax-funded non-profit piggybank.
If that is capitalism, we're all for it."

An on-going scandal involves Ecclesia College, Springdale, Arkansas, obtaining tax money to buy a large parcel of land. Here are links to the latest stories and commentary.

The advent of the federal student loan made it possible for private colleges to make a bundle from their students and not bother the denominations for support. Imagine the cars that college students would buy if they could borrow the price and have a lifetime to pay it back. Their parking lots would be full of Lamborginis and BMWs.

Every educational institution treats students as snowflakes that might melt and flow elsewhere. Every single one is a bag of money waiting to be drained for faculty salaries, buildings, and administration income. Foreign students are even more valuable, with their affluent parents who pay cash. No English? No problem!

Denominations and religious groups have an unwritten rule that their celebrities can do no wrong. Often they are children of celebrities within their sect, which is even worse. This attitude is very bad for those who seem to enjoy that status. They can do no wrong, even outsiders look at their behavior and think, "How could you do this?"

 We built this college on DNA! -
and your taxes.

When Oren Paris II wanted to pass his little college onto his son, Oren III wanted a salary of $100,000 a year. His father backed him and he obtained that amount, based on no experience and no education beyond a college degree. Before that, Oren III was getting $60,000 a year for being the chancellor, whatever that means at Ecclesia College. Now his mother is chancellor and gets that $60,000 a year, serving on the board and supporting her son's tax money manipulations.

Oren III's only qualification to be president of Ecclesia College was being the only son of Oren II and Inez. If a degree from EC is so valuable, why did Oren III (with an EC degree) also obtain a bachelor's from the University of Arkansas, a school he routinely deplores?

Now Oren III has skipped seminary to get a DMin from an online school, where everyone I know has gone to seminary three years before applying for an easy DMin (equivalent to the old STM degree).

So now the board calls him "Dr. Paris." He should take that doctorate and try to get a job teaching at a real college - not that he teaches at EC.

Three former faculty members have discussed their dismay at Oren's lack of leadership, absence from the campus, and general incompetence. Oren, his wife, his sisters, his brother-in-law, and his mother use up an inordinate amount of EC's income for themselves. They pay almost nothing for faculty salaries. The campus is a dump, the facilities a disgrace by anyone's standards. Two former employees told me they could not encourage anyone to attend the college, after they saw how it was was mismanaged by the Paris family.

But, as long as they keep the ruse going, Ecclesia College can obtain state and federal money for their operation.

Some EC students are excellent scholars and live up to the image portrayed in campus materials. Certain faculty and staff are exemplary and work for sacrificial wages. To show Oren III's stinginess, one person was expected to work all summer for nothing, during the school year for next to nothing. But Oren and his mother needed big homes and salaries.
A real estate agent told me Oren was also a landlord, the kind to say away from.

More Than One House of Cards Will Collapse
I could repeat some facts about Lutheran institutions of higher education, how they are controlled by a few and used to promote an agenda. Such schools are often a place to put incompetents and drunks, favored alumni who cannot be expected to live up to normal standards. A failed pastor becomes a fake Dr. from Fuller and teaches future ministers and teachers. How pathetic - and expensive.

 Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois

They remind me of the old days when a full professor at Yale University gave up his prestigious title to become president of a nearly bankrupt Lutheran college. Many students did not even qualify for a college education, so they established a prep school to build upon their rural educations. When I studied there at Augustana College, 50 years ago, the faculty were expected to have PhDs or to be completing them. The school never belonged to a family.

The future Mrs. Ichabod lived in Andreen dorm. I wonder how many residents (one a Nazi spy, during WWII) realized their highly rated college was built up by Andreen's willingness to give up Yale for a pokey little college job in Rock Island.

My mother, wife, sister-in-law, and I
all graduated from Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois.
This is my mother's graduation photo from 1943.

Phillip Brassfield, Chairman of the Board, Ecclesia College

Phillip Brassfield,
Eclesia College - Pastor Ministry - no date
Laurel University DMin, Leadership, 2015
Logos Graduate School - MDiv

Board Members of Ecclesia College

James Barnes, Chairman of the Board

Lecturer, Waxahachie, TX

Don Wallace Pastor, Assembly of God, Effingham, IL

Inez Paris Ecclesia College, Springdale, AR - Widow of Oren Paris II, Mother of Oren Paris III, Grandmother of Oren Paris IV

Joseph Barnes Pastor, Abundant Life Church, Hardy, AR

Jack Wright Businessman, Fayetteville, AR

Dr. Oren Paris III President, Ecclesia College, Springdale, AR

Joe Salcido, III Pastor, Life Center Church, El Paso, TX

Bob McEwen   Former U.S. Congressman, Senior Advisor, Greenbaume, Doll & McDonald

Joseph Wood Deputy Secretary of State, Fayetteville, AR

Dr. Phil Brassfield President, Destiny Ministries, Heber Springs, AR

The Family Tree - Oren Paris II, III, IV - And Ecclesia College - The Paris Family College

 Oren Paris II founded the tiny school that became a tiny college - Ecclesia College -
in Springdale, Arkansas. Its accreditation is limited to a Bible group.

 The son of Oren II is Oren III, who is president of Ecclesia College.
He has an undergraduate degree from EC
and another bachelor's from the U. of Arkansas, nearby.
He recently completed a D.Min. from Laurel Online University,
so they call him Dr. Paris.
His son is Oren IV.

Inside Higher Education - Boards may hold off on terminating a president until guilt is proven, he said. But it’s often best for everyone if presidents take a leave of absence, at the very least.

“Some boards are more strict about this than others,” Chabotar said. “I just think best practice is if somebody is indicted, they’re put on a leave of absence.”

Ecclesia is also rare in that it does not report its financials publicly and it is closely related to a single family. That can raise questions about institutional oversight.

 Oren II died in 2012, but his widow Inez remains on the board and on the Ecclesia College payroll.

 Angie Paris Snyder is Oren III's sister.
Angie and her husband run the online version of Ecclesia College.
Angie has an undergraduate degree from...Ecclesia College.

 Twila Paris, Oren III's sister, is famous for her
Evangelical singing career.
She runs the Ecclesia Prep program for small children,
one of those group home-schooling coops.

Not pictured - Starla Paris Novak is another one of Oren III's sisters. Her husband Mike has many roles, especially raising money. He has a bachelor's degree from Liberty University and is listed on the faculty of Ecclesia College.


Inside Higher Education -

Paris issued a statement Jan. 5 after Neal’s guilty plea stating that no one associated with Ecclesia College had provided money to legislators.
“We have never been a party to any agreements to funnel money to any state Legislature,” the statement said. “At the end of the day, I am secure in the knowledge that there has been no wrongdoing either on my part or the school’s part, and any rumors, innuendo or any future news reports that say otherwise are simply untruthful.”

But the indictment clearly names Paris. It notes that he received more than $300,000 in compensation from the nonprofit corporation that operates the college located in Springdale between June 1, 2012, and May 31, 2016, and that his family members and their spouses have received more than $1 million in compensation from it during that same time period. The kickback scheme’s purpose was for Paris to enrich himself, his family and the college by paying bribes to Woods and Neal through Shelton in exchange for the legislators securing money for the college, according to the indictment.

 It's good that Inez supports her son, Oren III,
but how many colleges are controlled by an entire family,
not one of them qualified to teach college or manage higher education, unless one counts Oren's recent online D.Min.

Cari Paris, married to Oren III, as pictgured on LinkedIn.
She is also on the faculty list of Ecclesia College,
with a bachelor's degree from Evangel College.