Attempts to clear air about EPA lab managers clouded by fuzzy science

I called the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in hopes of clearing the air. Instead, I came away in a fog.

Maybe you can help me cut through the cloud.

At least I think it's a cloud that hangs above managers David Musick and Richard Hopper of the EPA's National Air and Radiation Environmental Laboratory. Both men are experienced managers, but each has been accused by an in-house whistle-blower of inflating their credentials with advanced degrees from notorious diploma mills.

If the men wielded mops and buckets in the radiation and indoor air lab, the fact they obtained degrees from Columbia Pacific University and Kennedy-Western University wouldn't be alarming. But they're in positions of supervision, and that made me wonder what's going on at local EPA headquarters.

Musick has an undergraduate degree from a mainstream university, but I'm told also sports a Ph.D. from Kennedy-Western, which was among several notorious diploma mills mentioned in a 2004 U.S. Senate Committee on Government Affairs hearing. Kennedy-Western has since changed its name to Warren National University. The committee was addressing whether taxpayer dollars were subsidizing such schools of questionable learning.

During the committee hearing, former Kennedy-Western admissions counselor Andrew Coulombe testified his duties were those of a boiler room telemarketer who conned prospective students into enrolling and coughing up enough money to pay "tuition." Admissions counselors were pressured to meet "lofty sales goals."

"I can tell you there is no value to a Kennedy-Western education," Coulombe told the committee.

Hopper's degree comes from Columbia Pacific University, which was ordered by a judge to close in 1999, but has since reopened as a Wyoming-based school called Columbia Commonwealth University. During its California years, Columbia was criticized for issuing a Ph.D. to a student who submitted his dissertation in Spanish to faculty members who didn't happen to speak that language, the Point Reyes Light reported in 1999.

Perhaps the fact the mail-order schools have changed their names and addresses is a sign they have also changed their ethics and standards, but critics remain skeptical.

Meanwhile, EPA Radiation and Indoor Environments National Laboratory Director Jed Harrison isn't the least bit skeptical about the expertise of Deputy Director Hopper and Branch Chief Musick. During my interview, Harrison gave both men rave reviews and downplayed their academic credentials as a nonissue. He admitted, however, that the nonissue has recently been the subject of a complaint to the office of the Inspector General. Calls to Musick and Hopper weren't returned.

"They both have degrees from accredited institutions which meet the requirements of the jobs that they're in," Harrison said.

I'm pretty sure Harrison meant to inspire confidence with that statement, but I'm not feeling all that confident. Then again, science wasn't my best subject in school. Maybe the work of the EPA's "Radiation and Indoor Environments National Laboratory" is easier than it sounds.

Harrison said, despite anonymous attempts to discredit Musick and Hopper, he believes no action is warranted. Harrison hired Musick and didn't flinch at the credential. Hopper was already on the job when Harrison became lab director. But Harrison appears well pleased with Hopper's abilities, too.

"The same individual has raised the same concern with the Inspector General's office, and there's been an investigation there, and the Inspector General indicated to me it wasn't an issue based upon their examination," he said.

Harrison said one of the men's doctorates "isn't essential for being in the job they're in. He doesn't use that doctorate, not at all."

That's probably a good thing considering the source of the parchment.

I've labored for years under the crazy impression that the best managers are those people with vast experience on the job. It turns out a superior knowledge of radiation, science, and air aren't essential to managing all those scientists and technicians.

"One of the things that we've tried very consciously and deliberately to do here is to choose people for management positions that are good managers and not necessarily technical experts," Harrison said. "The highest priority is on their ability as managers. They have to have a good working knowledge ... but they're depending on their staff scientists being the experts."

In short, both men have met the "positive education requirements" associated with their duties.

Does that clear everything up for you?

For some reason, I'm still not breathing easier.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295.