(Chris Detrick | The Salt Lake Tribune) Neumont University President Edward Levine speaks at Neumont University Wednesday August 29, 2012. Levine is going to court to against a college review web site, alleging it posts only negative comments about his small for-profit school.
According to anonymous reviews posted online, Neumont University is a "sham" whose unqualified faculty don?t respect students and don?t prepare them well for careers in the digital workforce.
Of the 17 postings on the CollegeTimes website, there is not a word of praise for Neumont. The page warns students to avoid the for-profit school because it is nationally, rather than regionally, accredited.
Now the Utah-based school is fighting back, seeking a preliminary injunction in a Las Vegas federal court. It?s also seeking damages from the site?s principal, Jesse Nickles, and Little Bizzy, his online management and marketing services provider.
In court filings, the school says the site portrays a one-sided and defamatory distortion that scares students away. CollegeTimes "masquerades" as an open forum for the benefit of consumers, but in reality Nickles manipulates the content in hope of "extorting" schools into buying the site?s domain name, court documents allege.
"He has deliberately suppressed information to disparage this school," Neumont president Edward Levine said. "He is trying to hurt people purely for personal profit."
Nickles declined to be interviewed, but agreed to respond to e-mailed questions. In his responses, he accused Neumont of "spamming" the website by instructing staff to submit favorable reviews.
"Edward Levine attempted to bribe CollegeTimes to remove negative student reviews of his school, and when that didn?t work, he decided to concoct an illegitimate lawsuit complaint," Nickles wrote.
Levine dismissed Nickles? assertions as "specious" and said the school offered to cover Nickles? costs.
In recent years, the web has seen a proliferation of sites, such as unigo.com and studentsreview.com, that provide students an online forum to describe their opinions and experiences with colleges and professors. The sites can serve as worthwhile sounding boards, but students or others can launch attacks (or post paid plaudits) from behind a veil of anonymity.
"There?s a tension between privacy and freedom on the Internet. People do so much on the Internet, thinking it?s anonymous, that they would never do if it wasn?t anonymous," said Stephen Zralek, a Nashville lawyer specializing in First Amendment law. "I have rights up until they cross a line and violate your rights. The same is true with Internet postings."
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He believes Internet service providers, who are immunized from defamation suits, have an obligation to remind posters of their responsibilities, such as saying things that cast people or institutions in a "false light."
"It?s a tough balance," Zralek said. "We deserve the right to criticize our government anonymously, but the further from that you move, the less strong that right is."
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Public forum? ? The Neumont suit accuses CollegeTimes of business disparagement and interference with contractual relationships and prospective economic advantage, not libel. The page targeted by the suit isn?t buried in the web ? a Google search for "Neumont University" returns it on the first page.
Levine said Neumont has no problem with students expressing opinions on CollegeTimes, as long as postings are authentic and unfiltered.
"It?s being edited to reflect [Nickles?] views, which are uninformed. We want him to open it up and make it a public forum, or close down the site," Levine said. "We will not tolerate these falsehoods that purely disparage."
Nickles wrote he won?t agree to Levine?s demands because "CollegeTimes believes strongly in protecting students from being scammed or mislead[sic]."
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Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/54779463-78/neumont-students-nickles-collegetimes.html.csp
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