State sues Globe U for misleading students in criminal justice program

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - The State of Minnesota has a major for-profit university under scrutiny in the courtroom.

Minnesota School of Business and Globe University is the subject of a consumer fraud lawsuit by the state, and now making the case to a judge that they mislead students.

The state is accusing Minnesota School of Business and Globe University of aggressively selling an education in which a lot of the credits don't transfer and inflating job placement rates, and in particular, offering a criminal justice program that Minnesota police department’s don’t accept. But they’re not telling the students.

“A lot of the students who will testify in this case wanted to be police officers in the State of Minnesota, but the program does not make someone eligible to be a police officer in the state and the program costs $80,000,” said Al Gilbert, the state solicitor general.

The lawyer for MSB and Globe says their side will prove all the allegations are false..

“We have current and former admissions reps and students who are going to say they weren't trained to misled; they didn't deceive people. We have students who've been very successful, we have students who've gone on be chiropractic doctors, lawyers, from graduating from our schools,” attorney Joe Anthony said.

Powerful testimony came from a former admissions rep for the schools, who described a sales atmosphere where purchased leads were cold-called and incentives for closing enrollments.

Globe’s lawyer says all schools sell.

“Go to the University of Minnesota. Go to Normandale. They all sell. They all sell their education. Why? Because they all realize the importance of education, so we don't sell it any harder or any differently,” Anthony said.