Who Accredits the Marquette College of Nursing?

Marquette's web site says that they are accredited by a number of organizations, including:

"NLNAC, Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and The Wisconsin State Board of Nursing."

But Marquette is not listed on the NLNAC website as being accredited by them.

A simple e-mail to NLNAC revealed that "Marquette University's Baccalaureate and Masters' degree programs last day of accreditation with NLNAC is December 2006." I hope Marquette plans to update their website at some point.


UPDATE: Marquette's web site was changed some time on Monday, April 30th so that it no longer mistakenly lists that the College of Nursing is accredited by NLNAC. It only took them four months.

Statement of Graduation

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In the last post the issue of what form of documentation is accepted by different states that require graduation from a school of nursing in order to become a registered nurse came up. Here is the "STATEMENT OF GRADUATION" form that was a part of my application for RN licensure in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act requires graduation from a school of nursing, and this form (the "STATEMENT OF GRADUATION" form) is considered by the State to constitute official proof of graduation. I filled out the top half according to the instructions provided by Marquette staff members and turned it in to Marquette, and Marquette then filled in the bottom half and forwarded it to the Wisconsin Department of Regulation & Licensing so that I would become eligible to sit for the NCLEX-RN exam. (The Marquette seal does not show up on photocopies.) You may notice that it is signed by Dr. Judith Miller.

I remembered filling out this form, and brought it up in my first letter to Dr. Judith Miller. She had some interesting comments about it in her response letter:

Dr. Miller explained that on the "Statement of Graduation" form for Direct Entry students the box for "BSN" is checked and a graduation date is filled in because:

"This application document does not have a space for Direct Entry applicants . . . "

and

"We do not want our professional nurses to check LPN, or ADN on the application form."

Does this explanation make any sense to YOU? I may be a stickler here, but to me an official document required by an agency of the State of Wisconsin that says "STATEMENT OF GRADUATION" across the top, has "BSN" marked and lists a graduation date, is signed by the associate dean of the nursing program, and has the Marquette University seal at the bottom kind of looks like it is saying that I . . . y'know . . . GRADUATED.

Step #4: Letter to the Members of the Wisconsin Board of Nursing

I sent this letter out this morning to each member of the Wisconsin Board of Nursing. They should get it around Tuesday of next week.
___________________________________________________
Thursday April 19, 2007

[name]
Member, Wisconsin Board of Nursing
State of Wisconsin
Department of Regulation and Licensing
PO Box 8935
Madison, WI 53708-8935

Dear [name]:

As a member of the Wisconsin Board of Nursing, I would like to bring to your attention a problem with Marquette University’s Direct Entry Nursing program. I will give an overview of the problem here, but further details and documents can be found on my web site:

http://lydiaslicense.blogspot.com/

I was a member of the 6th cohort of Marquette’s Direct Entry program in 2004-2005, but I left the program before the completion of an MSN degree. After I completed the pre-MSN portion of the Direct Entry program I passed NCLEX-RN and obtained licensure in Wisconsin. When I was unable to become licensed in Mississippi, where I am now living, I began to research licensure laws and procedures in the two states in order to find out how I could get a license in Mississippi. During this process I discovered the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act 441.04, which lists requirements to sit for the NCLEX-RN exam in Wisconsin (emphasis mine):

Any person who has graduated from a high school or its equivalent as determined by the board, does not have an arrest or conviction record . . . holds a diploma of graduation from an accredited school of nursing, and if the school is located outside this state, submits evidence of general and professional educational qualifications comparable to those required in this state at the time of graduation may apply to the department for licensure by the board as a registered nurse, and upon payment of the fee . . . shall be entitled to examination.

As a Direct Entry Student at Marquette I was told that Marquette and the DRL hold a "special agreement" that allows Direct Entry Students to gain RN licensure in Wisconsin without holding a degree. When I requested a copy of this "special agreement" from the DRL under the Wisconsin Public Records Law I was provided with documents indicating that Wisconsin would consider completion of the pre-MSN phase of Marquette’s Direct Entry program to constitute "graduation" for the purposes of RN licensure, even though Marquette is adamant that Direct Entry students do not actually graduate at that time.

I urge you to reevaluate the Board’s "special agreement" with Marquette. I simply can not understand why a Wisconsin state agency would agree to a blatant misinterpretation of State Law that seems to serve only to facilitate the financial gain of a private institution. If Marquette wishes to run a Direct Entry nursing program, then they must be required to provide students with actual degrees and graduation dates before they can sit for NCLEX – just like every other private university in Wisconsin. This is clearly what is required by the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act.

Sincerely,

Lydia Bertrand

cc: Jeff Scanlan, Director, Bureau of Health Services Professions
Colleen Baird, Legal Counsel for the Wisconsin Board of Nursing

Letter From the Director of the ADN Program

I asked the Director of Nursing Education at Pearl River Community College's ADN program to put the content of our conversation last week into writing for me, and I got her letter today. Here is an excerpt:
________________________________________________
Dear Ms. Bertrand:

After careful review of your transcript and syllabi from Wisconsin, we find that you have essentially completed everything in our curriculum. Our college catalog states that in order to receive a degree from the institution you must complete at least 25% of your final course work in residence. You would have to repeat numerous courses that you have completed already and have done extremely well in . . .

I wish I could do more . . . Good luck to you in your endeavors.

Sincerely,

Peggy Dease, M.S., R.N.
Director of Nursing Education, Pearl River Community College

Turned Away From an ADN Program

I don't usually read the daily newspaper, but I just happened to glance at the front page today and this article in the Clarion-Ledger, a Jackson Mississippi paper, grabbed my attention. I thought it was pretty interesting since just Tuesday I met with the director of a nearby ADN (Associate's Degree in Nursing) program - who actually turned me away from their program because I have already taken too many classes, including many classes more advanced that what they even offer at a community college.

Before I realized that there was a legal problem with Marquette's Direct Entry program I decided to apply to an ADN program. Marquette had indicated that the only way for me to get a degree would be to go through another school as a transfer student. I thought that a community college might be the fastest & least expensive way for me to get a degree, which I need to get a valid Mississippi nursing license. I knew that it would basically mean repeating material I've already done, but my focus was on speed and cost. I figured I should just go ahead and apply and see how many of my credits they would transfer, and then I could decide if it would be worth my time and money to get the ADN or not. So I applied to the nearest community college with an ADN program (which is 45 miles from where I live). The problem is that in order for them to grant a degree from their institution, you have to take at least 25% of the required nursing courses at their school - and I already took ALL of their required courses, plus many more advanced nursing courses, at Marquette. I thought maybe they would let me re-take 25% of the classes at their school, but the director of the program decided that the situation was too irregular and told me that they would not accept me as a student.

Second Letter To Father Wild

Tuesday April 3, 2007

Robert A. Wild, S.J.
Office of the President
Marquette University
P.O. Box 1881
Milwaukee, WI 53201

Dear Father Wild:

Thank you for your letter dated March 28, 2007. I had a lot to say in my last letter, and so perhaps my main point was not clear.

I am not asking Marquette University to influence any state authorities, or to fulfill the licensure requirements of any state other than Wisconsin. The only thing I am asking of Marquette is to bring the Direct Entry nursing program into compliance with Wisconsin State Law.

The Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act 441.04 lists requirements to sit for the licensure exam (emphasis mine):

Any person who has graduated from a high school or its equivalent as determined by the board, does not have an arrest or conviction record . . . holds a diploma of graduation from an accredited school of nursing, and if the school is located outside this state, submits evidence of general and professional educational qualifications comparable to those required in this state at the time of graduation may apply to the department for licensure by the board as a registered nurse, and upon payment of the fee . . . shall be entitled to examination.

The Wisconsin Administrative Code N 2.03 also discusses requirements to sit for the RN licensure exam, and includes this requirement (emphasis mine):

Has graduated from a board-approved school of professional nursing.

Both the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act and the Wisconsin Administrative Code both clearly require graduation. Although up to this time the State of Wisconsin has interpreted its licensing requirements to allow students who have completed the pre-MSN phase of Marquette’s Direct Entry Program to sit for the licensing exam, this interpretation is on shaky ground. I suspect that this absurd “interpretation” of the law may not hold up to legal scrutiny - and I am perfectly willing to find out if it will stand up to legal scrutiny if this problem is not resolved in another way.

My signing of the “Memorandum of Understanding” is meaningless because this document required me to agree to allow Marquette to do something that is not legal. I signed the Memorandum because I was required to do so in order to become a student in the Direct Entry program, and at the time that I signed it I was not aware that the contents of the Memorandum directly contradict the Nurse Practice Act and the Wisconsin Administrative Code. I assure you that I never would have decided to become a student in Marquette’s Direct Entry program if I had known that the program did not meet the legal requirements for RN licensure in the state of Wisconsin.

I asked to be granted a BSN for several reasons. [name], Graduate Program Assistant for the College of Nursing, told me in an e-mail on February 23, 2007 that the State of Wisconsin considers Direct Entry students to have earned a “BSN equivalent.” (Enclosed) Also, on the “Statement of Graduation” form that we fill out for the Department of Regulation & Licensing Direct Entry students are told to mark the box for “BSN.” (Enclosed) Dr. Judith Miller told me in her letter dated February 26, 2007 that this is because Marquette does not “want [its] professional nurses to check LPN, or ADN on the application form.” And as a University, I was under the impression that Marquette does not issue Associate’s degrees. The fact remains that the Law requires students to graduate from a nursing program of some kind in order to become licensed.

Although I already explained why the “Memorandum of Understanding” that I signed is invalid, I think you should know that this document was altered after I signed it. The “Memorandum of Understanding” that I signed states: “you will be eligible to take the professional licensing exam for nursing in the State of Wisconsin.” It does not address RN licensure in any other state one way or the other. After I signed the Memorandum someone added in handwriting the word “only” after the word “Wisconsin,” which completely changes the meaning of the sentence. You state in your letter dated March 28th that by signing the “Memorandum of Understanding” that I “agreed that . . . [I] would be eligible to take the licensing exam in the State of Wisconsin, but not in any other state.” This is not accurate. The “Memorandum of Understanding” that I signed did not say this, nor have I ever been told this verbally. Dr. Judith Miller told me verbally when I left the program that I “may not be able to become licensed in another state,” and that Marquette “could not guarantee licensure in another state.” I never signed a form, or was ever told verbally by Dr. Judith Miller or anyone else, that I definitely would not be able to become licensed in any other state. In any case, my acknowledgment of these verbal statements by Dr. Miller at the time that I left the program is irrelevant for the same reason that the “Memorandum of Understanding” is - these statements reflect a Marquette policy that directly contradicts Wisconsin State law.

Wisconsin State law requires registered nurses to graduate from a school of nursing. Any interpretation of the law that honors a program that does not graduate its students is ludicrous. The best solution to this problem, for all parties involved, is for Marquette University to bring the Direct Entry nursing program into compliance with Wisconsin State law by issuing a nursing degree and graduation date to students who complete the pre-MSN portion of the program.

Sincerely,

Lydia Bertrand

Um . . . Where Did This Come From???

Ya see that "only" penciled in after "Wisconsin"? That wasn't there when I signed the form. This is the copy of the "Memorandum of Understanding" that was included with Father Wild's letter dated March 28, 2007.

This is the unaltered copy of the "Memorandum of Understanding" that was included with the letter I received from Dr. Miller on February 26, 2007.