Education Department Replaces Career College Chain Monitor

By JEFF HORWITZ, ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — May 28, 2016, 2:53 AM ET

The Education Department has appointed a new lawyer to oversee the turnaround of schools once owned by Corinthian Colleges Inc., following an Associated Press review that found trouble at the schools and questioned the previous monitor's independence.

Corinthian Colleges was one of the largest chains of for-profit colleges when it collapsed in 2015 amid allegations of fraud. The episode raised questions about whether the government should set higher standards for colleges accepting federal aid.

The agency said Friday that Clark Kent Ervin, an attorney at Squire Patton Boggs LLP, will oversee the business practices of Zenith Education Group, an offshoot of a student-loan debt collection firm that took over Corinthian's operations. His new role makes Ervin the government's eyes and ears within Zenith, which receives tens of millions of dollars in federal student grant and loan dollars.

Ervin is a former inspector general of the Homeland Security and State Departments who was ousted from his Homeland Security job in late 2004 after delivering reports highly critical of the agency under the Bush administration.

Unlike the lawyers he will replace as monitor, Ervin does not appear to have a background representing for-profit colleges. But Squire Patton Boggs helped defend Corinthian in at least one case brought by students alleging that the school committed fraud.

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