Dear Supporter,
In the interest of solving this matter as quickly as possible, yesterday, as soon as the petition reached slightly more than 200 signatures, I sent the email below to eight top UoPeople Leaders. I will leave the petition open on change.org until the issue will be addressed and fixed by the University.
Thank You for stepping forward and making your voice heard.
Federico
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Sent: May 1, 2020.
To:
- Shai Reshef, President
- Dalton Conley - Dean, Health Science
- Alexander Tuzhilin - Dean, Computer Science
- Russell Winer - Dean, Business Administration
- James Fraser - Dean of Education
- Roxie Smith - Vice Provost
- Shawn Moustafa, Vice Provost
- David Shulman - Executive Vice President for Academic Operations
OBJ: URGENT From UoPeople students - Lack of notarization services is denying access to further Higher Ed to UoPeople students
Dear UoPeople Leaders,
my name is Federico Vitali, and I have graduated from the UoPeople MBA in May 2019.
I am writing in representation of many (hundreds, if not thousands by now) UoPeople students that in the past couple of days have decided to voice their concerns on different platforms regarding the current lack/suspension of notarization services for academic documents at University of the People. This issue is preventing many of us to access further Higher Education, as notarized documents of previous degrees are a typical requirement to access graduate or post-graduate programs at out-of-US Universities.
Personally, I have been unable to obtain notarized copies of my Diploma and Transcripts since July 2019 (nine months ago), when I first requested them to Student Services. Other students have reported having the same issue since 2018, well before the current Covid-19 pandemic. Recently, I enquired with UoPeople Student Services again on social media.
The answer, attached, was
...
Kindly note that due to challenges we are experiencing, we are currently unable to notarize documents. Therefore, we cannot give you a specific timeline when we may be able to notarize the documents, as the situation is not within our direct control.
…
As you are certainly aware, lack of notarization services means also being unable to apply for the Apostille at the Secretary of State Office in California, and therefore being unable to continue the process needed to authenticate the degree and work with Consulates to issue the appropriate documentation needed by out-of-US Universities.
We have started a petition on change.org (link) to bring awareness on this matter, and help current and future students make a more informed decision if this situation will not change. In roughly 30 hours the petition has been signed 204 times, shared 99 times, and viewed 648 times.
On the University Social Media platform, Yammer Welcome, there are several posts on this issue which have been viewed 788 times, shared 8 times, and commented 111 times. The matter is also being discussed by students on a number of WhatsApp groups.
In the interest of transparency, and past, current, and future students’ aspirations for their Higher Education objectives, we would be grateful if the University would acknowledge and address this issue promptly, explaining what it is doing to fix it, so that students can have a time frame to work with and be able to make more informed decisions.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you for your time and,
Kind Regards.
Federico Vitali
(Representing 204 students, signatures attached)