...
By Naveed Jamali and Alex J. Rouhandeh
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
A California judge has ordered Olivet University to be shut down for violating education regulations, dealing a major blow to the Christian sect that runs the college and its controversial leader David Jang.
The university and Jang followers are also at the center of a federal criminal investigation into money laundering, visa fraud and labor trafficking, the latest in a series of legal controversies that have plagued the sect for more than a decade.
Administrative Law Judge Debra D Nye-Perkins found against Olivet University on all 14 allegations made by California Attorney General Rob Bonta on behalf of the state education regulator, the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE).
Read More
David Jang Trafficked Olivet University Students, Lawsuit Claims7 min read
World Evangelical Body Cuts Ties with David Jang’s Embattled Olivet Sect4 min read
California Opens Hearing on Olivet University Future as Feds Circle6 min read
The complaint, filed after education inspectors searched Olivet campuses in 2022, accused the university of failing to keep students records, teaching poorly designed courses with improperly qualified faculty and breaking financial rules.
Judge Nye-Perkins said the Olivet demonstrated a "cavalier attitude" toward the regulations.
"....the only degree of discipline that would ensure public protection is the revocation of the respondent's permission to operate," she said in the proceedings posted on the website of the Board of Private Post-Secondary Education.
The judge gave Olivet University until January 10 to propose a plan to have its remaining students complete their courses.
...
Olivet acknowledged the decision and said in statement that they would continue to operate in religious education, without making clear how they would be allowed to do so in California. "As we now transition back to operating our school under religious exemption in California, we are continuing to serve our students with excellent theological programs on our California campuses," said the statement from Olivet University President Jonathan Park.
California is by far Olivet's most important state regulator: it is the only one in the United States to confer degree-granting authority on the college founded in 2000 by Jang, a Korean-American cleric whose organizations and disciples have faced a series of legal cases over the past decade. The rest of Olivet's 10 campuses in six states and the District of Columbia function as satellites of the university.
Olivet University is also at the center of a criminal investigation that became public in 2021 when agents of the Homeland Security Department searched the Anza campus looking for evidence of labor trafficking, money laundering and visa fraud.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in California's Central District is investigating the case against Olivet University and any charges would need to be filed "soon" before the statute of limitations run out, a document filed in a civil suit against Olivet showed in April.
Newsweek is owned by two former members of the Olivet sect. Their departure from Jang's church triggered a flurry of lawsuits, a few of which are still working their way through courts.
Newsweek has reported extensively on Olivet's legal problems for the past six years, even while the magazine's owners were members of the sect. More recently, Olivet has characterized that reporting as a weapon in disagreements between the company's owners and the sect.
The Los Angeles Times published a story on September 20th echoing most of Newsweek's reporting on Olivet, including of the mistreatment of students. The Times story included a previously unreported account of two former Olivet University students, Tingbo Cao, 41, and Qilian Zhou, 35, who arrived in the U.S. from China in 2011.
The two students were forced to work, had little time for study, never received the scholarships they were promised and were financially exploited by Olivet University, the Times reported.
A 2023 lawsuit filed by Texas-based 8fig accuses the World Olivet Assembly, the church founded by David Jang, of using a network of online storefronts and other companies to defraud it of more than $6.5 million. Olivet University President Park is one of the defendants in that case. The parties to the suit are in settlement talks.
If Olivet is shut down in California, Jang could potentially maintain his foothold in religious education via the sect's other colleges. One of those schools, Jubilee University, billed as a Christian music college, was the subject of an investigative report published last month by Missouri-based television affiliate Fox4.
Update 12/15, 6:15 p.m. This story was updated to include a statement from Olivet University.
Correction 12/18 10:20 p.m. Olivet has campuses in six states and the District of Columbia, not seven states as the story previously said.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines