Congress investigates Education Department in wake of abrupt Art Institute closures – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Art Institute of Pittsburgh shuttered abruptly in March, locking out students and breaking rules set by accreditation agencies on how to properly close schools. The building was quickly looted of art and textbooks and now sits quietly in the Strip District.
But the saga over the messy collapse of Dream Center Education Holdings — the California nonprofit that took control of the Art Institute college chain from Pittsburgh-based Education Management Corp. in 2017— is just heating up in Washington.
House Democrats last week accused Trump administration officials of working behind the scenes to help Dream Center evade responsibility for missteps following the EDMC acquisition.
Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, released a trove of emails and documents that he said show Dream Center executives knowingly deceived students about the loss of accreditation at four Art Institute campuses last year — and that the U.S. Department of Education knew about it and passed a rule to help Dream Center restore that accreditation.