Harp Taps New Social-Services Chief

Muley's Linked In profile identifies him as a director of careline operations for the state Department of Children and Families, a board member of the Citywide Youth Coalition, and an adjunct professor at Manhattanville College. He is listed as having a doctorate in business management from the University of Phoenix and masters degrees in social work and in urban studies from Southern Connecticut State University.

But the University of Phoenix is a diploma mill.

In 2009, The University of Phoenix parent company, The Apollo Group, agreed to pay $67.5 million to the federal government for student recruitment fraud and $11 million in attorney fees to the plaintiffs engaged in a False Claims Act lawsuit. The lawsuit charged Phoenix with paying recruiters using performance compensation (including DVD players and spa trips) based on the number of students they enrolled, which is illegal for schools receiving federal student aid money.

I dont care where he studied "management"...at school or in the ghetto. Will he be a useless puppet or will he actually help the poor and homeless. He should since he's making more dough than cops, fireman, or nurses.

Congratulations! This is a great choice. Looking forward to seeing all he will bring to the position!

So what's your point Threefifths? Are saying that the brother is not qualified for the position? If your statement was to bring attention to some of the problems with the school, if you look hard enough, I'm willing to bet that you can find erroneous behavior in almost every learning institution.

Even if he didn't attend Phoenix, he would still be more than qualified for the position in my view.

I wish to congratulate and welcome Mr. Dakibu Muley on his new position in the City of New Haven.

I'm noting a disturbing trend with a marked lack of diversity in these appointments. Please tell me you don't need to be a certain skin color to be appointed a department head within the Harp administration.

Am I wrong to be having these concerns?

posted by: Brian L. Jenkins on February 2, 2018 4:27pm

So what's your point Threefifths? Are saying that the brother is not qualified for the position? If your statement was to bring attention to some of the problems with the school, if you look hard enough, I'm willing to bet that you can find erroneous behavior in almost every learning institution.

I have also spoke out about all who have taken the diploma mills as a easy way out.

Are saying that the brother is not qualified for the position?

The Brother.Did not the last person who had that job was Black? We have more Black elected officials in the United States than at any point in American history. Yet for the vast majority of Black people, life has changed very little. Black elected officials have largely governed in the same way as their white counterparts have.These black politicians are beholden to their wealthy donors and that is who drumbeat they will march to.

All my skin folk ain't all my kin folk

I am excited as a city resident who has worked in this community for over 25 years to see this appointment. In the short time we were both on Citywide Youth Coalition together it was clear to me Dakibu had great commitment to our youth and community as well as being a competent practioner. I believe he has a breadth of understanding and can be really effective if he gets the support this position needs.

Congratulations and best wishes,

I think the diploma mill issue with U of Phoenix is hopefully in the past due to the handful of lawsuits they had to deal with. You can see the program description online and it does seem legitimate and rigorous. You are not going to attract business administrators from top name schools for $125K anyways. Good luck to Mr. Muley in his new position.

Wendy1 and THREEFIFTHS are right on the mark in their comments. My thoughts are usually different than theirs, but the hiring process in the city is horrible. Once appointed or elected, the attitude is I got mine and you got to get yours. Folks forget who elected them, but sure remember who appointed them or who their boss in city hall is. The tragedy is that politics as usual has no color or ethnic theme. It is universal, and it never changes regardless of who is in power.

to Average Taxpayer: Seems pretty clear: non-blacks need not apply.

@Average Taxpayer
Can you verify with certainty that people are being overlooked due to skin color? That is a loaded accusation. One would have to know about all the applicants, their ethnic background, what they look like, etc to make your accusation valid.
Why is it that when minorities make strides and headway, people like you start yelling? You are wrong and in a town like New Haven that prides itself on inclusion and diversity, your accusation should be thrown out with the dirty bath water.

Note: Many City Hall appointees have been white people, from the economic development administrator to the traffic and parking director to the city engineer to the parks director to the cultural affairs director to the public information director... May be the most diverse administration I've covered.

Paul: How many of those white folks are Harp appointees, rather than holdovers from DeStefano? As I white guy, I realize things have been imbalanced in favor of lighter complexions for a long time, so I am not upset about darker faces. In fact, given the racial tensions in the fire department, and nationally with police, it's an advantage to have darker faces. Plus, Harp was vigorous in her defense of Esserman and Harries. If she really wanted to replace whites with blacks, she could have jumped on the bandwagon earlier to push those guys out. The group that seems massively underrepresented is Hispanics and Latinos. The bi-lingual Pamela Brown would have checked three boxes (Spanish-speaking, black, and woman), but we let that one pass in favor of Birks, who only checks two in spite of the huge numbers of exclusively Spanish speaking parents.

[Paul: None of the appointments are holdovers from the DeStefano administration, although the parks director was working elsewhere in city government and was elevated to the parks post. The rest came in from outside. The mayoral chief of staff, senior director, and two assistant chiefs of police are Latino, all named under Harp. That said, I have definitely heard some desire expressed in the Latino community for more appointees.]

[Paul:. That said, I have definitely heard some desire expressed in the Latino community for more appointees.]

He is a Afro-Dominican.

I never heard these comments when DeStefano was mayor.

Trump has one person of color in his cabinet (Ben Carson), where's the outrage from some of these same critics about that?

Regarding the complaint from the Hispanic community as it relate to greater employment opportunities, I don't begrudge them for their complaint. However, though they may not feel as though they're represented satisfactory in city employment, they make it up at the Housing Authority.

As someone who has lived long enough and in the city, I have seen each ethnic group move through the political system like a wave. Different groups evolved, gained political power, and then receded as the next group achieved numbers, status and power. We are in the dawn of power being achieved by the Hispanic community. Very soon we will have a Hispanic mayor with majority representation on the boards and commissions. What do you think is going to happen then? It is coming; police, fire, public works, and more. It is their turn and their time. To think anything else is foolish. The Yankees, the Irish, the Italians the African Americans have all had their turn. I saw it, and it is happening right now. No complaints from me, everybody gets their chance. It will be interesting to see which leaders emerge, and how they handle the power.

Brian: Are you really saying that Trump's actions are the ones we should emulate? If Trump engages in racial discrimination, then its okay if Harp does? Frankly, of all the recent appointments, everyone but Birks seems well-qualified, with a track record of success. Birks, of course, is qualified on paper, and I hope that the mutual fund disclaimer of "past performance is not indicative of future performance" is true in her case. As for this guy, his academic credentials aren't impressive, but is seems he has an actual record of great performance, which is much more important to me.

Peter99: The Yankees were overwhelmed by the new immigrants, but the Irish and Italians largely ceded the field by moving to the suburbs. I don't see that same movement with blacks. Unless some one can bridge the gap, it may be an ugly transition, as it was when power was wrested from the Yankees. (The Yankees, of course, retained a lot of power at the state level due to the 1818 constitution.)

Yes, the University of Phoenix does have a sordid history as a diploma mill, but let's give Dr. Muley a chance to show what he can do. We owe him at least that much.