AACC's Tim Clinton Sued for Fraud and Breach of Contract
Houston Christian University found plagiarism allegations to be credible
Oh, where to start with this one?
The owner of counseling business American Association of Christian Counselors, Tim Clinton, is being sued by Houston Christian University for fraud and breach of contract. According to a Roys Report article by Rebecca Hopkins, Clinton in 2016-2017 “promised to deliver new enrollments to the private Baptist school and to develop 50 new courses for HCU’s counseling program.” In addition, for a cool sum of 26,000 a month, Clinton and the AACC promised to start a global center for mental health at the Houston college to be named after Clinton.
According to the suit, HCU claims Clinton didn’t follow through on any of the promises and tainted the school’s reputation via public allegations of plagiarism. When the school investigated the allegations, HCU concluded Clinton had, indeed, plagiarized. From the filing (Plaintiff is HCU):
I certainly agree with HCU. The agreement is understandable since the allegations were first reported in my blog, many of them discovered by former Central Baptist College psychology professor, Aaron New. I provide a full list of all of our articles on Clinton’s citation problems below.
AACC is a Business Not a Professional Association
The lawsuit also sheds light on a point that I believe is important for Christian counselors to understand. AACC is not a professional association comparable to the American Counseling Association or the American Psychological Association. In the ACA and APA, dues are paid to a nonprofit organization which is run by members. Officers and representatives are chosen by members and are accountable to members.
The AACC is a for profit business belonging to Tim Clinton. The lawsuit asserts that the “American Association of Christian Counselors is a fictitious name” which is used by various groups to carry out the business of AACC, Inc. Clinton is owner and president of AACC, Inc. Clinton uses the business to sell educationally oriented materials to people who sign up as members. However, those members never voted for officers. There is no accountability to members.
The HCU Courses Were 10-year Old Liberty U. Courses
According to the lawsuit, HCU aligned with Clinton and AACC to gain students. The contracted goal was 133 student enrollments for their graduate program in counseling. However, after nine AACC events, HCU only received one student application. I can only imagine the betrayal felt by HCU leaders.
AACC and Clinton also promised to “develop (50) fifty courses” as a part of a larger program of developing counseling degrees at the university. However, the suit claims there were problems in developing the promised number of courses and the process was turned over to an outside vendor.
I spoke with an individual who was familiar with the courses being offered by HCU at the time. The person told me that the courses being offered by HCU were the same as courses developed for Liberty University by AACC a decade before. This individual said the courses were the same right down to the textbooks, assignments and discussion questions; everything was the same. Although this claim does not appear to be part of the lawsuit, it may be that Clinton and AACC used content created for Liberty as a means of addressing their promises to HCU.
HCU wants their money back, damages and attorney’s fees. AACC will have their day in court but it doesn’t appear that HCU got what they contracted for and may prevail. Time will tell.
More reading on Clinton and AACC
Professional Associations Should Be Accountable and Transparent
Dear AACC – Maybe Someone Should Look at All Your Content
Dear AACC: Want to Avoid Plagiarism? Follow These Guidelines
James Dobson and Family Talk: Who Really Wrote These Articles?
Aaron New: Questions for Students and New Counselors to Ask AACC
What Does the American Association of Christian Counselors Foundation Do?
What Does the American Association of Christian Counselors Foundation Do? Part Two
Guest Post by Aaron New: More Citation Problems at the American Association of Christian Counselors
Does Plagiarism Matter to Christians?
More Apparent Plagiarism in Christian Books
AACC President Tim Clinton Blames Employees, Grad Students, Etc. for Missing Citations
Tim Clinton’s Bad History and Questionable Publishing (UPDATED)
Karen Swallow Prior Calls Out “Egregious Plagiarism” in Tim Clinton’s New Book
AACC Owner Tim Clinton Clarifies Relationship with James Dobson Institute
Tim Clinton Channels Urie Bronfenbrenner with Borrowed Quote
The Tim Clinton Saga: Twitter Plagiarism is Still Plagiarism
Tim Clinton: Who You Gonna Blame? Ghostwriters!
Once Upon a Time, Tim Clinton Borrowed from The WSJ and Chuck Colson
Liberty University Brings Back Tim Clinton
AACC's Tim Clinton Sued for Fraud and Breach of Contract
Tim Clinton seems to have very little to recommend him. Over the years it's just been one problematic issue after the other. He comes off a bit sleezy in my book. I remember years ago seeing a "member of AACC" snippet on the website of someone I knew to be basically a fraud in the psuedo-televangelist circles. He was, as many did, using this as a claim to some sort of counseling credentials that he most certainly did not have. I think this must have been the AACC's function for many, something akin to a diploma mill, implying knowledge and training where none exists - all for profit on both ends.
Good job keeping an eye on him all these years.