Hearing on Future of Kensington U. Delayed

A court hearing on Kensington University’s bid to quash a state closure order was delayed Thursday, when the owner of the private correspondence school in Glendale asked for more time to file legal arguments.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert O’Brien postponed the hearing until Tuesday at the request of school owner Alfred Calabro, a longtime Glendale attorney. The 20-year-old school claims an enrollment of about 650 students nationwide and about 7,000 graduates.

The Council for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education has been trying to close Kensington for the past two years. State regulators say that the school’s unaccredited, study-at-home degree programs fail to meet state standards and “may have little, if any, academic value.”

However, Calabro has gone to court several times to block the state’s orders, including a filing that led to Wednesday’s brief hearing. Calabro, who maintains that regulators have been persecuting his school, is seeking court approval to operate for at least two more years.