http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041218/NEWS01/412180303/1002

Favorite quotes:

Exline said Rogers and Lord raised concerns about how the news of the probation surprised Thames and Exline. She stressed again Friday, as Thames had done previously, that "internal problems" at USM contributed to confusion about the two-year monitoring period.

"We didn't know USM was at risk," Exline said.

Good lord (Gerald Lord, that is), now SFT's got Dr. Joan parroting his stupidity!  And we have confirmation of "internal problems" and "confusion."

It wasn't the staff of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools who decided to put Southern Miss on academic probation. Instead, the measure - as all actions taken by SACS - comes from careful recommendation from officials at similar institutions, including university presidents who are SACS commissioners.

A commissioner cannot vote on an institution in that commissioner's home state.

"Before accreditation decisions are made, they are very, very carefully considered really by four different groups of folks at four different levels," Lord said.

More info for you SACS policy wonks.  Again, more evidence that SFT should've known something (you would think that presidents at peer institutions would talk to each other).

While he [Jim Nichols, Oxford, MS-based consultant] wasn't familiar with Southern Miss's case, he said that it is not a unique experience. However, Southern Miss is the first public four-year institution in more than 50 years to run the risk of losing its accreditation.

Implementing quality improvement processes - which is something Southern Miss must do - is a relatively new trend in higher education, according to Nichols, gaining importance in the last 15-20 years.

"It's nothing you turn on like a water faucet," Nichols said. "It takes a lot of cooperation on the part of the faculty and the administration," Nichols said.

Oh, yes, this is just a paperwork error...NOT!  The first public 4-yr institution in 50 years to risk losing accreditation??  What a wonderful honor for such a wurl'-class institution!  Shelboo, you've made a mockery of my alma mater, and YOU MUST GO!