One of the more common arguments I have heard is that we need to keep Thames in the president's office so we can get through the SACS probation and reaffirmation processes. I still hope to present data (it the data support it) that many colleges and universities have taken this route to accreditation.

Amy Young

This is not a comprehensive list & is the result of Googling. If I've missed something or have anything in my comments wrong, please correct it on this thread.

• Auburn - governance issues, president resigned
• West Alabama - governance issues, president not replaced
• Lenoir-Rhyne College - library & computer lab funding, fiscal issues, president not replaced
• Coastal Bend College is - institutional effectiveness, president resigned (For a discussion of "poison pen letters" to faculty, consult Google cache)
• Grambling - failure to provide two annual unqualified audits, "acting president" not replaced (was hired to replace a president who resigned just prior to SACS probation)
• Edward Waters College - accreditation revoked due to plagiarism of Quality Enhancement Plan, president resigned
• Life University - chiropractic school that lost specialized accreditation (rendering SACS accreditation temporarily moot), founding president resigned
• Louisiana College - governance issues (outside influence by religious denomination?), president resigned, incoming president withdrew application
• Newberry College - financial issues & institutional effectiveness, president resigned (a year after 4 trustees resigned from its board)
  

So, regarding the "do presidents usually resign during a probation," I'd say it's a mixed bag. I think it's instructive that most of the institutions mentioned above are small colleges & several of them are sectarian. Newberry & Louisiana College have probably the weirdest stories behind them. (If you think the SFT saga has been bizarre, read about Newberry -- they replaced a really bad president with a retired Army Brigadier General (shades of McCain?)...

Hope this gives you some starting points, Amy...

Invictus,

Thanks (as always) for a very helpful post.  I had been trying to track down similar information but hadn't been as successful as you.  It would be interesting to know of cases involving other regional accrediting agencies.  If you can tell me how you tracked down the info you've provided, I'd be glad to help do the searching.  In any case, thanks again for this post and for all your other fine posts.

SCHOOLS IN KANSAS ON PROBATION; WOULD BE WORTH SEEING HOW THESE CASES WERE RESOLVED:

http://www.ksde.org/cert/accred.htm

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INFO ABOUT OTHER SCHOOLS ON PROBATION:

http://www.facultyvoice.com/News/news2004/12)%20December%202004/SACS.html

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DON'T REMEMBER SEEING THIS BEFORE; HAS A GREAT LINE ABOUT SHELBY:

http://margaretsoltan.phenominet.com/2004/12/thames-redux-southern-miss-is-world.html

Everyone should read this (especially the IHL); thanks to Invictus for the link:

Tuesday's Internet Edition, March 08, 2005.

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Following SACS probation
CBC board accepts
Gratton resignation,
warns administrators

 

JOHN GRATTON

DUWAYNE DUMAS
...vice president,
occupational programs - By CHARLES STEWARD
Bee-Picayune staff
Following the recent announcement that Coastal Bend College is on probation for a year by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), the board of trustees Thursday night accepted the resignation of Vice President of Instructional Services Dr. John Gratton and issued an ultimatum to President Dr. John Brockman, Vice President of Administrative Services Duwayne Dumas and Vice President of Student Services Santos Martinez.
“This board will hold you accountable,” said Board Chair Paul Jaure. “We cannot have any excuses. We must have this resolved.”
Jaure’s statement came after a closed session of just over two hours. Prior to the closed session, the packed meeting room heard a lengthy report from Brockman concerning the probation followed by a wrathful condemnation of “malicious rumors” and poison pen e-mails that have been received by faculty and staff. Also Marjorie Huff, chair of the Language Division, expressed her ire with the recent turn of events. . . .
“Other Texas colleges and universities that received sanctions include the following: Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest; St. Mary’s University; Eastfield College (Dallas); Texas Christian University; Austin Graduate School of Theology; Odessa College; and Texas College.
Dumas named interim VP. . . . 
“We are advertising for a vice president of instructional services. We will hire a consultant to work with the college on issues such as integrity, ethics and openness. While we believe that the scope of the problem leading to this situation was extremely limited, when it comes to integrity, even one exception cannot be tolerated.
“I am going to ask the board of trustees to draft and pass a resolution in support of the Principles of Accreditation, including the statements on integrity and to develop and adopt a policy on integrity. The administration will implement and monitor the policy on every level. There will be a report on integrity at every board meeting until this issue is resolved.
“We are correcting the known problems that triggered the events that led to this situation. Now we will concentrate on discovering and correcting the unknown problems. We will examine everything we do with fresh eyes, changing from ‘This is the way we have always done things’ to ‘Is this the way this should be done?’ . . .
Outraged at pressures, e-mails
“Like you and like everyone at the college, in Bee County and in our service area, I am outraged that this has happened to Coastal Bend College. I am outraged at the various pressures (enrollment, financial and the desire to provide services) that have led us down this road. I am disappointed that we were unable to withstand these pressures. I don’t think this will be a problem in the future. . . .
Board expresses regrets
Following the closed session and personnel decisions, Board Chairman Paul Jaure told those present, “The board regrets what has happened. This college will have an integrity policy. We will receive an integrity report monthly. We will also hire a SACS consultant to report to the board. We will also conduct a national search for a vice president with at least five years experience, experience with SACS visits and SACS teams, and five years teaching experience.”
At the close of the meeting, Brockman said, “I regret Coastal Bend College has been placed on probation. I was mortified to learn this news on Dec. 6.” Brockman went on to apologize to the board, faculty, staff, students and community. He continued, “With your help, we will be reaffirmed and we will be removed from probation. We will be a much stronger community college. Thank you for your support and we welcome your continued support.”

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This is an on-line publication of
The Beeville Publishing
P.O. Box 10
111 No. Washington St.
Beeville, Tx 78104-4508
361/358-2550
361/358-5323 (Fax)

Here is the sentence I like best in that article: “This board will hold you accountable,” said Board Chair Paul Jaure. “We cannot have any excuses."

Mississippi IHL, are you awake?

quote:

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Originally posted by: stinky cheese man
"sorry--i see the prez is on the hotseat too."

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How interesting that these offocials are "mortified" and our officials treat probation as though it were just some minor technicality . . . hardly worthy of mention except that we got caught.

 

 

It appears that SACS was tough and the Trustees of Coastal Bend College are tough. No wimps there. 

"The most compelling reason for SACS placing this sanction on the college was “integrity” and faculty credentials related to the dual enrollment program."

So it appears from this writeup that SACS does pay attention to integrity and faculty credentials.