Dive Brief:
- Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ Commission on Colleges President Belle Wheelan told the Chronicle of Higher Education that recent negative press surrounding Morehouse College is cause for an investigation by the accrediting body.
- A letter to the campus said the investigation is not intended to punish the college, but to help "get its practices in line."
- The Board of Trustees issued a statement to campus stakeholders last week condemning "the counterproductive behavior" of publicly "leaking of confidential documents and false reporting" and "inaccurate information and false claims" surrounding the board's decision not to renew the contract of President John S. Wilson.
Dive Insight:
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ Commission on Colleges' integrity requirements allow for questioning if there is "evidence of withholding information, providing inaccurate information to the public," and perhaps the back and forth claims by faculty members and students in the media that they were excluded from key decisions has triggered this action.
Institution leaders should see this as a sign to tighten up in-house communications and better engage campus stakeholders. Even though the investigation is not one into academic or fiduciary affairs and generally wouldn't be one of concern, any unsolicited attention from accreditors should give campus leaders pause, and the announcement could trigger even more ire in an already divided body of students and alumni.