Inside A Successful Accreditation Plan Part I

In 2004, I was hired as the Quality Enhancement Plan Director for a well-known college in Jacksonville, Florida. However, the day before I was to start, the news broke in the Florida Times-Union that the college had been accused of plagiarizing the very Quality Enhancement Plan that I was hired to direct.

The allegation of a lack of integrity created a dark cloud over the college’s reputation and placed the college in jeopardy of completely losing its membership status with its accrediting agency, the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACSCOC).

The college’s loss of accreditation would mean that students would no longer receive federal financial aid. Students attempting to transfer from a non-accredited school often have difficulty finding a college or university willing to accept the credits they have earned. Furthermore, graduates of non-accredited colleges and universities may experience difficulty obtaining employment, particularly in their field of study. Therefore, the college fought hard to avoid loss of its accreditation status, first appealing the accrediting agency’s decision.

When it lost the appeal, the college resorted to litigation in an attempt to reverse the revocation. It took a special review committee, development of a new Quality Enhancement Plan, and providing evidence of compliance with a multitude of recommendations in order for the college to maintain its membership, but with sanctions.

As a result of this fiasco, I was asked to assume the position of Liaison to the accrediting agency and therefore had a front row seat to the transformation that an institution can undergo when its governing board, administration, faculty and staff begin to understand, respect and adhere to the accreditation process, and begin to operate according to these accrediting standards.

The college created a culture of excellence, completely overhauling its operations. As a result, ten years later, this college which was on the brink of destruction is now thriving and was recently reaffirmed for accreditation, this time without sanctions. As a matter of fact, in 2015 HBCU Digest nominated the college for “HBCU of the Year.”