SACSCOC places CC on warning

Clarendon College has been placed on Warning for 12 months by its accrediting agency, and a special committee will conduct an on-site evaluation of the college following a review of a complaint made against the CC Board of Regents.

The Board of Trustees of the Southern Association of Colleges & Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) met on June 13 and determined that CC had “failed to demonstrate compliance” with a core requirement and three standards set by the agency relating to governance by the regents, according to a public report on the commission’s website.

The agency said the rules in question expect the college to: “(1) Have a governing board that is not controlled by a minority of board members or by organizations or institutions separate from it; (2) Have a governing board to ensure a clear and appropriate distinction between the policy-making function of the board and the responsibility of the administration and faculty to administer and implement policy; and (3) The institution’s governing board defines and addresses potential conflict of interest for its members.”
While the warning arose from issues of governance, the special committee will look at CC’s compliance with all the standards of SACSCOC.

“SACSCOC accreditation includes all components of the institution – all programs, branch campuses, off-campus sites, and distance learning programs as reported to SACSCOC; thus, the Warning status applies to the entire institution,” the commission’s website reports.

The review is to be completed before the SACSCOC board meets in June 2020. At that time, the agency’s board will pursue one of the following options: “(1) Remove the institution from Warning without an additional report; (2) Remove the institution from Warning and request a Fifth Year Follow-Up Report, (3) Continue the institution on Warning, request a monitoring report, with or without authorizing a Special Committee visit; (4) Place the institution on Probation, request a monitoring report, and authorize a Special Committee visit; and (5) Remove the institution from membership for failure to comply with the standards.”

CC President Robert Riza was in Austin this week, attending meetings at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and was unavailable for comment about the SACSCOC action.

SACSCOC notified the college in February that a complaint had been filed against CC’s Board of Regents stating that the board had repeatedly violated state law and college policy and that members of the board had “harassed college employees who were trying to uphold the law and institutional policy.”

The complaint and SACSCOC’s response came after almost two years of rising tensions between Regents Jerry Woodard and Darlene Spier and members of the college administration. In April, those tensions came to a head when the CC board voted down a motion to extend Riza’s contract, which prompted the resignation of Regent Jack Moreman.

A month later, Dr. Belle Wheelan, the president and CEO of SACSCOC, traveled to Clarendon to address the board in person and to define the role of the accrediting body, the necessity of accreditation, and particularly SACSCOC Principles of Accreditation as they apply to the Board of Regents.