By Bob Allen
An appeals committee affirmed a decision by Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges in June to terminate the accreditation of Brewton-Parker College but determined new financial information supplied by the college warranted keeping the Georgia Baptist Convention institution on probation pending further review, according to a disclosure statement posted online Oct. 22.
The college in Mount Vernon, Ga., released a statement Sept. 30 celebrating an order remanding the June 19 decision of the SACSCOC board of trustees to revoke the school’s accreditation as a win.
“This decision by the appeals committee of SACSCOC is a validation of SACSCOC’s own processes and shows that the system works,” said Brewton-Parker President Ergun Caner. “We are thankful the appeals committee recognized what we knew all along – that Brewton-Parker College is a financially stable and viable institution of higher learning.”
The accrediting agency’s report, however, says the appeals committee did not find that Brewton-Parker has corrected financial problems that led to non-compliance with principles of accreditation, but only that new information warranted further consideration by the full board in December.
“At that meeting, the board of trustees will have two options: (1) to continue accreditation or (2) to remove accreditation for failure to demonstrate compliance with financial standards,” the disclosure statement says. “Until then, Brewton-Parker College remains an accredited institution on probation.”
In June the SACSCOC board of trustees cited Brewton-Parker for failure during two years of probation to bring the institution up to standards for financial stability and control. Brewton-Parker provided written notification for an appeal July 11. The appeal was heard on Sept. 24.
The appeals committee determined the original decision by the board of trustees revoking accreditation to be “reasonable, not arbitrary and based on the standards cited.” Further, the committee determined that college officials “did not present evidence that the SACSCOC’ board of trustees, in reaching its decision, failed to follow its procedures in its decision to remove membership.”
The committee did find, however, that additional financial information provided by the college shed further light not available to the full board in June.
The appeals process allows for an “institution removed from accreditation solely on the basis of finances to produce new, verifiable financial information made available since the adverse action was taken and that is material to the reason for the adverse action.”
The appeals committee found that Brewton-Parker College “had produced evidence that it had new, verifiable information material to the board’s June adverse decision” and remanded the case back to the full board.
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