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June 24, 2005

Edward Waters College Regains Accreditation

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools formally agreed Thursday to reinstate the accreditation of Edward Waters College, which had challenged the association’s December decision to revoke its accreditation.

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In punishing the college, the accrediting agency’s Commission on Colleges had cited documents Edward Waters officials had submitted to the association that appeared to have been plagiarized from Alabama A&M University, another historically black institution. Edward Waters sued, saying that the association had violated its own procedures deniedthe college due process.

In March, a federal judge temporarily blocked the association from carrying out the revocation, saying that Edward Waters had shown “substantial likelihood that it will prove at trial that the association denied the college due process.” The judge encouraged the college and the association to seek mediation.

The college and the association reached a settlement this month that cleared the way for Thursday’s action.

In a news release Thursday, Edward Waters officials said that the accrediting agency had reinstated its accreditation, and that the college and the commission planned to work together for 12 months to ensure that the college regained its footing.

The college also said it had reached a separate agreement acknowledging that the “issues that led the commission to vote to remove the college from membership as an accredited institution, and that led the college to file a lawsuit to preserve its membership, have been resolved. The commission and the college are jointly petitioning the court to dismiss the lawsuit.”

“We welcome the partnership with our accreditor over the next several months as we work to perfect, improve and enhance a stronger EWC while providing quality education for our students and our constituents,” said Bishop McKinley Young, chairman of the Edward Waters Board of Trustees. “The ongoing relationship with the commission will allow us to achieve excellence with our faculty, staff and students.”

Young also announced that the college had hired Oswald P. Bronson Sr., the interim president, to fill the job permanently. Bronson was the longtime president of Bethune-Cookman College, another historically black institution in Florida.

— Doug Lederman

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Comments

So plagiarism is okay?

Jody, at 11:49 am EDT on June 25, 2005

plagiarism

certainly not, which is probably the reason why all people associated with this debacle were promptly dismissed. although the president was fired, i really don’t think it was 100% his fault but someone must take the blame. EWC is a small inst and the accreditation process is time-, labor-, and resource-intensive. I’d challenge anyone to find a president who read every single page and was able to determine that every single word, work, and submission was original. It appears that EWC has already learned alot from this situation and will use the experience to strenthen the process and move forward.

clm, at 3:22 pm EDT on June 26, 2005

Very well put! You’ve convinced me! You should be writing for Edward Waters or some other institution! I hadn’t thought of it that way! All you need to do is remind us of the enormous drain and strain that the self study involves and who could argue? I know some may think this sound like sarcasm but I’m sincere! Thank you!

Jody, at 6:55 pm EDT on June 27, 2005

I wonder how many others there are who have not been caught? That would make for a very interesting study....

glenda, at 3:18 pm EDT on June 28, 2005

Edward Waters

It seems Edward Waters was denied due process. If that is the case, we have justice. I am glad to see that they have another opportunity to conduct legitimate business. Although, they put my old president Dr. Bronson back to work.

john, Howard University, at 8:31 pm EDT on June 29, 2005

politics

I’m guessing that the restitution of accreditation has a lot more to do with politics than it does with anything else. What this whole situation really says is that if one has enough political clout, one can violate SACS standards with impunity. The long-term impact will be on all of those institutions which have to play by the rules, and can’t get exceptions to them.

It is also important to acknowlege, however, that accreditation is as much theatre as anything else; it’s a show that no one really cares about, but everyone has to pretend to care about. So, in that sense, top administrators at EWC were caught with their pants down, but they were really expressing what everyone secretly feels, but can’t say: that the accreditation report is a boiler plate document that doesn’t have any real import, or impact, on the daily life of an institution. No long-term significance.

wm, at 9:37 am EDT on July 6, 2005

An Apology to AAMU

If in fact EWC did utilize information from Alabama A&M’s submission, don’t they owe my alma mater an apology. Further what kind of an example did the EWC prior administration set for students? But looking at the bigger picture, its seems that fiscal responsibility and academic excellence is not very important at many HBCU’s. And we wonder why Black students are shying away from our institutions.

MGG, at 12:59 pm EDT on July 16, 2005

God bless you.I’m so proud to see our accredidation clearing up. I was there ‘54 -’55. Just to see it thriving as a 4 year church institution is so marvelous. Congratulations!! Sincerely, vbf

viola, at 12:10 am EDT on June 2, 2006

I am glad to know that EWC is back!!!! I am a graduate of EWC, and it has afforded me many opportunities that I could not have gotten. I appreciate Dr. Oswald and the other staff that worked so diligently to ensure that EWC is still a bright star in the north.

tee, at 9:20 am EDT on June 28, 2006

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