Edward Waters College had its accreditation revoked this week, two months after an investigation by a local newspaper, in Jacksonville, Fla., revealed that the institution had plagiarized large parts of a document submitted to its accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
Edward Waters, which has struggled against various setbacks in recent years, said it would appeal the decision. “This appears to be, and is, a state of emergency,” the college’s president, Jimmy R. Jenkins Sr., told a standing-room-only meeting of faculty members and students on Tuesday, a day after the accrediting agency made decisions about Edward Waters and other institutions. “But it’s not the end. This is a new beginning.”
Mr. Jenkins tried to paint a positive gloss on the crisis. “Trust us,” he said in the half-hour meeting, “this was, and is, a great lesson for the college, and one that will make us a better institution in the years to come.”
The bad news arrived during examinations week, after which the college’s 1,300 students will go home for the holiday break. Mr. Jenkins acknowledged to the Jacksonville newspaper, The Florida Times-Union, that some students might decide not to return for the spring term. But he insisted that the historically black institution would continue operating normally and that it would retain its accreditation while appealing the ruling.
If Edward Waters loses its appeal, the effect would be devastating because its students would become ineligible for federal aid and for scholarships from the United Negro College Fund. More than 90 percent of Edward Waters students receive financial assistance.
The damaging document submitted to the accrediting agency, a Quality Enhancement Plan, appears to contain large sections copied from one produced by Alabama A&M University. It appears even to pass off detailed statistical information on Alabama A&M as belonging to Edward Waters.
When the plagiarism was disclosed by the Times-Union, Mr. Jenkins admitted that the copying had taken place but blamed it on a senior administrator who has since left the college. The incident revealed a lack of supervision by the institution, he said, but not a lack of integrity.
A college spokeswoman, Phyllis Bell-Davis, described the copying as “an oversight.”
Edward Waters was due for a periodic review by the accrediting agency, known as SACS, next June. But President Jenkins and other senior administrators were summoned to meet with SACS officials in Atlanta this month to answer questions about the document. They apparently were unable to convince the agency that the copying was an innocent mistake.
On the trip back to Jacksonville, Mr. Jenkins and his staff stopped in Tallahassee, where Gov. Jeb Bush stepped out of a session of the State Legislature to meet with them briefly. Mr. Jenkins said Mr. Bush, a Republican, offered his support in the college’s efforts to regain accreditation.
Edward Waters, which was founded in 1866 to educate newly freed slaves, has been on a bumpy road in recent years. It was put on probation for a while in the mid-1990s for low enrollment and financial problems. Mr. Jenkins, who took over as president in 1997, is credited with raising enrollment, from 319 then to 1,300 today, as well as eliminating a large debt.
This past spring, the college drew unwanted publicity when it fired five senior administrators in what it called a “restructuring.” One of the five said they had been given no reasons for their dismissal, but alleged that they had been forced out to prevent them from disciplining a popular student accused of deleting failing grades from her transcript (The Chronicle, June 25).
In other accrediting actions this week, the Southern Association placed three institutions on probation. Huntingdon College, in Montgomery, Ala., and Talladega College, in Talladega, Ala., were penalized for financial problems. Louisiana College, a Baptist institution in Pineville, La., was disciplined for problems in its governance and academic freedom (The Chronicle, April 16).
In addition, Enterprise-Ozark Community College, in Enterprise, Ala., was placed on warning, a less severe sanction than probation, after the accrediting agency rejected the institution’s Quality Enhancement Plan.
The Southern Association also released two institutions from sanctions. The University of West Alabama, in Livingston, Ala., was taken off probation, which had been imposed last December because of infighting among and micromanagement by trustees (The Chronicle, January 1). The Atlanta campus of American InterContinental University, a for-profit institution owned by the Career Education Corporation, was taken off warning (The Chronicle, July 16).