Louisiana College said it was put on probation Dec. 7 by a major accrediting agency concerned about months of internal turmoil at the Southern Baptist liberal arts college.
The leadership of the Pineville, La., college of 1,000 students pledged to remedy the situation, lest the school lose accreditation entirely.
Loss of accreditation would nullify the school’s claim to excellence. In addition, the federal government would cut off financial aid to students at Louisiana College if it were unaccredited.
Interim President John Traylor and Trustee Board President Bill Hudson were in Atlanta Dec. 7 to hear the decision from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ (SACS) Commission on Colleges.
Concerned about turmoil
Louisiana College disclosed the action in a statement posted on its Web site.
Representatives from the accrediting agency were unavailable to explain the specific reasons behind probation.
The school said it had 12 months to get into compliance, with the possibility of a year’s extension.
Faculty members said they were saddened but not surprised by the commission’s action. Some have expressed fear that probation would slash the size of the incoming freshman class.
“It’s obviously not helpful in the short term,” said Linda Peevy, a faculty officer and chairwoman of the division of humanities. “But if it spurs those in control to return to time-honored principles of governance, perhaps in the long term it will be a helpful thing.”
For several years, the school has been embroiled in increasing internal turmoil between the faculty and the college’s trustees, about half of whom are serving as pastors of Southern Baptist churches in Louisiana.
Many of the Louisiana convention’s member churches say Louisiana College is no longer authentically Southern Baptist and is becoming increasingly secular.
The faculty sharply disputes the claim.
A team dispatched by the accrediting agency in September said it found a demoralized faculty operating in “a general climate of fear.”
The team said it was concerned that the trustees’ activist role jeopardized academic freedom at Louisiana College.
The team also found that the state convention and an organization called Louisiana Inerrancy Fellowship, a core of hard-line conservatives in the state convention, exerted “undue influence” over the nominally independent trustee board. (RNS)
Share with others: