Following concerns about an unnamed
Florida A&M University
trustee interfering with “faculty employment,” FAMU’s accrediting agency is asking interim President
Timothy Beard
and the Board of Trustees to explain themselves by providing a report.
Beard
received an “Unsolicited Information Request” letter from the
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges
(SACSCOC) dated April 14 regarding the information that raised questions. It will be discussed during the university’s
Board of Trustees
meeting at 9 a.m. April 24, which will be held virtually.
The letter was not specific about what had happened, including whether it was connected to the university’s ongoing presidential search.
“SACSCOC learned from several members of the institution that a member of the FAMU Board of Trustees contacted the administration in what was described as an attempt to interfere with the institution’s ability to implement its policies and procedures regarding faculty employment,” SACSCOC Vice President Geoffrey Klein said in the letter to Beard.
“The documents and discussion with members of the institution raise concerns about clear distinctions between the FAMU Board of Trustees’ and the administration’s roles and responsibilities.”
The letter states that communication between a FAMU trustee and university employees also raised questions about the board’s conflict of interest policies. While FAMU’s Board of Trustees was initially scheduled to meet April 16 until it was postponed due to a
widespread Zoom outage
, the April 14 letter was not a part of the board’s agenda at the time.
Beard declined to comment on the letter before addressing trustees April 24, according to a university spokesperson, but he is expected to discuss the letter during a presentation as part of his president’s report in the virtual board meeting, which is open to the public.
While SACSCOC President Belle Wheelan and FAMU Board of Trustees Chair Kristin Harper were copied in the letter, attempts to get comment from Harper were unsuccessful.
The commission received unsolicited information regarding FAMU in March, Klein said in an email to the Tallahassee Democrat April 23.
“Our unsolicited information policy requires the commission to follow up on information received about an accredited institution that appears to indicate significant non-compliance with the Principles of Accreditation and allows the institution to provide a response regarding the information and the applicable Principles,” Klein told the Democrat.
“This policy is employed when information is received outside the normal comprehensive review cycle. Often, this information comes from a media source, but the commission also receives information anonymously that can lead to a request for an institutional response.”
In addition to the SACSCOC letter that will be discussed in the upcoming board meeting, presidential search updates will also be provided as the university hopes to have its next leader named by this summer.
An unranked list of the
four final candidates
was recently announced after a series of closed sessions that took place amid
preliminary conversations
in the FAMU community about who was in the running.
In an April 21 phone call with the Democrat, FAMU Board of Trustees Vice Chair Deveron Gibbons – who also chairs the university’s
15-member presidential search committee
– said he is “in the blind” about the commission’s letter as he has no background information related to it.
With the commission being an institutional accreditor, Beard and the Board of Trustees is being held accountable to provide a response to its request.
“It’s not unusual for the commission to receive unsolicited information about its member institutions or to send an inquiry similar to the one sent to FAMU,” Klein told the Democrat. “SACSCOC moves forward with an inquiry whenever the information raises concerns about possible non-compliance.”
In the letter, the commission asked the university to prepare a report that explains its compliance to two standards of its Principles of Accreditation:
- “Board/administrative distinction and shared governance,” which expects a university Board of Trustees to make a clear and appropriate distinction between its policy-making duties and the university administration’s responsibility to implement those policies.
- “Conflict of interest,” which expects a university Board of Trustees to define and address potential conflict of interest for its members.
The next step for FAMU is to provide a report to the accrediting commission that focuses on its compliance with the two standards noted in the letter, which is included under “President’s Report” in FAMU’s April 24 board meeting agenda.
If questions remain following a review of the university’s report, the concerns could potentially lead to an investigation at FAMU as the commission’s staff has the power to create a special committee to evaluate and review FAMU’s compliance before sending findings to the SACSCOC Board of Trustees, which makes final decisions regarding non-compliance with principles.
How to listen in, comment at FAMU board meeting
-
Log on using the
Zoom link
provided on the FAMU board’s website:
www.famu.edu/about-famu/leadership/board-of-trustees/agendas_and_minutes.php
. -
Requests to make public comments must be submitted to FAMU Administrative Services Coordinator
[email protected]
by 5 p.m. the day before the meeting and must note the agenda topic that will be addressed, according to the university.
Tarah Jean is a reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat. She can be reached at
[email protected]
. Follow her on X:
@tarahjean_
.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat:
Accreditation agency requests FAMU report after ‘unsolicited information’ raises questions
