In a pointed March 1 letter, released exclusively to Carolina Journal before delivery, North Carolina’s entire Republican congressional delegation, short Rep. Dan Bishop, pushed back against Belle Wheelan, president of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), the body that accredits higher education institutions in North Carolina and other Southern states.
State auditors found Roanoke-Chowan Community College issued more than $10.3 million in checks with invalid signatures between August 2019 and August 2020, putting the school at increased risk of fraud. A report released Friday by the Office of State Auditor Beth Wood said the college didn’t have proper policies and procedures in place to detect...
Each week, staff at Carolina Journal looks back at the week in N.C. politics and chooses several interesting, relevant stories you may have missed. Here’s a week in review: New CEO: Amy O. Cooke has joined the John Locke Foundation as its new CEO. Cooke is also the new publisher of Carolina Journal. Before joining...
ALBEMARLE — An eager crowd of bundled-up observers assembled early Jan. 17 in a vacant lot, huddling with government officials as steam from their coffee cups curled into the air. They attended a groundbreaking ceremony at Pfeiffer University for a $16 million Center for Health Sciences, expected to be completed by May 2020. Eventually 200...
Activist professors at UNC are the villains of tales they don’t hear and the butts of jokes they don’t understand.
Recent cases from North Carolina suggest that community college governance may be in need of an overhaul. Consider Martin Community College. In 2014 an anonymous letter allegedly written by a group of concerned students, faculty, and staff was sent to the state’s community college system, the school’s board of trustees, and lawmakers. It claimed, among...
After one year of academic probation, UNC-Chapel Hill has been returned to good standing by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, university Chancellor Carol Folt announced on Thursday. North Carolina’s flagship university was penalized by SACS-COC for using fake “paper classes” to help 3,100 students — most of them athletes —...
RALEIGH — A surge in enrollment two years ago forced the Central North Carolina community college to increase the course load for instructors, threatening the school's accreditation.
CHAPEL HILL — It’s been a troubling few months for officials at Barber-Scotia College. In February, President Sammie Potts announced his sudden resignation and gave no reason as for his departure. A few months later, school officials sent out letters to about 30 students who planned to graduate to inform them that the school awarded them too many “life experiences” credits and that they would have to take some courses to receive a diploma. The school’s troubles, including weak finances, have continued with notification that Barber-Scotia had lost its accreditation. This came after the school was given a warning by the accrediting association in December.
RALEIGH — A greater number of college students could be eligible for $1,800 state grants when classes start this fall. One of the last actions of the General Assembly before the legislative session ended in July was to pass a bill that increases eligibility, ending what some have labeled a discriminatory practice. Previously, all North Carolina residents enrolled full-time in an accredited private college received the funds. But those who study at Roanoke Bible College and Southeastern College of Wake Forest were excluded.
