After some uncertainty, a regional accreditor has granted recognition to the college degrees earned by 25 students who took classes at a suburban Atlanta megachurch that was affiliated with North Carolina Central University.
Belle S. Wheelan, president of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ Commission on Colleges, was forced to weigh the matter after the university failed to notify the accrediting agency that some of its students were located at the 10,000-seat New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, in Lithonia, about 20 miles east of Atlanta and about 400 miles west of the main North Carolina Central campus, in Durham.
Accrediting agencies such as the Southern Association, known as SACS, must be notified of such remote locations in order for degrees to be included in the accreditor recognition conferred upon the college. Ms. Wheelan said that after studying reports from consultants hired by the university to evaluate its program at the church, she agreed not to withhold SACS recognition from the 25 bachelor’s degrees, earned in criminal justice, hospitality, and business administration.
“The students who earned their degrees from the university at that site did indeed receive a comparable education,” Ms. Wheelan wrote in a letter on Tuesday to the university’s chancellor, Charlie Nelms, after receiving the consultant reports. “Further, since the commission accredits institutions and not sites, this documentation supports my belief that the university’s granting of these degrees is appropriate.”
The university began offering a program in 2004 at New Birth, where the lead pastor, Bishop Eddie L. Long, is an alumnus, donor, and board member of North Carolina Central. The university ended the program this past June, after SACS learned about its existence and refused to recognize it.
Altogether, 125 North Carolina Central students took courses at New Birth, with 45 still seeking to finish their work. The University of North Carolina system has asked the state auditor to investigate the matter, and has warned the university that it should expect to pay back financial aid that it received from the U.S. Education Department for students at New Birth. —Paul Basken
