Newspapers / Chowan University Student Newspaper / April 1, 1963, edition 1 / Page 12
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General Accreditation in Higher Education EDITOR'S NOTE; Following it a stattmont from the staff of tho Commiuion on Collogat, South- •rn Association of Collagas and Schools. THE CHOWANIAN ra- prints this statamant for the in formation of the faculty, staff, and students of Chowan College, which is accredited by the Association. GENERAL ACCREDITATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION Accreditation is an educator’s term, but the principle involved is widely understood and applied throughout the United States. Many American enterprises have as sociated themselves to set up standards or criteria to protect and improve the quality of pro ducts or services, and in doing so they have utilized the concept of accreditation. Accreditation as applied in education has been defined as the recognition accorded to an insti tution which meets criteria or standards of achievement estab lished by a competent agency or association for educational activ ities of the nature and level being offered by the institution. For the layman it may clarify the term somewhat to describe it more simply as recognition of the intellectual or academic re- spectibility of educational insti tutions. Respectability in this sense would imply functions of accreditation are to discover and propagate good educational prac tices, to improve the educational process, and to strengthen edu cational institutions. In addition, there must be an attempt to distinguish stronger in stitutions from the weaker ones, the good from the poor; it is reasonable to assume that the distinction is made best by quali fied educators. This assessment of quality should be made from with in the framework of higher edu cation and not from without. In many nations of the world quality control in programs of higher edu cation is a function of national government, usually applied through a national ministry of ed ucation; that is, accreditation of an institution is awarded by gov ernment and becomes political in nature. Accreditation in the United States is unique in that it is ap plied from within voluntary, non political professional organizations and not from without. This is especially true of regional or gen eral accreditation which is not identified with state or national boundaries and, therefore, is not as subject to the patterns of con formity often associated with political control. Accreditation should be distin guished from hcensing and certi fication which are designed to pro tect society from malpractice by incompetent individuals. Responsi bility for these functions rests with the state. Accreditation is the re sponsibility of educators. For in stitutions of higher learning ac creditation serves several pur poses. In the first place it en courages institutions to improve their programs by providing for them standards or criteria estab lished by competent bodies. Furthermore, it serves to facilitate the transfer of students from one institution to another. In addition, it helps inform those who em ploy graduates of an institution about the quality of training which its graduates have received. In another sense accreditation can serve the general public by pro viding the layman some guidance on the institutions he may wish to patronize. Accrediting procedures f o I- lowed by most accrediting agen cies consist of several steps. In the first place there is the estab lishment of standards or criteria. It is then necessary to carry out an evaluation of institutions by competent educators to deter mine whether the established standards or criteria are met. A list of institutions which meet the standards or criteria is usu ally published. Finally, periodic reviews are generally scheduled to ascertain whether accredited institutions continue to meet the standards or criteria. These procedures are followed by the six regional or general ac crediting agencies in the United States which are the only organi zations above the state level charged with accrediting institu tions as a whole. One of these is the Southern Association of Col leges and Schools, a voluntary, non-profit organization, represent ing the institutions which make up its membership and are accredited. Membership is synonymous with accreditation. The Commission on Colleges of the Association is charged with the responsibility of accrediting insti tutions of higher learning, its deci sions being subject to review and approval by the College Delegate Assembly. The latter body consists of one voting representative from each member institution, either the president or his appointee. All matters concerning accreditation of institutions of higher learning and their membership in the As sociation are finally decided by this group. Most of the work of the Commission and of the College Delegate Assembly is done by in dividuals representing member in stitutions, and serving on commit tees. The programs of the Com mission are coordinated by an ex ecutive staff consisting of an ex ecutive secretary, an assistant ex ecutive secretary, and two secretaries. The staff is directly responsible to the Executive Coun cil which is elected from the Com mission membership. The budget of the Southern As sociation (including the College Commission) is based on dues paid by member institutions. It covers operating expenses and is pub lished annually. There is no ac cumulation of funds. A very large percentage of the budgeted funds for the Commission goes into tra vel expenses for professional staff and committe members to carry out assignments made by the Com mission, and into publications. This means that most of the mon ey is funneled back to the con tributing member institutions in the form of services they desire. Less than one-half of one per cent of the time and money expended by the central office is used for “inspection.” The remainder goes into programs designed to assist institutions to become more effective, educationally. Accreditation by the College Delegate Assembly of the South ern Association extends to the entire institution. It does not certify that every part is of equal quality, but it does indicate that none of them is so weal( as to undermine the educational ef fectiveness of the institution and its services to its students. Re gional or general accreditation, then, is extremely important be cause it is the only form of ac creditation that applies to the institution as a whole. The Southern Association, through the criteria for member ship established by its Commission on Colleges and the College Dele gate Assembly, is committed to a policy of preserving academic in tegrity and academic freedom in institutions of higher education. All Standards for measuring quali ty are useless these rights can be safeguarded. To borrow from the Executive Secretary’s report to the College Commission of the Southern Association in 1962, “We need no Standard for faculty un less their teaching can be free, we need no Standard for libraries unless books can be freely selec ted and read, we need no Standard for administrative organization if administrators are intimidated or controlled by organized ignorance which gains support in a period of fear and tension.” At the same time there is no inclination to protect the spread of obnoxious ideologies, which might occasionally fan across in stitutions. Policies governing the teaching of communism or related dogmas, and procedures for ap plying them are determined by governing boards. These matters are not normally within the prov ince of the Commission on Colleges. However, in the final analysis it is ingrained in the philosophy of the Commission that we must “stand ready to protest in the name of academic integrity when the educational effort is hampered by political interference, stifled by authoritarian fiat or in any way menaced by those who would subvert the search for truth.” This last phrase should apply equally to politicians, business and community leaders, or college professors. On the few occasions when the Commission has felt compelled to act when an institution’s integrity and autonomy were threatened there have been a few voices raised in protest against the need for regional accreditation at all. At these times some have cla mored for a system of state ac creditation only. Free institutions would soon smother in such an environment for most of their com munication and rapport with the outside world of intellect would be lost. Certainly, state accredi tation can serve a valid purpose and is very effectively utilized by many states to improve education and afford recognition to good in stitutions within their boundaries. But in practically every one of these cases, accreditation by a state agency (whether political or non-political) is closely coordi nated with efforts by the regional association to recognize and sup port sound educational endeavors. In many instances, state accredi tation has been organized and structured to serve as a stepping stone to or preparation for region al accreditation. This kind of state accreditation can be desirable but it is totally different from the con cept of state accreditation only, which can hang like an “ivy cur tain,” thick enough to bar the entry into the classrooms of all ideas and people except those deemed worthy by the power cen ter of the individual state. When we object to outside interference in the affairs of colleges we do not mean politi cal interference, only. Frequent ly, institutions are subjected to unusual or extraordinary pres sures from local communities, citizens groups, church groups, and even professional organiza tions. The Southern Association institutional integrity and aca demic freedom are threatened by forces originating from any of these sources. This is not to say that institu tions should not be subject, regu larly, to normal pressures. Many groups and organizations have a responsibility to make themselves heard in the affairs of the insti tutions with which they are con cerned. This is as it should be. Such pressures are expected and are healthy as long as they are within the group’s or organization’s jurisdiction and do not clash with the stated purpose of the institu tion. However, “interference” in the affairs of institutions from any of these sources is an entirely different matter, and should not be confused wtih the terms “normal p r e s s u r e,” “i n t e r e s t,” or “concern.” At the annual meeting of the Southern Association in November, 1962, new Standards of accredita tion were adopted by the College Delegate Assembly. As a device for measuring academic excellence the new Standards could ultimately represent a landmark in the de velopment of higher education in the South. It is believed by the colleges whose representatives wrote them and by those who will interpret them that these Stand ards will measure more effectively the quality of an educational en terprise, with less dependence on quantitative criteria than before. There has been much confusion in the past as to the meaning of the term Standards when applied to accreditation. The term has been wedded most frequently to the word "standardization.” This confusion of terms can be unfor tunate—indeed appalling—because of the implication that there ex ists an attempt to standardize or mold into a pattern all institutions of higher learning. The use of “Standards” by the College Dele gate Assembly relates to a mini mum level of achievement in many categories expected of any educational enterprise desiring general recognition as an institu tion of high learning. A Standard may set a minimum level of train ing for faculty, or minimum enroll ment; or it may delineate a basic organizational pattern or structure for institutions, broad enough to include the differing purposes and objectives of a great variety of colleges and universities. In an other instance, a Standard may identify and define basic principles of academic freedom or academic integrity to which accredited insti tutions are expected to adhere. At the same time, a firm belief in the importance of institutional autonomy and in the right and responsibility of colleges and uni versities to develop independently, and individually is implied in the philosophy of the College Delegate Assembly and in the Standards which it has adopted. It follows then that Standards are not en cased in concrete, immovable, in flexible. They are simply the by laws of academic activity—a frame of reference. With its new Standards, the Col lege Delegate Assembly can now fulfill a more useful role in south ern higher education. It can stim ulate greater improvement in the qualifications of faculty members. the conditions under which they work, the provisions and services for students, and the financial sup port of higher education. At the same time it can permit institu tions wider latitude in their opera tions and can offe- more encour agement to experimentation and innovation. In addition to meeting each of the new Standards, i* is as sured that institutions joined in the wori of the Commission on Colleges and the College Dele gate Assembly admit the respon sibility they have to each other and to their society. A foremost objective of these groups is to organiie and direct the accumu lated talent of the human re sources represented i n their membership toward the improve ment of education in the South. An institution as a whole rep resents the sum of many parts. It has a personality, an image, and the totality of its effectiveness re flects the totality of this effort. Most of the functioning parts of an educational institution which presents its public image and prove the quality of its services are people. It is imoortant. there fore, that all of the people as sociated with the institution un derstand the role and function of the regional accrediting associa tion in which membership is held. Administrative officers, members of governing boards, faculty, stu dents, service personnel, alumni, parents, and as far as possible the public at large should be helped to realize that maintaining accredi tation, a symbol of respectability in the academic world, is the re sponsibility of all. It has been said that there is no agency or group better able to assist and protect colleges and universities than the regional or general accrediting association. The public, therefore, must be helped to know that this voluntary association, operating under the principles of self-regulation and self-control as reflected in its Standards, can be depended upon to preserve higher education as an essential force in a society of free men. REGISTERED NURSE—Miss Miriam Alice "Jonnie" Musser of Ports mouth, Va., Is attending Chowan College, working toward a B.S. degree in nursing. Jonnie graduated from Woodrow Wilson High in 1959 and entered training at Louise Obici School of Nursing the same year, graduating in 1962. She became a registered nurse after passing the State Board examinations in November 1962, and is using her profession here to help pay college expenses. THE CHOWANIAN
Chowan University Student Newspaper
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April 1, 1963, edition 1
12
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