BISMARCK -- The new president of the State Board of Higher Education said she is very concerned about a fall visit by a national university accreditation group following up on a complaint about the governance of the North Dakota University System.
The Chicago-based Higher Learning Commission will be in North Dakota this fall to evaluate the University System and state board?s relationship with the 11 colleges the board oversees and the commission accredits.
?We have to take this very seriously and as a board we will be able to get through this, but we have some work to do,? Board President Kirsten Diederich said. ?It is a governing issue, so it is our issue to work with.?
The state board will be working with the commission to determine the dates of the visit.
Diederich announced the commission?s visit during a state board meeting Wednesday in Bismarck, where she announced her goals for the board as the new president.
One goal will be to have a self-evaluation of the board and training to address the issues that the board faced the past year, including the complaint filed in April by former Valley City State University President Ellen Chaffee.
In her letter, Chaffee identified issues that ?do raise questions about the institutions? and the compliance with the Higher Learning Commission?s Criteria for Accreditation, pointing out a lack of communication between institution presidents and the board as well as the leadership of former Chancellor Hamid Shirvani.
The state board received a letter from Higher Learning Commission President Sylvia Manning in May, and soon replied back with details on how the state board was working to deal with the allegations in the complaint.
In a phone conversation with acting Chancellor Larry Skogen earlier this week, and in a letter the state board received Monday, Manning said the response from the state board and system office did not adequately address the issues raised in the commission?s May letter. As a result, they will be doing an advisory visit to the system office this fall.
Skogen told the board Wednesday he couldn?t overestimate the importance of the visit because it is highly unusual for the Higher Learning Commission to visit a system office since it accredits only individual universities.
The commission accredits more than 1,000 colleges and universities in 19 states, including North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota. Institutions must meet criteria such as upholding integrity and recognizing diversity to merit accreditation.
Skogen and Diederich said the visit will be good for the state board and University System.
?It?ll give the board an opportunity to say we will make some changes,? Diederich said.
Manning is requiring the University System to gather information about its governance structure for the fall visit.
Tags: north dakota,?higher education,?news,?updates
Source: http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/269674/
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