Call it the Case of the Mystery Matriculation, and at this rate we're going to need Kojak, Shaft and Sherlock Homeslice to figure out whodunit.

No one is taking full responsibility for an unapproved satellite college program administered by N.C. Central University at the Atlanta-area church of an NCCU benefactor and alumnus.

Wow. Getting saved and getting a degree at the same time. What a deal. Especially for Bishop Eddie Long, pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church.

You know how JFK said something about success having a thousand fathers but defeat being an orphan?

Not only is nobody admitting fathership (mothership?) of the distance education program, but no one is even admitting to being in the room when the young 'un was conceived.

Oh sure, former Chancellor James Ammons finally sort of admitted that, what the heck, he accepts responsibility for the unaccredited program, but that acceptance was equivocal. In a recent letter to The N&O in which he said he accepts "full responsibility for this mishap," Ammons prefaced his acceptance by saying, "My understanding is that the program was approved by the NCCU Faculty Senate."

That's what we lawyers -- OK, I'm not really a lawyer, but I did recently watch an "L.A. Law" marathon on TV -- call the ol' SODDI defense -- Some Other Dude Did It.

This may be the first time SODDI has been used to explain away an unaccredited satellite campus for a highly regarded university.

Former officials at NCCU who oversaw -- or should have overseen -- the creation of the campus at Long's church can't agree on whose brainchild the program was or why proper steps weren't taken to ensure it was approved.

Ammons makes it sound as though the program was presented to him as a done deal by faculty members and the University College, NCCU's division that administers distance education programs.

No, no, no, said Beverly Washington Jones, who was dean of that college. She said responsibility rested with Ammons and Provost Lucy Reuben.

See? Some other dude or dudette did it.

State Rep. Mickey Michaux, an NCCU alumnus, said he doesn't think the residue from the program will tarnish the school. "I think it was well-intentioned, but somebody just dropped the ball in making sure it was accredited," he said.

"Eddie," he said, "has been a good trustee" to NCCU.

Yeah, and NCCU has apparently been good to Eddie, too.

The long-term damage to NCCU's reputation -- it's hard to imagine any benefit -- from the program is debatable. But you can't blame those NCCU alums who dutifully got up each morning, trudged to class and earned a degree the old-fashioned way if they are angered about sharing the title "alumnus" with someone who may have gotten a degree from classes taken at the church of a well-connected alumnus.

The irony is that the one person who can truly say some other dude did it -- Chancellor Charlie Nelms -- inherits the task of removing the taint of the program from the university.

Ammons did some good things at NCCU while waiting for his opening at his alma mater, Florida A&M University, but he owes NCCU more than a perfunctory acceptance of responsibility for the mess he left behind. It's elementary.

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