NCCU operated Atlanta campus

UNC system never approved branch run near Atlanta

DURHAM -- For four years, N.C. Central University operated a small satellite campus at a suburban Atlanta megachurch run by a university trustee, offering a series of programs that were never properly approved by university system officials.

The program folded this summer after running afoul of the university's accrediting agency, and campus officials are now trying to figure out how to take care of about 50 students whose college careers have been interrupted.

With the demise of the small campus, dubbed the New L.I.F.E. College Program and housed at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga., questions arise why a North Carolina public university created an out-of-state branch campus 400 miles away.

"I can think of no justifiable reason why the former NCCU leadership would have completely ignored and failed to abide by the appropriate approval process in creating this program," UNC system President Erskine Bowles said late last week in a statement e-mailed to The News & Observer. "Such action is contrary to all university policy. To say the least, it is very disappointing. We are working closely with Chancellor [Charlie] Nelms and his new leadership team to examine the various academic, legal, and financial questions associated with this Georgia-based program."

Few NCCU officials past or present would comment.

Nelms, who came to NCCU a year ago, offered only the following statement: "Since no members of the current executive leadership team were involved in creating the New Birth program, we can only infer that it was established in order to provide quality educational opportunities for participating students. Admission of new students to the program ended in March 2007. We are currently developing a teach-out option for students nearing degree completion."

Beverly Washington Jones was dean of NCCU's University College when the New Birth program was created and later became provost, a position she held until earlier this year. Her name and signature are on several documents related to the program. She declined to comment.

James H. Ammons, NCCU's chancellor at the time, did not respond to written requests for an interview. He is now president of Florida A&M University.

The New Birth program was dissolved in June after the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the accrediting agency for Southern universities, refused to authorize it. NCCU had violated an SACS requirement that the university notify the accrediting agency of any substantial changes to its academic offerings. It did not tell SACS about the New Birth program when it began in 2004.

Earlier this year, an SACS official, in a letter to the university, also raised questions about the academic credentials of some instructors at the Georgia campus. One instructor's degree was listed only as a "doctor of graduation," according to the letter.

NCCU remains accredited, so the degrees that about 25 New Birth students have received since 2004 are valid, NCCU officials say.

The New Birth pastor is Eddie Long, a 1976 NCCU graduate named to the university's board of trustees in 2002 -- two years before the program at his church was created.

Long's gifts to NCCU

He has been generous to his alma mater. Last week, he announced a $1 million gift to create a distinguished professorship fund, and before that he gave at least $400,000, according to media reports. He has delivered at least two commencement addresses at NCCU.

Long was not available to comment for this story but released a short statement through his Washington-based spokesman, Dan Rene. It read in part: "New Birth has one of the largest congregations in the United States and uses a variety of institutions and programs to meet the needs of its members."