St. Aug’s president says she was fired, as university faces loss of accreditation
St. Augustine’s University President Christine McPhail said she learned she is out of a job on Sunday.
The same day, according to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, the agency voted to strip the university’s accreditation.
In an interview Monday, McPhail said the university’s board of trustees told her Sunday she had been fired without providing specific reasons.
“I’m still trying to figure that out for myself,” she said.
McPhail’s attorney said the firing is tied to a discrimination complaint. She had filed the complaint, alleging discrimination based on her gender, against the board weeks earlier. The complaint described demeaning comments about her gender from members of the board, as well as them yelling at her and berating her.
“She filed an internal complaint on Oct. 9, 2023, which alleged that certain conduct created a hostile environment,” her attorney, David Tracey of New York City, said in an interview. “Thereafter, members of the board of trustees pressured her to recant and threatened her job.”
He said he and his client subsequently learned the board voted to terminate her Nov. 14, but didn’t notify her until Sunday.
James Perry, chair of the St. Augustine’s Board of Trustees, confirmed through an emailed statement Tuesday that the board had voted to remove McPhail.
“The Board denies the unfounded allegations Dr. McPhail has made against the University, and the Board is prepared to defend itself and the institution,” the statement said.
Accreditation of St. Aug’s
Perry’s statement said the board would not comment further on the issue of McPhail’s firing, citing that it is a personnel matter. Instead, the statement said, “the Board is focused on restoring the University’s standing with SACSCOC under new University leadership.”
SACSCOC on Tuesday released a disclosure statement regarding St. Aug’s accreditation status, confirming the accreditor voted Sunday “to remove Saint Augustine’s University from membership as an accredited institution.” The accreditor is holding its annual meeting in Orlando, in which accreditation decisions are made.
The SACSCOC Board of Trustees cited the university’s failure to comply with principles regarding governing boards’ characteristics as well as regarding financial control, resources and documents as key reasons for its vote to remove the university from membership.
SACSCOC said St. Augustine’s remains accredited and on probation until 10 days after it receives an official notice from the accreditor, which St. Aug’s spokesperson Demarcus Williams said in a statement would occur Jan. 11. The university will then have until Jan. 21 to file the appeal to remain on probation, pending a decision by the accreditor’s appeals committee.
“The work has already begun to appeal SACSCOC’s decision, and we will remain steadfast during this process,” St. Aug’s Acting President Leslie Rodriguez-McClellon said in a statement. “While we are disappointed by SACSCOC’s decision, we are confident and unified in our commitment to fulfill and complete our mission.”
McPhail said the university hopes to keep its accreditation by fixing what she described as the central issue: the lack of annual audits for 2021 and 2022. She said the university has until Jan. 24 to appeal the loss of accreditation and should have the audits completed by then.
“I have all confidence the university will have what they need to make a successful appeal,” she said. “Primarily they do need the audits. I do think they will have the audits at that time.”
Accreditation is vitally important for colleges and universities. The federal government requires it in order for students to receive government financial aid.
A year ago, SACSCOC’s Board of Trustees put St. Augustine’s on probation, citing financial issues and failing to comply with many of the same principles cited in the disclosure statement released Tuesday.
The small, historically Black university of 1,000 students in downtown Raleigh had also been put on probation between 2016 and 2018 over financial issues.
“The University’s accreditation is critical to the University’s ability to continue as one of the predominant HBCU’s in this State,” Perry’s statement said. “This critical mission will remain our central focus as we continue to support the faculty, staff, alumni, and, most importantly, the students of Saint Augustine’s University.”
Appealing SACSCOC’s decision will allow the university to continue offering students financial aid, Williams said in a statement.
Christine McPhail becomes president
In early 2021, the board named McPhail president, succeeding her husband, Irving Pressly McPhail, who died of COVID-19 just three months into the job.
Christine McPhail said she has spent much of her tenure working on solving the financial issues and stabilizing enrollment at the university. She was the 13th president of the university in east Raleigh, which was chartered in 1867.
“We’ve had a stable enrollment over the last three years and have designed some strategies to increase the enrollment,” she said.
Her contract ran through February 2025, she confirmed.
McPhail had previously worked as a professor of practice at the John E. Roueche Center for Community College Leadership at Kansas State University and is the founding professor and director of the Community College Leadership Doctoral Program at Morgan State University in Maryland, according to her bio on St. Augustine’s website. She is also a former president of Cypress College, a community college near Anaheim, California.
This story was originally published December 4, 2023 at 7:30 PM.