UNC System’s new accrediting agency seeking feedback on proposed standards
Welcome to Dean’s List, a higher education newsletter from The News & Observer and me, Korie Dean.
As the new accreditor for the UNC System and several other public university systems moves full speed ahead toward gaining recognition from the U.S. Department of Education, we’re continuing to learn more about the group’s plans.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — a Republican who has been a vocal critic of the current accreditation landscape — announced the formation of the Commission for Public Higher Education (CPHE) in June, following UNC System President Peter Hans previewing the effort in May.
So far, we’ve learned the states seeking to join Florida and North Carolina in the effort and gotten a look at the agency’s business plan, which, among other insights, revealed Florida will pay $4 million to support the effort.
Now, we’re getting an idea of the accreditation standards that the commission will seek to enforce among its member schools.
This week’s newsletter includes a deeper look at the draft standards and how the UNC System is seeking feedback on them.
Also included:
- A report about UNC-Chapel Hill officials removing a pro-Palestinian mural from campus;
- Information about new protections for NC 529 college savings accounts;
- and more.
Accreditor seeking feedback on standards
According to a copy of the document obtained by The N&O, CPHE sent its proposed, draft standards in an Aug. 19 memo to Hans. It sent separate memos to the other presidents who lead the systems that are founding the agency.
In the memo to Hans, the agency asked him to “circulate” the memo to several groups within the UNC System, including:
- The Board of Governors
- Chancellors
- Vice chancellors and other administrators
- The Faculty Assembly, which represents faculty from all 17 UNC System schools
- The Staff Assembly, which represents staff from across the system
- The Association of Student Governments, which includes student representatives from across the system
“CPHE seeks comments regarding its draft accreditation standards, which are attached along with an explanatory memo,” the document states. “This opportunity for comments is open to CPHE stakeholders and to all members of the general public.”
The commission asked for comments to be sent to contact@cphe.org by the close of business on Sept. 16.
For its part, the Faculty Assembly has asked UNC System faculty to provide their feedback by Sept. 11, which will be discussed at the assembly’s meeting on Sept. 12, per assembly Chair Wade Maki. (Individuals and collective groups of faculty are also welcome to submit their feedback directly to the commission, Maki noted.)
The process of collecting feedback got underway at UNC-Chapel Hill last week during a meeting of the university’s Faculty Executive Committee. There, Faculty Chair Beth Moracco asked her fellow faculty representatives about the best way they could gather input from across campus.
In the discussion, Moracco noted something that struck her about the draft standards: “They don’t yet have metrics, and they’re still very, very high level.”
I noticed that, too. Compared to the standards outlined by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) — which currently accredits all schools in the UNC System and those in the other founding states for the new accreditor — the draft standards CPHE is circulating are noticeably more vague.
For instance, while SACSCOC’s standard regarding universities’ governing boards expressly spells out a minimum number of members the boards must have and the duties they must fulfill, CPHE’s draft standards on governance and leadership state only:
- “The institution’s governance structures and practices — both at the system level; and at the institutional level, as applicable—demonstrate sound fiduciary oversight and sound executive management.”
- “Institutional decision-making is characterized by shared governance in appropriate processes and as documented in appropriate policies.”
Maki told me he believes the less-detailed standards are partly by design.
“I think that’s been part of their design philosophy for this accreditor, is we’re going to do the things that you’re required to do, and we’re not going to add a whole lot to it,” Maki said. “And so they have produced, very quickly, these very minimal, very spartan draft standards.”
But Maki expects, with the feedback CPHE receives, the agency will add some more detail to the standards. Faculty will likely expect, for instance, the standards to be more prescriptive about the general-education requirements for an undergraduate degree, like the SACSCOC standards offer, he said.
“I think it’s going to remain on the minimal side, but there will be more details,” Maki said.
Another way faculty are engaging with CPHE is through the newly formed Faculty for Responsible Education and Accreditation (FREA), a group of faculty representatives from all of the states involved with founding the accreditor.
In an Aug. 1 letter, FREA asked the CPHE board of directors to provide opportunities for faculty to weigh-in throughout the process of the agency getting off the ground. That the agency is asking for faculty feedback on the proposed standards is a “good sign,” Maki said.
“That’s our big ask: How can we help you make this the best it can be?” Maki said. “Because faculty know a lot of stuff. We’re the ones on the ground.”
ICYMI: Catch up on these headlines
After UNC-Chapel Hill officials removed a student-created, pro-Palestinian mural from a campus building, some of the university’s faculty are worried about the precedent the move could set.
The mural was installed in the spring of 2024, following the forcible disbandment by police of the “Gaza solidarity encampment,” a pro-Palestinian demonstration that lasted four days. It was not a class project or assignment, but was created by students in professor Hồng-An Trương’s “Art as Social Action” course that semester who had attended the encampment.
The removal of the mural, Trương and other faculty members warned last week, could signal a worrying development at the university.
“Is this setting a precedent for the administration to come into anybody’s building and say, ‘You know what? This student’s research project poster doesn’t align. It needs to come down now,’” Trương said. “That is the equivalent to biology, literature, anything — that is the equivalent of the administration coming in and taking this mural down.”
For more on the mural’s removal and faculty reaction, read the full story: After UNC removes pro-Palestinian mural, faculty worry about ‘dangerous precedent’
Do you have an NC 529 Plan or NC ABLE account?
As of Monday, Sept. 1, your plan now has more protections from creditors and other debt judgments. That’s under a new law, House Bill 378, now in effect after passing the General Assembly and being signed by Gov. Josh Stein.
If the funds in your account are being used for appropriate, qualifying purposes, they are protected from “liens, attachment, garnishment, levy, seizure, any involuntary sale or assignment by operation or execution of law, or the enforcement of any other judgment or claim to pay any debt or liability of any account owner, beneficiary, or contributor to the account.”
For more on these expanded protections, read the full story: New NC law will add protections for 529 college savings plans. What to know
Higher ed news I’m reading
- The Department of Homeland Security is seeking to limit how long international students can stay in the U.S. to just four years, which is less time than the average student takes to complete a bachelor’s degree and not enough time to complete a doctoral degree, Inside Higher Ed reports.
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