SACS decision serious, but no cause for panic

Any time the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) puts a university on notice, it is serious business. But FAMU is already more than 50 percent finished fixing the key problems that SACS flagged as areas of concern. The decision to place FAMU on a one-year probation simply means that the university will need to provide thorough updates to the accrediting body as it completes its corrective plans.

Even though SACS did not name any specific university programs when it sanctioned FAMU, Interim President Larry Robinson told the Orlando Sentinel that he thinks the Marching 100 is a big concern for the accrediting body. FAMU will need to report back to SACS about what it’s doing to make sure that students are as safe as possible. It will also need to explain how it’s enforcing rules governing student eligibility for university events.

FAMU has already placed the Marching 100 on an indefinite suspension following the Nov. 19, 2011 hazing death of drum major Robert Champion. The university is also expanding the number of staffers who will work to fight hazing across the campus. They will include an anti-hazing special assistant to the president and additional personnel in the Office of Judicial Affairs who will adjudicate cases of alleged hazing.

The Marching 100 will soon have a new music compliance officer who will monitor the organization to ensure that all of its students are academically eligible. Marching band students will also be required to be enrolled full-time at FAMU and will be limited to four years of participation.

SACS also wants more information about financial control issues within FAMU. The university has appointed a new director of audit and compliance who’s addressed the problems related to incomplete internal audit reports and the lack of an audit and review plan.

A SACS special committee will visit FAMU within the next six months.

A number of media organizations responded positively to Robinson’s openness about the SACS probation. The New York Times and Tallahassee Democrat both discussed the SACS probation within a larger state and national perspective.

The New York Times reported that the University of Virginia was sanctioned with an official warning during the same meeting that FAMU received probation.

Tallahassee Democrat staffers wrote: “SACS routinely follows up with institutions that have been in the news for issues relating to policies and procedures. For example, when Florida State was embroiled in an academic cheating scandal in 2006-07 involving numerous student-athletes, prompting the NCAA to order FSU to forfeit a number of football wins, SACS required FSU to provide documentation proving that the issue had been addressed.”