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Atlanta HBCU Morris Brown College has accreditation restored after 20 years

In academia, the recognition and approval of peers is central to the research and teaching with which colleges and universities are charged. This is the reality for professors whose research only gains momentum after collegial review in their field. Yet it also applies to the institutions themselves. Accreditation of a given school tells the world that the wider academic community has confidence in that academy's capacity to carry out its educational institution.To labor without it is a handicap that can put a college out of business. Yet Atlanta's Morris Brown College (MBC) did so for two decades. The good news is that this college recently saw its accreditation restored.

Established over 140 years ago by former slaves and the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), Morris Brown stands in the tradition of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in providing quality higher education to African Americans who, at one time, had little chance of admission into predominantly white institutions of higher education. Though largely liberal arts-oriented, this school also puts emphasis on management, entrepreneurship, technology, and leadership in the interest of graduating successful and influential citizens. Its notable alumni include corporate executives, senior military officers, civil rights advocate as well as accomplished authors, actors, and artists. Morris Brown was the first HBCU school to open with funds donated exclusively by African Americans.

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In 2002, the debt-ridden institution was rocked by scandal at its highest levels. The president and financial aid director were discovered to be misappropriating federal monies granted to MBC. Given the mismanagement and corruption, the Southern Association of Colleges, and Schools (SACS)subsequently withdrew its accreditation of the Atlanta school. The association makes its evaluations relative to three broad areas: leadership capacity, learning capacity and resource capacity. The financial irregularities clearly touched on the first but may very well have influenced the other two as well.In any case, loss of accreditation had nearly devastating consequences for MBU.

The hardest hit from the pulled accreditation status was in the realm of financial aid. Students were no longer eligible for Pell Grants and federal student loans to defray tuition and related fees. Given the economic demographics of Morris Brown students, financial aid makes all the difference for many of them between a bachelor's degree or none. In addition, lacking accreditation takes a toll on an institution's overall prestige, causing at least some college-bound high school seniors to look elsewhere -- to other historically black colleges -- for a post-secondary education.

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All of this came to a head in 2002 when SACS pulled its accreditations. The typical student enrollment of 2,000 dropped to under 50, with that number fluctuating between 30 and 50 over the ensuing decades. Funds needed to repair and maintain campus infrastructure dried up as the red ink continued to stress the budget.Over time, the situation became so bleak that the Morris Brown governing board advised the administration to close the college and find another beneficial usefor the campus. Yet Kevin James, who assumed the presidency of the school in2019 had other ideas.

Embarking on a strategy that he dubbed a "hard reset," James sought to make the Morris Brown brand respectable again. Capitalizing on social media, improved fundraising and his own belief in the institution, the president attracted a Hilton hotel to the campus. This complex will not only be a new profit center and commercially competitive hotel in Atlanta, it will also serve as a laboratory for students interested in hospitality management.In addition, he was able to retain core faculty, even some who agreed to work on a volunteer basis. In his strategic plan, President James also set a goal to recruit 300 new students over a five-year period. Still, the surest path to a revival in enrollment numbers would be re-accreditation. Step one would be to make the school deserving of such a credential by setting a series of metrics-- from curriculum and instruction to financial acquisition and management to structural and aesthetic improvements on campus -- to meet and exceed. While some of the five-year plan's objectives remain works in progress, sufficient gains have been made to earn accreditation from the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) in the spring of 2022.

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As technology evolves and universities market to students globally through online as well as residential programs, international agencies like TRACS are increasingly petitioned for accreditation. At the same time, the process of accreditation references the prevailing standards in each country: "TRACS requires that member institutions meet national norms in the areas of curriculum; programs; faculty credentials; and measured student learning outcomes at the course, program and institutional levels." The TRACS recognition, then, testifies to MBC's competitiveness with neighboring institutions

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With the approval by TRACS, Robert Morris College puts the less savory elements of its past behind it while looking ahead to better times. With this accreditation, students are again eligible for federal financial aid which, itis expected, will act as a boon to enrollment. A higher education academy onceon life support, Morris Brown now optimistically enters the next chapter of its mission.

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