http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031209/APN/312090985
Accrediting agency places Auburn University on probation
The Associated Press December 09, 2003
Auburn University was placed on 12 months probation by an accrediting agency Tuesday after a two-year investigation into trustees' involvement in the school's daily affairs.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools handed down the sanction, which was one step short of revoking Auburn's accreditation. A loss of accreditation would have meant the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding.
SACS does not release specific details of its report, instead listing only the requirements a school has failed to meet. The report noted five requirements Auburn fell short of, including administrative oversight of the athletics department by the school's chief executive officer.
The report also said Auburn failed to meet a catch-all requirement that colleges cooperate with the accreditation process.
Auburn released a short statement saying it was "disappointed and surprised" by the probation. The university emphasized that it remains fully accredited, and that students' financial aid is intact.
"Auburn University will continue its strong pattern of progress and growth and increasing quality of programs, witnessed in recent years," the statement said.
President William Walker declined comment. Trustee and state legislator Jack Venable said he had not seen the SACS ruling and declined comment. Trustee Jimmy Rane did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Though Walker and various trustees have been under fire recently for a secret football coach-hunting trip they took to Louisville, Ky., the problems cited by SACS related to a separate, earlier complaint.
A group of faculty in April 2001 asked the agency to look into allegations that a small minority of trustees was micromanaging the university. Then-interim president Walker sued to block the investigation, and a federal judge eventually appointed Georgia attorney Richard Y. Bradley as an independent investigator.
Bradley's first report in January 2003 found the trustees were complying with SACS standards. The agency asked him to conduct a more detailed report, which a judge sealed Sept. 8 because it included trustees' private financial records.
A SACS commission decided to put Auburn on probation based on Bradley's reports. The commission will re-evaluate Auburn in December 2004, after the university submits a follow-up report and a SACS special committee visits the school.
At that point, SACS could remove Auburn from probation, extend its probation or revoke its accreditation, said Jack Allen, associate executive director for the agency.
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