Contrary to the folderol coming out of Harrisburg, 1837 University Circle Cheyney Pa. and other sources, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education is not the cause or the reason Cheyney University of Pennsylvania was placed on probation. Middle States is merely the accrediting agency for this region tasked with making sure colleges and universities under its purview are run in a fiscally sound and responsible manner that the academic competencies and capabilities of the staff and facilities are suited to carry out the institution’s mission, so the institution is eligible to receive federal financial aid money.
On November 16, 2023, Middle States announced Cheyney was being placed on probation until it could ascertain the university was in full compliance with a variety of standards. They asked the university administration to provide documentation it was in compliance with the specified standards. This is not the first time Middle States has done this. They did it most recently in 2015.
On both occasions, they did so after site visit teams met with administrators, faculty, students, and alumni and reviewed material Cheyney itself submitted detailing its’ academic, financial, and facility abilities to meet or surpass the standards put forth by Middle States. Middle States does not have subpoena powers or the authority or staff to send in forensic auditors and investigators to review a university’s books. They have to go by what the university provides!
On both occasions, Middle States commended Cheyney for the progress it made to address and remediate various issues that were plaguing the university, such as massive debt, low graduation and retention rates, lack of technology, depreciating facilities, etc. They asked for additional documentation and proof and made recommendations to the administration on how to further improve. Nevertheless, when Cheyney complied, Middle States made the decision to place the institution on probation on both occasions.
Full disclosure, I am a 1969 graduate of Cheyney State College, where I was a student activist who helped bring attention to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s blatant racism, its neglect, and under-funding of Cheyney via protests and demonstrations that disrupted campus life, forcing the administration and the Commonwealth to take notice and action to rectify the situation. The president at that time, Dr. Leroy Allen, resigned and Dr. Wade Wilson was named president. Under Dr. Wilson, more money was appropriated, new buildings were designed and constructed while I was still a student, and I graduated on time in four years despite being suspended by Dr. Wilson.
Unfortunately, after Dr. Wilson retired in 1981 and with the creation of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) in 1982, an ongoing pattern of deliberate deprivation continued even after a federal lawsuit was filed and won by Cheyney professors and student leaders in 1983 initiated by Math Education Professor Edgar Harris, Professor Will Tate and student leaders Jeffrey Hart and Michael Coard.
Promises were made, but in the long run, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania continued business as usual with regard to Cheyney. The Commonwealth also subsequently reneged on a 1999 agreement with the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to improve funding, refurbish all the buildings on the historic Quadrangle, and create and fund new programs like the Keystone Honors and the Bond Scholarship programs.
Things got so bad that in 2014, Heeding Cheyney’s Call, an organization of higher education advocates, Cheyney Alumni, and supporters that Professor Edgar “Sonny” Harris, myself, and attorney/activist Michael Coard founded in 2013, filed a civil lawsuit in the US Federal Court in Philadelphia against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett, Frank T. Brogan the Chancellor of PASSHE, the PASSHE Board of Governors including Aaron Walton, Arne Duncan the US Secretary of Education and the US Department of Education.
Myself, Sonny Harris, Michael Coard, Heeding Cheyney’s Call, the Cheyney University National Alumni Association, and twenty Cheyney University students were plaintiffs in that lawsuit. Attorney Joe Tucker was our litigator, and we had the advice, backing, and support of Dr. Earl Richardson, former President of Morgan State University in Maryland, and attorney Pace McConkie, both from the Coalition for Equity and Excellence and Maryland Higher Education, which led a sixteen-year fight on behalf of Maryland’s four HBCUs. Their protracted struggle culminated in a 2022 five hundred seventy-seven million dollar ten-year settlement for the four Maryland HBCUs!
Ironically, when Middle States placed Cheyney on probation in 2015, their action substantiated and validated our lawsuit complaints! Middle States’ actions spurred the new Governor Tom Wolf, to take a more pragmatic tact; his administration elected to work with Heeding Cheyney’s Call to resolve the issues facing the university rather than fight us in court. Frankly, we were dealing with serious existential issues, and the situation was so egregious that the Commonwealth would have lost the court battle!
President Michelle Howard-Vital retired in 2014. Interim Dr. Phyllis Worthy Dawkins (2014) and an acting president, Dr. Frank Pogue (2014-2017), were appointed by PASSHE. It was Governor Wolf who stepped in and eliminated Cheyney’s forty million dollar debt to PASSHE. PASSHE sought and was granted a waiver by the Pennsylvania State Senate to make Aaron Walton the permanent president. Walton’s plan for Middle States would have left PASSHE holding the bag for all of its debt because he lacked the wherewithal to pay it off. Wolf was helpful in other ways that made it easier for Middle States to reaffirm Cheyney’s accreditation.
Fast forward to November 2023; again, following campus visits, discussions, and reviewing Cheyney’s Self-Study (the process where a college or institution shows it is in compliance with all standards and it can holistically and realistically accomplish its’ stated mission) Middle States affirmed its accreditation, but just like in 2015, placed the institution on probation and provided the rationale for their decision. You can read that and see the history of all Middle States actions vis a vis Cheyney University on their Website at https://www.msche.org/institution/0480/
The latest list of standards in question is longer now than in 2015! Let’s be clear, to resolve this current situation, all the Cheyney administration had to do was provide the requested documentation by the deadline or ask for an extension. So why all the deflecting, whining, and rigmarole? Why the racialized innuendos and Chicken Little denunciations of Middle States? If everything is so copacetic at Cheyney, why all the fuss; just man up, provide the documentation, and move on!
rovide the documentation, and move on!
Middle States is not the enemy. Middle States has been extremely helpful to Cheyney and gave the school the benefit of doubt due to its storied history. Middle States is not the entity that had to settle two whistle-blower lawsuits alleging a hostile work environment, sexual harassment, and misappropriation of scholarship funds last year–that was Cheyney! The current administration is the one overseeing a merry-go-round of turnovers in crucial administration positions like Provost/Chief Academic Officer and Athletic Director. The university doesn’t even have a full athletic program, and they’ve had several ADs in the last two or three years, plus a musical chairs of staff coming and going, which does not provide a stable environment for any institution. None of this is Middle States’ fault.
From my perspective, this is not all bad. Just as in 2015, Middle States’ actions actually helped save Cheyney by forcing the Commonwealth to do the right thing; perhaps in a best-case scenario, Middle States’ latest action could provide the opportunity to enhance and transform the venerable institution for the better. If only the people in Harrisburg and Cheyney saw it this way instead of bad-mouthing the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
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