Historic Bethune-Cookman University Accreditation Remains in Place
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, contact: Sara Brady
407-408-4000
DAYTONA BEACH, FL – Friday, September 4, 2020 – Bethune-Cookman University, the beloved historical black college founded by Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, will remain an accredited university, ensuring access to higher education for thousands of Black students, B-CU President E. LaBrent Chrite announced today.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), which is the regional accrediting organization for degree-granting higher education institutions in the Southern states, notified B-CU leadership late Thursday. The decision comes after the university was placed on probation in 2018 for concerns regarding governance and financial sustainability.
“After nearly two years, our community of students, alumni, parents and neighbors, can now plan for a long and robust future for this great University founded by the visionary Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune,” Chrite said. Chrite praised the auditors for their thorough evaluation, hard work and for allowing B-CU time to restore stability to operations. “I am immensely proud of our team’s success and I deeply appreciate their incredible dedication, which included making some very difficult decisions during a profoundly challenging academic year.”
Board of Trustees Chairman Belvin Perry who has helped drive the process praised the University’s staff that worked night and day for nearly two years to restore operations into proper working order.
“This is a remarkable achievement resulting from the unimaginable hard work and commitment by our senior leadership team, each of whom sacrificed significantly to protect the future of this great university,” Perry said. “Their persistence and fortitude reflect the very essence of Dr. Bethune and she would be so very proud.”
Accreditation by SACSCOC signifies that the institution has a mission appropriate to higher education, has resources, programs, and services sufficient to accomplish and sustain that mission, and maintains clearly specified educational objectives that are consistent with its mission and appropriate to the degrees its offers, and that indicate whether it is successful in achieving its stated objectives.
B-CU established a strategic team of experts in accreditation, finance and governance to address the issues that compromised accreditation. Over the past two years, new policies, protocols and practices, as well as leadership changes have contributed to transforming B-CU into a properly running institution of higher learning.
“We have an amazing and enduring culture, focused on the holistic development of our students” Chrite said. “We believed we would get here. As Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune said, ‘Without faith nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.”
About Bethune-Cookman University
Founded in 1904 by Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, the mission of Bethune-Cookman University is to educate a diverse community of learners to become responsible, productive citizens, and solution seekers through the promotion of faith, scholarship, creative endeavors, leadership, and service.
Bethune-Cookman University seeks to define a new standard for academic excellence as a way to become the best small college in the southern region. To educate and empower people to seek their own solutions; to advocate for opportunities for all citizens to improve their quality of life, and to inculcate an international perspective that would facilitate a keen appreciation of the new global realities.
B-CU offers 36 undergraduate and 8 graduate degrees on its main campus. Located in Daytona Beach, FL B-CU is one of three private, historically black colleges in the state of Florida. The institution boasts a diverse and international faculty and student body of nearly 3,000. For more information, visit www.cookman.edu.
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