Integrity at the University is more than an idealized notion. It’s also a standard of accreditation set by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The University last week defended the Board of Visitors’ botched June ouster of University President Teresa Sullivan, telling the association the school had not been compromised by this summer’s events.
The association sent a June 25 public letter expressing concerns the University had not complied with its accreditation requirements. Smith said the controversy surrounding the University signified a possible breakdown in the Board’s authority, the faculty’s relationship with the Board and institutional integrity — all of which are accreditation requirements.
The association is currently the only organization raising questions about the University’s institutional accreditation, University spokesperson Marian Anderfuren said in an email Monday.
Executive Vice President and Provost John Simon oversaw the University’s response to the association. Sullivan, who received the June 25 letter, said at a press conference in August she had recused herself from handling the investigation because the matter posed a conflict of interest.
The Board in its written response admitted it had poorly handled Sullivan’s resignation and reappointment. The Board maintained the events of the summer crisis “were not so egregious as to in any way sacrifice full compliance” with the association’s principles.
The University’s letter was released after a public records request by The Washington Post.
The Board said its lack of transparency during the summer’s leadership crisis resulted from the University’s standard personnel procedures, which prevent disclosure of details regarding employee performance — procedures the Board says would have been violated if more information about Sullivan’s ouster had been revealed.
“The explanation regarding the general direction and future of the University previously provided to the University community, constituted the true and honest reasons for members’ dissatisfaction with the President’s performance,” the letter said. “These were the sole reasons behind requesting her resignation. There is no more explanation to give.”
The letter also outlined an account of the presidential ouster in a two-page addition to the response, offering its own narrative of events portraying it in a more positive light than most news reports have. The account noted that Board members first raised concerns about Sullivan’s performance during the last academic year. On June 8, University Rector Helen Dragas and then- Vice Rector Mark Kington told Sullivan they had enough support to ask for her resignation.
The letter stated the Board’s executive committee convened in an open session June 11 to accept Sullivan’s resignation, when this meeting took place June 10 in closed session in Madison Hall.
In response to questions about faculty governance, the Board said its members had not acted unilaterally or exerted undue authority in curricular matters. The Board said it was committed to faculty determining their own curriculums, though it also noted it has the right to make sure curricula meet the goals of the University.
The association, located in Atlanta, oversees the accreditation of institutes of higher education in the states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.
Administrators referred questions for this article to the University’s Public Affairs Office, and a SACS spokesperson did not return requests for comment.
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