NEWS ADVISORY – Grambling Accreditation Decision to be Announced Tuesday

Published on under 2003 / News

NEWS ADVISORY – Grambling Accreditation Decision to be Announced Tuesday – Dec 4, 2003

The Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools will decide the fate of Grambling State University’s accreditation during its annual meeting in Nashville Tuesday.

The decision will be announced at 3 p.m. Central Standard Time, Tuesday, Dec. 9.

• The UL System will immediately issue a press release via email, fax and online at www.ulsystem.net. (Reporters and editors who wish to be added to our email list should contact Catherine Heitman at cheitman@uls.state.la.us or 225-342-6950.)

• Following the announcement, Grambling Acting President Neari Warner and UL System President Sally Clausen will be available in Nashville via phone for interviews by contacting Jackie Tisdell at 225-342-6950.

• Warner and Clausen will also deliver the news to the Grambling campus via live video conference after the 3 p.m. announcement. Media are invited to Room 179 of Grambling’s A.C. Lewis Memorial Library to participate in the video conference. (For more information contact Vickie Jackson at 318-680-2581 or 318-274-2591. For directions call 225-342-6950.)

• A satellite video feed of interviews and b-roll of the SACS meeting will run at 3:45 p.m. Central Standard Time.
Duration: 15 minutes
Site: AM-4 (C-band analog); Transponder C-18
Downlink: 4060 Mhz
Audio: 6.2 and 6.8

SACS placed Grambling on probation in 2001 amid financial audit problems. In 2002, the University achieved its first “unqualified” (clean) audit in five years. While SACS acknowledged Grambling’s significant progress, it chose not to lift the probation sanction because it wanted that progress sustained for another year. Grambling received its second unqualified audit in October.

According to SACS rules, an institution can remain on probation for a maximum of two years. This December marks the end of the two-year probation.

SACS accreditation is considered to be essential to Grambling’s survival. Without it, Grambling students would be ineligible for federal financial aid. Currently about 92 percent of Grambling students receive such aid.

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