How does a school keep it’s accreditation after issuing phony diplomas?

Rob Port of the Say Anything blog reports.

Dickinson State University Hangs On To Accreditation

Per the press release below sent out by Dickinson State University, the Higher Learning Commission has removed sanctions related to the university issuing hundreds of phony diplomas.

Which should make people wonder what the HLC’s accreditation is worth in the first place.

DSU President D.C. Coston trumpets his institution’s “tremendous effort to come back from the scandal, but as I pointed out earlier this week at least three members of Coston’s cabinet were identified in audits and testimony to the state legislature as being guilty of, at the very least, negligence which allowed the phony diplomas to be issued.

Two of those members have actually been promoted since the scandal.

How can DSU have made a “tremendous efforts” to put this scandal behind them when Mark Lowe, the university’s controller who couldn’t produce contracts for the recruiters who were bringing in foreign students or even identify how many contracts the university had with recruiters, has now been promoted to the Vice President of Finance and Business?

How can DSU keep its accreditation when Ken Haught who as chairman of the university’s communications department, signed off on phony diplomas for students who clearly hadn’t completed the coursework required for those diplomas, is now the dean of DSU’s School of Arts and Sciences?

Maybe the Higher Learning Commission is satisfied, but the Citizens of North Dakota shouldn’t be.

DSU accreditation affirmed

Dickinson State University (DSU) is very pleased to announce the North Central Association’s Higher Learning Commission (NCAHLC) has removed the Notice sanction from DSU’s accreditation status.

Per a letter received late this afternoon from NCAHLC, “At its meeting on October 31, 2013, The NCAHLC board of trustees removed the sanction of Notice from the University.”

“The Commission’s decision to remove the Notice sanction is an affirmation of the tremendous effort undertaken by the DSU community,” said D.C. Coston, president of Dickinson State University. “We remain committed to doing the right things in the right way, to treating each person as an individual, and to serving our students and our region by providing high quality, accessible education to support the needs of our region. Today is a ‘Blue Letter’ day for DSU.”