Harrisburg Visvavidayalayam - Gurthinpu Potundi

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Harrisburg University has been placed on probation by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, one of the nation's chief college accrediting agencies.

The action stems, according to the accrediting agency, from the university's failure to show that it is in compliance with two of the agency's standards – namely that it has the financial resources necessary to support its programs and that it has policies and procedures in place to evaluate and improve student learning.

Harrisburg University spokesman Steven Infanti said in a statement Thursday the university is "shocked and disappointed" by the action, and contends it does meet all of the standards set by Middle States.

Infanti said Middle States representatives visited the university in March as part of the normal re-accreditation process.

"The visiting team produced a trip report documenting the university's achievements and the fact that it meets all accreditation standards," he said, a report that supported the university's own previously submitted documentation to Middle States.

"The reasons for the Middle States Commission's action remain unclear to the university," Infanti continued, adding that the university "is presently unclear about what it needs to do to improve as the report issued by the commission simply repeats portions of the standards which the visiting team said Harrisburg University met."

Infanti said the university has requested a meeting with the commission to "better understand the commission's rationale."

Middle States spokesman Richard Pokrass stressed that while Harrisburg University has been placed on probationary status, its accreditation is not under immediate threat.

"There's really nothing for students to be immediately concerned about," he said Thursday. "(The) removal of accreditation is exceptionally rare."

What will happen, he said, is that the university will be given two years to show that it is back in compliance with Middle States' standards, by submitting a monitoring report to the agency. Harrisburg University will then undergo a peer review, the results of which will be submitted to the commission for possible action.

Upon reviewing that report, the commission could choose to rescind the university's probationary status, continuing monitoring, or issue the institution a "show cause" notification – the first step toward removing its accreditation status, although "there is nothing at this point to indicate that will happen," he said.

Pokrass said that although both of the standards that Harrisburg University failed to comply with are "significant," they are also among the standards that cause the most headaches for institutions.

But Infanti contends that the university does meet the standards – and that Middle States might not have followed its own peer-review protocols.

Regardless, he said, the university has made the commission's concerns a "top priority" and "fully anticipates having the probation lifted in 2015."

Harrisburg University's financial struggles have been well-documented, and largely stem from the construction of the university's 16-story office tower that was financed through bonds issued by the then-Harrisburg Authority.

However the university's revenues have not been able to cover the cost of its debts, and it has in the past had to turn to Dauphin County to cover the university's bond payments.

That includes this past March, when the county made a $1.5 million debt payment on behalf of the university.

Initially the county made those payments through the form of loans to the university, a practice that has since ended. While Dauphin County Commissioners have said they are not willing to loan the university any more money, the county government is contractually obligated to make payments on behalf of the university if it cannot.

Harrisburg University officials have maintained that the school is on a path to financial sustainability and that its woes are not uncommon for start-up endeavors.

According to financial filings with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, the university might be close to turning that corner. In the first quarter of 2014 the university's revenues were more than its expenses – something that wasn't true during the first quarter of 2013 or 2012. 

 

Source: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/07/harrisburg_university_placed_o.html

sorry  E-L

 

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