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Accreditation Trouble Reveals Flaws Of USF Regional System

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 6, 2008

How ironic that in the same week University of South Florida President Judy Genshaft notified the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools that USF's campuses in Lakeland and Sarasota would be seeking independent accreditation, the St. Petersburg campus was put on probation for its own accreditation lapses.

As Dr. Phil says: "So, how's that working for you?"

USF is intent on building a system of regional campuses, but stumbles like this reveal how bureaucratic and duplicative the approach is. Independent regional campuses want to go it alone, and the end result is that time and money that should be devoted to students and programs goes to satisfying bureaucratic requirements.

USF's regional campus system has been sold on the promise it would provide consistency in governance, accountability and oversight. The "brand" identity of USF Tampa was supposed to benefit the regional campuses - but no one considered what would be done to USF's credibility should one of the regional schools falter.

The accrediting organization cited the St. Petersburg campus for failing to sufficiently measure student achievement and a standard called "college-level competencies" - an accountability measure designed to evaluate how much students are learning and if a university is properly preparing them for their careers.

SACS has not delivered a report to St. Petersburg detailing the problems it found. And to be fair, universities that suffer accreditation problems - such as Florida A&M University's recent probation - are forced to thoroughly examine processes and make improvements.

But it's mind-boggling that the main campus less than 35 miles away has no authority to get USF St. Petersburg on track. And it seems wasteful during a time of major state funding cuts for any campus to be devoting time and money to separate accreditation when all the institutions could remain under USF Tampa's accreditation.

USF St. Petersburg had already been warned by SACS it was coming up short on those measures. But because campus leadership was stubborn in its belief that it could go it alone, the situation deteriorated from a warning to probation.

If USF St. Petersburg loses its accreditation, it would be a disaster.

Students would be blocked from applying for financial aid, graduates would be ineligible to apply for jobs that require a degree from an accredited institution, and students seeking entry into law schools or other post-graduate programs would be shut out.

It's disappointing that Genshaft - who likes to bill herself as a "regionalist" - continues to parrot the mantra that these independent branch campuses somehow benefit USF Tampa when so clearly they do not. They mostly serve the interests of lawmakers who want to build little fiefdoms.

USF could have fashioned academic programs designed to meet the specific needs of the different communities its branches serve without creating duplicate bureaucracies. But that would have meant standing up to state legislators - and there's not much willingness at USF to do that.

And now that there's trouble, Genshaft's administration is effectively shut out of the matter. USF Tampa can't step in to fix St. Petersburg's accountability system. The administration can only make suggestions - as apparently it did during the warning period, only to be ignored.

The flaw in having separately accredited regional campuses is the campuses conduct themselves like teenagers who get a little bit of independence and don't want to listen to anyone.

For the most part, their insolence is harmless - but when it diminishes the quality of instruction or diverts resources that should be devoted to students, then the internal struggle becomes a public concern. The whole flawed concept should be revisited.

The USF "brand" that was supposed to be enhanced by the network of regional campuses now has a black mark on it. And the administration can't do a thing about it. This is no way to run a university - or achieve academic excellence.

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