Tuesday, August 14, 2012

The Guillotine Drops


A few weeks ago, before Joe Paterno's statue was removed, Eli wrote in a post entitled Death Penalty

Eli, as some have noted, is an ancient professor, an academic if you will.  He has followed the collapse of governance at Penn State with the interest of a bunny watching a disaster unveiled, and recently saw much back and forth about the NCAA (the folks who profit from and do the pompous on intercollegiate athletics in the US) imposing the death penalty on football at PSU.

Folks, that ain't the death penalty Penn State has to worry about.  Accreditation at US institutions of higher learning runs through cooperative associations of colleges and universities, who certify to the US Department of Education.  That ain't whiffle ball because all federal funding, student loans, research grants and more depend on that certification.
Today Middle States, Penn State's accrediting agency, started the guillotine moving. They notified Rodney Erikson, the President of Penn State, that
. . . . its accreditation is in jeopardy based on information contained in the institutionally commissioned Report of the Special Investigative Counsel (Freeh, Sporkin & Sullivan, LLP, July 12, 2012) and the Binding Consent Decree Imposed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association and Accepted by the Pennsylvania State University (July 23, 2013) and insufficient evidence that the institution is currently in compliance with the Requirements of Affiliation 5 (compliance with all applicable government policies, regulations, and requirements) and 9 (institution's governing body responsibility for the quality and integrity of the institution, for ensuring that the institution's mission is being carried out, and for making freely available to the Commission accurate, fair, and complete information on all aspects of the institution and its operations) and with Standard 4 (Leadership and Governance) and Standard 6 (Integrity). To note that the institution remains accredited while on warning. To request a monitoring report due by September 30, 2012 documenting steps that have been taken and are planned to ensure the institution's full compliance with Requirements of Affiliation 5 and 9 as well as Accreditation Standards 4 and 6. In addition, to request that the monitoring report also address Accreditation Standard 3 (Institutional Resources) with regard to the institution's capacity and plans for addressing financial obligations that will or may result from the investigation and related settlements, etc.
Details of the action and its meaning can be found at the Middle States website as well as links describing the process and the range of actions and penalties.

Eli wrote earlier this offers the accrediting agencies the opportunity to get control of athletics if they dare.  The implications of this matter extend well beyond Penn State. 

As a codicil allow Eli to say that he knows well many faculty members at Penn State and men and women, they are all excellent scientists.  As for Integrity, he would park his last carrot with them.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd have thought that George Mason University might be at risk of being tapped on the bobtail with the Standard 6 stick for sitting on silly statistics and sly snipping.


Bernard J. Hyphen-Anonymous XVII, Esq.

John said...

When the NCAA refers to the "death penalty", it means no athletic scholarships and no postseason play (bowl games) for a few years. But after a few years, the athletic program can award athletic scholarships and postseason play is again allowed.

So it really shouldn't be called the "death penalty". Instead it ought to be called the "penalty box", as in hockey where an offender have to sit in "time out" (as it is called for young children). A hockey player might get two minutes for beating up an opposing player.

Katha Pollitt, writing in The Nation, recommended that Penn State cancel the season and fire everybody.

Barry DeCicco said...

Anonymous said...

" I'd have thought that George Mason University might be at risk of being tapped on the bobtail with the Standard 6 stick for sitting on silly statistics and sly snipping."

The day that lying and fraud for the elites becomes a matter of accreditation is the day that a lot of top-ranked universities become unaccredited.

Aaron said...

I know your friends are smart, honest, good with a hockey stick, and can take abuse, but do you think they could run a football program?

I for one, would love it. That team would have great statistics.

Anonymous said...

Didn't Steve McIntyre attempt to draw some kind of twisted Mobius parallelogram between this vile scandal and the Mike Mann investigation?

~@:>