Middle States site visit takes all facets of WU into account
From Nov. 2-5 the Middle States Commission on Higher Education conducted its site visit as part of the 10-year accreditation process.
With accreditation from Middle States, Dr. Jamie Jacobs, dean of institutional effectiveness and planning, said the degree students receive is much more valuable than if the university loses the accreditation.
The site visit consisted of seven people making the visit, one of which is the chair of the self-study committee while the other six are people who have been in similar roles at Middle States institutions, such as deans, provosts and faculty members at Middle States institutions.
The university has approximately 60 meetings set up for the site visit for people in the library, Student Services, senior staff, groups of students, alumni, members of the Board of Trustees and faculty.
A specific meeting the Middle States representatives had was held with seven students at Waynesburg. The meeting was held on Nov. 4 from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Of the seven students at the meeting, four were Leadership Scholars, two were Stover Scholars and one was a Bonner Scholar.
“Judging on who ended up being there, I think the way they did it was they wanted representation from each different aspect of campus,” said sophomore pre-law major Paige Carter. “We’re all very involved on campus, and I think they wanted people who truly have a sense of what Waynesburg is about.”
Carter said the meeting had no faculty or staff from the university, and she believes that made the meeting more insightful for the Middle States representatives.
“It was better for it just to be students,” said Carter. “We didn’t feel like we needed to say anything to appease [the faculty and staff]. They must have trusted us enough to spread the actual mission statement of Waynesburg University.”
Carter said the meeting ran as one large interview, in which the Middle States representatives asked questions about topics ranging from Student Senate to the admission process.
Other topics the students were asked about were the allocation of student activities fees, student life, why students transfer and the direction Waynesburg is heading.
“They definitely didn’t hold back on their questions,” said Carter. “They asked us very informative and inquisitive questions, and we were able to answer honestly.”
The seven students were chosen by the university to meet with the Middle States representatives.
“We’ve been doing this accreditation for a long time, and for Waynesburg to trust me to be a part of that from the student perspective was definitely an honor,” said Carter.
Carter believes students should care about the accreditation process with Middle States because, like Jacobs said, the ramifications if the university is not accredited are severe.
“Through the Middle States, we are able to receive federal funding,” said Carter. “Without this we would lose so much funding that our tuition would go up.”
This meeting was an example of just one of the numerous amounts of meetings the Middle States representatives held on their site visit with not only students, but also faculty and staff. After the site visit, Middle States will write a report, and the formal decision on whether or not the university will continue to be accredited will be made in March 2015. Middle States may make recommendations on things the university should change or work on, and they will check back in five years to see if the suggestions were applied.
“Then they’ll write a report, and let us know how we’re doing,” said Jacobs. “They will send that to the Middle States Commission, and they will make a decision on our accreditation in the spring.”
Jacobs said something many people do not know about accreditation is that it is always in progress.
“This process takes a long time,” said Jacobs. “People think that accreditation happens every 10 years, which is true. We do have our site visit every 10 years, but it’s an ongoing process on deciding what we do, working towards common goals and documenting what we do. Once everything is done, we will start all over again.”
Jacobs said this is a process that students may not be interested in at other institutions, but that is not the case at Waynesburg University.
“One of the things that I’m really grateful for here is that students have shown an interest,” said Jacobs. “I think it’s important for students to know that this happens because this is part of the big planning. I’m really grateful that everyone is willing to participate, from students to staff to faculty, people have been remarkably helpful.”
Editor’s note: This is part two of a three-part series about the Middle States accreditation process. A story will appear in next week’s Yellow Jacket further explaining the site visit and the future of the universities’ relationship with Middle States.