The National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI) met this week to elect a new chair and to review the recognition of several accrediting agencies, including four of the former regional accreditors.
 
NACIQI chair Art Keiser, chancellor and chief executive of Keiser University (FL), stepped down from the role he has held for two terms. Claude Pressnell, president of the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association and former vice chair of the advisory body, was unanimously elected to serve as the new chair.  Zakiya Smith Ellis, a principal at Education Counsel, was unanimously elected to serve as vice chair.
 
During the meeting, NACIQI reviewed the federal recognition of, among others, the Higher Learning Commission, Middle States Commission on Higher Education, New England Commission of Higher Education, and WASC Senior College and University Commission. In its review of these agencies, NACIQI members focused particular attention on problems occurring at the institutions the agencies accredit.
 
In response, the accreditors highlighted the actions they have taken to withdraw or terminate accreditation for at-risk institutions. They also noted that accreditors are just one member of the triad and that states and the Department of Education also bear responsibility for oversight. NACIQI members were divided over the question of whether accreditors should be singled out over the performance of just one institution out of the many colleges and universities they oversee.
 
Ultimately, the committee voted to adopt the Department staff recommendation to renew federal recognition for three of the four accreditors, with submission of compliance reports on relatively minor issues in some cases. The one exception was WASC, which was found out of compliance with respect to its failure to identify recruiting and admissions abuses at Ashford University (later acquired by University of Arizona Global Campus). WASC will continue to be federally recognized but has one year to demonstrate that it has come into compliance.