Sojourner-Douglass College in Maryland, which has a predominantly Black student body, has announced that is closing its satellite campus in Edgewater. All but one of the employees at the Edgewater campus was let go. Students transferred to other area colleges or to Sojourner-Douglass’ main campus in Baltimore.
In November 2014, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education notified Sojourner-Douglass College that it would lose accreditation on June 30, 2015. That decision is subject to appeal.
Enrollments at the college have dropped from a high of 1,300 to 750. A vast majority of the students receive federal Pell Grants. If the college loses its accreditation, students would no longer be eligible for federal financial aid.
Charles W. Simmons, president of Sojourner-Douglass College said in a statement that “the college will devote itself to attempting to secure a successful outcome that will result in its continued accreditation, as well as continuing to fully serve and to accommodate the needs of its students in the weeks and months ahead.”
With all due respect Dr. Simmons, you should be embarrassed on numerous levels in reference to Sojourner-Douglass College. Point one: The main website is not fully operational, functional, and skeletal in nature. As a result, whoever venture to this website will definitely leave with a bad impression about this college Point two: None of the academic or administrative departments have functional websites in no capacity. That alone should be grounds for more scrutiny from “all stakeholders” and definitely from SACS or any other accrediting body.
My challenge to Dr. Simmons and other Sojourner-Douglass College administrators is to have a website that’s indicative of a 21st century higher education institution. More important, cease from perpetuating a negative stereotype about HBCUs and its decision making.