In August 2015, JBHE published a post on the efforts of historically Black Barber-Scotia College in Concord, North Carolina, to rebound from a decade of difficulties since losing its accreditation in 2004.
But this past January, the college announced that it would not hold any classes for the spring semester and was cancelling the remainder of the season for the college’s basketball teams for men and women. At that time, the college stated that it hoped to reorganize and hold classes this fall.
Now it has been announced that the new private Forest Trail Sports University has leased many of the buildings on the Barber-Scotia College campus. The university will focus on sports with 10 varsity teams scheduled to compete this fall. Academic programs will be conducted online through an agreement with Waldorf University, based in Forest City, Iowa. The university says it hopes to enroll 250 students this fall.
Forest Trail Sports University is led by Gifty Chung, who also operates Forest Trail Charter Academy in Kernersville, North Carolina, and Forest Trail Academy, a K-12 online home school in Florida. Dr. Chung is a native of Ghana. She is a graduate of the University of Florida and earned a master’s degree in secondary education from the University of Akron. Dr. Chung holds a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Phoenix.
The administration building at Barber-Scotia College was not part of the five-year lease agreement, but it is unclear how the college will operate in the future.
