Tagged: Sojourner-Douglass College

In 1972, Dr. Simmons co-founded what would become Sojourner-Douglas College in Baltimore. Named for Black abolitionist leaders Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass, the college was not officially designated as an HBCU, but enrolled a predominately Black student body. It closed its doors in 2016 after losing its accreditation.

Coates served as the African American studies manuscript and reference librarian in the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University for over a decade. He also taught as an adjunct instructor of African American studies at Sojourner-Douglass College in Maryland.

On June 30, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education revoked the accreditation of predominantly Black Sojourner-Douglass College in Baltimore. Now the college has filed a federal lawsuit against the accrediting body.

Sojourner-Douglass College in Baltimore was notified by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education that its appeal to retain its accreditation was denied.

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. The college is facing a loss of its accreditation.

Sojourner-Douglass College enrolls about 1,100 students and about 90 percent of the student body is Black. It is not designated a historically Black college because it was founded after 1964.

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education is asking predominately Black Sojourner-Douglass College in Baltimore to issue a detailed report by September 1 on why it should keep its accreditation.