From:

To:
Subject:
Date:

Robert M. Smith
"margaret Perry"
RE: Southern Association of Colleges & Schools Accreditation Notice
Friday, December 11, 2015 10:55:00 PM

Margaret and Randy,

I saw your response to Andys note. Im sitting here the night before Commencement responding to
angry and confused (more of the latter than the former) students and parents. This is a nightmare.

At this point we are really guessing what happened. The announcement of SACS decision was made to
us orally in about a three minute discussion. We received no specifics. I discovered the actual charges
in an Inside Higher Education story SACS shared with them but information they did not share with us.
We chose to notify all our students within 24 hours of the decision being orally provided to us. We did
that to counter wrongly interpreted news stories as well as take the responsibility to let our students
know what happened in spite of the fact we still have nothing in writing nor any explanation from the
SACS as to the reason for their decision.

The history here is that we were in the process of our review in 2013 when newer standards came into
effect (does this bring feelings of dj vu?). No one would argue that we did not fare well in that
review and a monitoring report was required for five of the ninety-two standards including sub
standards. The institution passed on 87. Four of those five remaining were all related to the same
general issue, student assessment. All of those were deemed deficient because of a lack of historical
data. The conundrum is that you can't have historical data if you just established the standard. It takes
time. The decision announced this week (more about that later) appears to have given us credit for our
progress but still declaring we have not demonstrated the application of the assessment process.

When I saw the report we were submitting in September on which this decision was based, I was
stunned. I worried something might be wrong but people kept telling me we were doing fine. Our own
report told me we were in trouble. Stephanie Kolitsch and I rewrote as much as we could in the 24
hours before it was due but I knew we were headed down a bad path.

I called President Joe and alerted him that I thought the report was inadequate and we could be in
trouble when the Council met (a prophecy that proved true). Regardless of the anticipated decision, I
ramped up workshops on assessment. One of our faculty discovered an amazing consultant. We spent
two two-day workshops with different faculty groups and have made progress that is not evident in any
report to date. We have another workshop planned for January. I have also assembled a team of
experts to assist us once we know exactly what we are missing. We are engaged. Nevertheless, we have
faculty who are still in complete denial of their responsibilities in this process. That is not only
frustrating, it is what holds us back.

I am deeply disappointed by the manner in which the SACS decision was announced without telling us
much of anything as to how they made the decision. We are taking steps to defend ourselves and put
this ugly declaration behind us.

While Ive got your attention: Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and a wonderful new year. We can still say those
things at UTM.
Bob
..

From: margaret Perry [mailto:mnperry@comcast.net]

Sent: Friday, December 11, 2015 9:46 PM
To: Andrew Wilson
Cc: Bettye Moore; Bill Blankenship; Brad D. Biggs (brad.biggs@raymondjames.com); cemdblbgy@aol.com;
david@dgriggs.com; Jennifer Childress Hampton; jglasgow@glasgowchism.com; Joe Exum
(joeexum@frontiernet.net); lcrisp@pepsimidamerica.com; Cathy Dunagan; reggie.hill@lpnt.net;
rhkirk2001@gmail.com; Robert M. Smith; Sam Bondurant (sam@bondurantsllc.com)
Subject: Re: Southern Association of Colleges & Schools Accreditation Notice

Thanks, Andy. I appreciate your notifying us of this. Margaret

On Dec 11, 2015, at 4:24 PM, Andrew Wilson <awilso93@utm.edu> wrote:
Board members,
I want to make you aware of information we received yesterday regarding our
accreditation. The email below shares what Interim Chancellor Bob Smith sent to the
students yesterday afternoon.

While we are awaiting the official letter from SACSCOC on the details, we have already
started working toward the assessment goals. I have full confidence in our leadership in
addressing the areas of concern. We will continue to keep you informed as we go through
this process. We will overcome this hurdle quickly and effectively.
Andy

Andy Wilson
Vice Chancellor

The University of Tennessee at Martin

UT Advancement Martin Office

From: Office of the Chancellor

Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2015 12:05 PM
To: Enrolled Students
Subject: Southern Association of Colleges & Schools Accreditation Notice

<chancellor_email_header.jpg>
UTM Students,
The University of Tennessee at Martin has received oral notice of the decision by
the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges
(SACSCOC) that the university is placed on probation for the next 12 months
pending corrective actions they wish us to address. We have not received any
official letter with specifics, but we did read in a press announcement that they have
cited us for falling short of standards related to evidence of institutional
effectiveness and general education competencies. In the educational world this
means that we have not completed the work we have been doing on assessment of
learning.
This is an issue that first emerged two years ago. Since my arrival, we have been
working diligently to resolve it, and we have made significant progress in the last