Panel Members Fear Accreditation Loss
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By KATE ERWIN
Some members of the Speaker Ban Law Study Commission are coming to the conclusion that accreditation of State-supported colleges and universities will be lost if the law barring Communist speakers from those campuses remains intact.
They are also concluding that the ultimate effect of lost accreditation would be most serious.
"I think it's extremely likely we will either lose our accreditation or be placed on proba-
tion by the Southern Association," said Forsyth Sen. Gordon Hanes, commission member. "I think the possibility of probation is more likely."
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools last week told the commission that it is studying the status of accreditation of North Carolina State-supported colleges because of "undue interference with the authority of the governing boards of the institutions" by the General Assembly.
William Fields, chairman of the commission <,n colleges of
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the Southern Association, said the matter of accreditation will be considered by the commission in November, but refused to predict a decision.
"My feeling is that accreditation is going to be lost" if the speaker ban law remains, said Wilson Sen. Russell Kirby of the commission. "It's just a feeling in my bones. We haven't reached a decision yet."
Like Kirby, other commission members said no decision has yet been made by the group as a whole, and they are waiting to hear further testing ny at
hearings scheduled for Sept. 8-9.
Chairman David M. Britt of Robeson said the matter of accreditation "will probably come out in the testimony of the college presidents in September. They may have talked to some people, and we may get some second-hand information."
"I'd rather not say at this moment whether I personally think accreditation will or will not be lost," Britt said.
But Rep. A. A. Zollicoffer of Vance County said he "assumed" accreditation would be lost "from what I've heard."
The Rev. Ben Fisher of Wake Forest said, "On the basis of facts we have heard up to now, accreditation is certainly in jeopardy."
Rep. Lacy Thornburg of Jackson County commented, "I don't think we know to date. Some people have said yes, some people have said no, and some have said maybe."
The effects of disaccreditation were debated at the first round of the study commission's hearings, with spokesmen for the
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Ampriean Legion contending thai such action would not harm the colleges concerned.
Lenoir Sen. Thomas J. White, also a strong proponent of the Speaker Ban Law, told the commission, "I do not believe there would be an exodus of faculty" away from the University and colleges.
Commission member Kirby said he disagreed. "There definitely would be bad effects. Faculty members won't all pull up and leave right away. But past history has shown that over a long period, the colleges would suffer."
Hanes said, "It won't have the slightest effect for a year or two. The effect will be cumulative. The ultimate effect will be most serious."
"I know of one top-notch man in his field who had agreed to come to North Carolina. When he heard about the speaker ban, he went to Maryland. That is fact," Hanes said.
"But this is slow," he added. "Some faculty members have heen here for years. They won't all pick up and leave. But it will be harder to get new people."
Fisher, who is executive secretary of the Baptist State Convention's Council on Christian Education, said, "We are already in an extremely severe teacher shortage. People with earned degrees who want to move will have no difficulty getting a job."
Fisher also made the point that "in the educational enterprise, unless we have a system of accreditation, we would have chaos. We could have no really effective system of higher education, because we would have no standards."
"I hope the commission will bend every effort to get all the facts about accreditation and what it means," Fisher said.
Chairman Britt summed up some of the facts the commission now has before it, as to the effects of lost accreditation.
"Loss of accreditation will affect grants to the colleges in certain cases, and not in others," he said. "We have letters from colleges, some saying the loss won't affect student transfers, some saying it will.
"As to faculty leaving, I have reached no conclusion. I have received information of special instances where this has happened, such as the University of Mississsippi."
Thornburg and Zollicoffer both said they needed more information before they determined the effects of lost accreditation.
"Accreditation should definitely have a bearing on what recommendation this commission should make," Thornburg said. "Frankly, I don't know of any concrete evidence. And I don't want to second-guess."
Zollicoffer said "there's some hearsay about a list" of faculty members who would leave if the law were maintained. "But I haven't drawn any conclusions. I'm still listening."
Two members of the commission, Mrs. Elizabeth Swindell of Wilson and Charles Myers of Greensboro, declined to comment, and another member, W. T. Joyner of Raleigh, is on vacation and could not be reached.