The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

SOJOURNER-Douglass College officials yesterday said its Bahamas campus will “stay open” despite its accreditation woes, with the college’s president saying officials hope to remedy the problem within the next year.

Dr Charles W Simmons, president of Sojourner-Douglass’ main Baltimore campus and its several satellite campuses, said the college is “actively working” to restore its accreditation by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, a process he said officials envision “will last a further 12 months.”

Still, in his August 22 letter to Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald, Dr Simmons said Sojourner-Douglass intends to continue the operation of its location in Nassau, as well as under the name Sojourner-Douglass College. Dr Simmons said the campus is registered and approved to operate by the Ministry of Education until 2019.

Dr Simmons also said he has been informed by former executive director of Sojourner-Douglass (Bahamas) Theresa Moxey-Ingraham that she “intends to start the institution Freedom College” however, he said, the school is “not transitioning or changing its name to Freedom College.”

Dr Simmons also said Dr Kevin Rolle has therefore assumed the role of director of the East Bay street location.

Dr Simmons’ letter came over two weeks after this newspaper reported that the East Bay Street satellite school had shut down its academic operations for the rest of the year, and that school officials were in talks with another American institution for affiliation to have the institution reopen as soon as possible.

At the time, Mrs Moxey-Ingraham told The Tribune that the school had closed for effectively the entire fall semester and would not resume “until the beginning of the new year.” The Tribune understood that Sojourner-Douglass (Bahamas) was not to conduct another semester until the new institution, reportedly Bethune-Cookman University (BCU), takes over.

A letter purportedly from Sojourner-Douglass (Bahamas) officials that was obtained by The Tribune, revealed that the campus officially closed its doors as of July 29, 2016, and suggested that students continue their education at other institutions, if they choose to do so during that “interim period.” There was also mention of a partnership with Southern College to ensure a “smooth transition” to that institution should students opt to enrol there.

It stems from the revocation of the college’s main campus’ accreditation as a result of financial issues. Without accreditation, Sojourner-Douglass is not allowed to receive the federal funding it needed to stay open, according to international reports.

Last month, an article in the Baltimore Sun stated that Sojourner-Douglass’ main campus was not scheduling classes for the fall semester because it was engaged in a legal battle to regain its accreditation.

According to the article, the (MSCHE) reportedly revoked the school’s accreditation in 2014, citing the school’s financial struggles at the time - including a reported $5m lien from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and denied SDC’s appeal of the revocation in June of last year.

The commission reportedly warned Sojourner-Douglass in 2011 that it was in danger of losing accreditation because it lacked adequate financial resources. The commission reportedly gave the school three years plus a one-year extension to resolve its challenges. But commission officials reportedly said the finances remained unstable and that college officials had not satisfied the commission’s requirements.

Sojourner-Douglass (Bahamas) has been in operation since 1988. The college also has satellite locations in other areas in Maryland, namely Owings Mills, Lanham, Cambridge, Annapolis and Salisbury.