The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

SOJOURNER-Douglass College was operating its Nassau campus without registration status with the Ministry of Education Science and Technology for a full academic year before it closed offices on East Bay Street.

SDC’s registration with the Ministry of Education was a central element used by officials to justify the decision to keep the satellite campus open in correspondence to students, and in interviews conducted by The Tribune.

However, Dr Iva Dahl, executive director of the National Accreditation and Equivalency Council of The Bahamas (NAECOB), confirmed to The Tribune that the Nassau campus’ registration status became invalid once its main campus lost its accreditation.

“Sojourner Douglass College’s main campus in Baltimore, Maryland lost its accreditation June 2015,” the email read.

As a consequence of the main campus losing its accreditation, the Nassau campus’ registration status with the Ministry of Education Science and Technology became invalid.

The email continued: “The Ministry of Public Service terminated the approval of Sojourner Douglass programmes for government purposes on June 30, 2015.

“Sojourner Douglass is neither registered nor is it accredited by NAECOB. Those institutions whose registration is current are grand-fathered with NAECOB for a two-year period ending June 2018.”

Dr Dahl added that all educational providers: primary, secondary and tertiary/post-secondary are required to register with NAECOB. She was responding to questions asked by The Tribune via email. It was unclear up to press time whether the agency was also responsible for monitoring and compliance.

Yesterday, Minister of Education Jeffrey Lloyd declined comment on the ministry’s role, stating only that it was a private matter and that former students should take the institution to court.

“That is a private matter, Sojourner-Douglass. Take them to court, take them to court,” Mr Lloyd told The Tribune.

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) revoked the SDC’s accreditation in 2014, citing the school’s financial struggles at the time, and denied SDC’s appeal of the revocation in June 2015.

The US campus closed its doors after it could not afford to reopen without the federal funding that was hinged on accreditation.

Students in Baltimore scrambled to obtain transcripts from the embattled institution following the announcement; however, its Bahamas campus did not close until July 2016, when students were told that there would be no registration for the fall semester, and were advised to settle their accounts in order to receive official transcripts.

At the time of its closing, there were reportedly 130 active students; however, documents obtained by The Tribune indicate that the college intended to continue operations until 2019.

SDC President Dr Charles W Simmons wrote to former Minister of Education Jerome Fitzgerald, in a letter dated August 22, 2016, advising the minister that former Dean Theresa Moxey-Ingraham had been replaced by Dr Kevin Rolle.

In the letter, Dr Simmons states that the Maryland-based institution intended to continue the operation of its Nassau branch, underscoring that the campus was registered and approved by the Ministry of Education to operate until 2019.

Dr Simmons notes that the college was actively working to restore its accreditation, adding that the process would likely last another year.

Last week, Dr Rolle told The Tribune that although he was appointed as dean of the Nassau campus in August 2016, when he arrived he found out that the offices had been shuttered the previous month.

According to the Baltimore Sun, SDC is currently offering online courses to Maryland students through a partnership with Bethune-Cookman under the name Global Education Service Inc. Courses reportedly started on May 15.