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File #: 240161    Version: 0 Name:
Type: Resolution Status: ADOPTED
File created: 3/7/2024 In control: CITY COUNCIL
On agenda: Final action: 3/14/2024
Title: Urging the Middle States Commission on Higher Education to reverse its decision to place Cheyney University on probationary status and calling on the Commission to work collaboratively with the University's leadership to restore the historic HBCU's academic status.
Sponsors: Council President Johnson, Councilmember Gilmore Richardson, Councilmember O'Rourke, Councilmember Squilla, Councilmember Harrity, Councilmember Driscoll, Councilmember Thomas, Councilmember Bass, Councilmember Phillips, Councilmember Landau, Councilmember Young, Councilmember Ahmad, Councilmember Brooks, Councilmember Gauthier, Councilmember O'Neill, Councilmember Jones, Councilmember Lozada
Attachments: 1. Resolution No. 24016100, 2. Signature24016100
Title
Urging the Middle States Commission on Higher Education to reverse its decision to place Cheyney University on probationary status and calling on the Commission to work collaboratively with the University's leadership to restore the historic HBCU's academic status.

Body
WHEREAS, Founded in Philadelphia on February 25, 1837, as the Institute for Colored Youth, Cheyney University is the oldest of America's historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Since its founding, Cheyney has provided educational opportunity for thousands of African-American students and played an invaluable role in expanding access to higher education in the United States; and

WHEREAS, On November 20, 2023, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE), which is responsible for college and university accreditation in the mid-Atlantic region, placed Cheyney University on probationary status and indicated that the school's "accreditation is in jeopardy"; and

WHEREAS, Leaders in Pennsylvania have expressed their concerns with MSCHE's treatment of Cheyney University and raised serious questions regarding the Commission's procedures in making its determination. In a February 20, 2024 letter to MSCHE, Governor Josh Shapiro described the Commission's decision to place Cheyney on probationary status as "hasty and premature" and expressed his "disappointment with [MSCHE's] refusal to reevaluate [its] decision-making that led to placing the university on probation and [its] disregard of established procedure". And on February 23, 2024, Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Chancellor Dan Greenstein stated that MSCHE's probationary accreditation decision "raises serious questions about the Commission's procedural fairness"; and

WHEREAS, Chancellor Greenstein has noted that "Cheyney University is engaged in one of the most remarkable turnarounds in U.S. higher education ever" and that the school's "hard work and dedication are showing up in measurable ways - in dat...

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