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Move to accredit campus may end
By ANITA KUMAR, Times Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG -- University of South Florida president Judy Genshaft said Thursday she is considering dropping the school's pursuit of separate accreditation for its St. Petersburg campus. Genshaft stressed she still supports autonomy for USF St. Petersburg but said separate accreditation might not be necessary. Even the group that determines accreditation recently questioned the need for it, she said. The accreditation effort has had a rocky start, and Genshaft acknowledged for the first time that the effort might not succeed. "It's not me or anyone else backing off," Genshaft said. "Right now, I'm still continuing with accreditation. ... We are looking at these options." While accreditation is still an option, she said, so is dropping the pursuit. Genshaft surprised faculty members and students with that new option during a meeting Thursday morning in St. Petersburg called to calm concerns about longtime campus leader Bill Heller's departure and the university's plans. "She said maybe she could do everything we wanted to do without separate accreditation," said professor Robert Dardenne. Genshaft told faculty and students, some of whom were concerned Heller's forced departure would kill chances for accreditation, that she supports the St. Petersburg campus making its own decisions on promotions and curriculum. She has been saying that for more than a year, though, and the campus still cannot make such decisions on its own. "She said we might be able to accomplish the same things in a more effective way, that maybe it was the wisest approach," professor Darryl Paulson said. "She laid the two different approaches on the table." Heller is leaving Aug. 31 and Genshaft is expected to name an interim vice president and campus executive officer in a few weeks. She said she already has a strong candidate from out of state. "There's a lot of concern and anxiety on campus," professor Jay Sokolovsky said. After local lawmakers failed to win legislative support for complete independence for the St. Petersburg campus, the Legislature instead required the school to seek separate accreditation and to try again if the effort failed. When asked if Genshaft could provide autonomy to the campus if it doesn't obtain accreditation, Sen. Jim Sebesta, R-St. Petersburg, said, "I guess she probably could do that. "Unfortunately, that's not what the community wants -- and not what I want," said Sebesta, one of the authors of the bill establishing the campus' independence. Accreditation signifies that an institution has met certain standards in its academic programs, faculty credentials, campus facilities and other areas. For students, accreditation could be essential. Federal financial aid goes only to accredited institutions, and other colleges accept credits only from those that are accredited. USF St. Petersburg is accredited through its affiliation with the main campus. Separate accreditation would be a milestone and a possible step toward complete independence. The school already has spent more than a year on the long, arduous process. It plans to spend more than $600,000 on the effort in the coming year. The accrediting group, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, wrote a letter questionning whether the St. Petersburg campus would be financially independent and whether the head of the campus would still answer to the president of the main campus in Tampa. Genshaft said association officials later suggested the school keep its accreditation under USF and try to obtain accreditation for colleges within the university, such as education and business, through other groups. She said she didn't realize that was an option until she traveled to Atlanta in April with Heller to meet with the accrediting group. Genshaft said she will try to clarify the options with association members next week in North Carolina, and then will make a decision about accreditation after discussing the options with faculty, students and the boards that govern the school. USF is supposed to send a report to the association in August and find out in another year whether accreditation is granted.
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