In a video message accompanying the announcement, Folt said the University has been working closely with the accrediting agency to address academic irregularities that ended in 2011. She said it was shown to SACS-COC the reforms and initiatives put in place were working well.
“A lot of it was saying ‘okay, Chapel Hill, you’ve done a number of things, let’s show us that they’re really working.’ That really was a lot of what we were doing,” Folt said in an interview.
The University was placed under probation last June for failing to comply with some SACS-COC principles, including integrity, program content, control of intercollegiate athletics, academic support services and academic freedom. As part of the probation, the University was required to post monitoring reports to show compliance with the accrediting standards.
“For all standards cited, the institution is required to provide evidence of the effectiveness of new initiatives,” SACS-COC said in a letter in July 2015 after the University was placed on probation.
The first monitoring report, posted in April, focused mainly on the integrity bylaw, which is a top priority for SACS-COC. During probation, the University created the Integrity and Ethics working group to comply with this bylaw.
“These documents go well beyond the information sought by the Commission and evidence the extraordinary — indeed unparalled — lengths to which the University has gone to ensure complete institutional integrity,” the monitoring report said.
Originally, SACS-COC found 18 accreditation standards the University failed to meet in November 2014. However, after the University submitted a 223-page report to SACS-COC making a case for maintaining its accreditation in January 2015, only seven standards were not met.
Folt said SACS-COC has a strong commitment to maintaining high standards and the University is now back in good standing with the board. She said with the end of probation, also comes the end of auditing and monitoring of UNC classes by SACS-COC.
