Vassar begins reaccreditation process, self-study

Brian Farkas News Editor

This year, Vassar College begins the process of seeking reaccreditation from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). The MSCHE accredits degree-granting colleges and universities in the Middle States region, which includes Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

A central component of the reaccreditation process will be the creation of a comprehensive self-report. An 11-person steering committee, which includes two student representatives, will complete this report by the end of the academic year. Members of the Middle States Review Steering Committee will chair nine smaller working groups, each responsible for a chapter of the report. Chapter topics include the faculty, the Library, and the physical plant and financial structure of the College.

Vassar College President Catharine Bond Hill was optimistic that the study would provide an opportunity for self-reflection. “Much of this mandatory study seems to be geared towards institutions that really don’t make self-review a part of their yearly work,” said Hill. “Vassar is constantly under self-review and always planning for the future.”

Last year, Vassar began a comprehensive self-evaluation to look at the current state of the College and to set goals for the next decade. “My hope is that this Middle States self-study will mesh into the self-evaluation we are already working on, rather than duplicate conversations that have already occurred and committees that are already in place,” said Hill.

Since U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings’ Commission on the Future of Higher Education released its report on the state of colleges and universities in September 2006, increased accountability in higher education has been a priority of the Bush administration.

“The federal government is a one-third investor in higher education. If you held that kind of stock in a company, you’d expect and receive a detailed annual report on company performance,” said Spellings at a recent talk in Boston. “As shareholders in the higher education system, we don’t know much. For far too long, we’ve invested hundreds of billions in taxpayer money and hoped for the best.”

Hill and other college presidents have been grappling with the notion of showing concrete educational results. “If you look at our mission statement, a lot of it is very vague. I do think that Vassar is fostering critical thinking, but proving this to an accreditation agency is difficult, especially when they are under pressure by the federal government,” said Hill.

“Our hope is not just that an economics major will learn specific terminology—after all, a real economist can always pull a book off his or her shelf and look up a specific fact. We want that student to be able to think about issues economically, and that is not always an easy thing to demonstrate.”

Professor of English and Chair of the Steering Committee Robert DeMaria Jr. believes that the timing of this study fits well into the College’s efforts to create a strategic plan. “Although we must touch on every aspect of the College, our focus will be on planning, resource allocation and institutional renewal,” said DeMaria.

Vassar Student Association (VSA) President Sam Charner ’08 and Vice President for Academics Jessica Cho ’08 are the two student members of the steering committee. “These reports are enormous,” said Charner. The previous report, which had nearly 200-pages covered “virtually every aspect of the administration, the faculty and student life,” he said. “This report is interesting because it covers topics of great importance to the College in both abstract and specific terms.”

Cho agreed. “At its broadest level, this self-study examines how decisions are made [at Vassar] and how long-term planning is done. The report will be just as much about the College’s approach to planning as it will be about specific aspects of the planning itself,” she said.

After each working group completes its chapter, DeMaria will compile and unify the report, which will be given to MSCHE in the fall of next year. The organization will then report back on Vassar’s progress, and will visit the campus in Spring 2009.

According to DeMaria, the study and the subsequent visit by MSCHE will almost surely result in Vassar’s reaccreditation. “We are one of the best educational institutions in the world, and we will certainly be reaccredited, but we still want to do a good job on this study, and we will.”