DURHAM, N.C.
North Carolina Central University officials are trying to decide what to do with about 50 students who attended a satellite campus at a megachurch near Atlanta run by a school trustee.
The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Sunday that the campus at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga., whose pastor is NCCU trustee Eddie Long, was never properly approved by University of North Carolina system officials.
“I can think of no justifiable reason why the former NCCU leadership would have completely ignored and failed to abide by the appropriate approval process in creating this program,” UNC system President Erskine Bowles said late last week in a statement e-mailed to The News & Observer. “Such action is contrary to all university policy. To say the least, it is very disappointing. We are working closely with Chancellor (Charlie) Nelms and his new leadership team to examine the various academic, legal and financial questions associated with this Georgia-based program.”
Nelms came to NCCU a year ago and said the program quit admitting new students in March 2007. “Since no members of the current executive leadership team were involved in creating the New Birth program, we can only infer that it was established in order to provide quality educational opportunities for participating students,” he said.
The name and signature of Beverly Washington Jones is on several documents, but she declined to comment. Jones was dean of NCCU’s University College when the New Birth program was created and later became provost, a position she held until earlier this year.
And NCCU’s chancellor at the time was James H. Ammons, who’s now president of Florida A&M University. He didn’t respond to written requests for an interview, The News & Observer said.
