Evening star., 1954-10-16
@! Stair
Board of Regent S Statement

| Board OF Rege
This Is d. tert OF the state
ment issued by the Board OF
Regents of the University OF
Maryland yesterday on the
uniuersity's troubles oUer Gc-
creditGtion.
The Middle States Association
| of Colleges. voluntary regional
accrediting rganiZation o n, in
which the University of Mary
land holds membership. sent an
evaluating committee to the
University, November is to 10.
1858. Subsequently. this team
of approximately 60 educators
submitted a report to the Com
mission on Institutions of Higher
Education of the association, q
report of 1853 pages, with state
ments, observations and recon-
mendations.
This report was considered by
the commission and, on May S,
1854, the commission directed a
letter to the acting president of
the university. They stated that
in the report submitted to them
there were indications of COM
mendable points and also refer
ences to several major areas
where weaknesses existed in the
University of Maryland. The
commission voted to defer a
decision concerning reaffrma-
ton, of accreditation until the
semi-annual meeting to be held
in April, 1856.
Fully Accredited
In doing this, they recognized
the fact that the University was
fully accredited and would re-
main on the accredited list, but
certain improvements were nee
eSSary.
The commission was concerned
about the following areas of the
university: Cd The highly GEN.
tralized nature of the admins
tration; ca the lack of proper
status of the faculty and of the
deans in the organization and
operation of the institution. and
particularly the lack of faculty
participation in the formulation
of educational policies; (3)
library; "a status of the School
of Medicine; and 60 intercol-
legiate athletics.
The commission further stated
they were sure that it lies within
the power of the institution tc
remedy the deficiencies.
Since the report has been re.
ceived, there has been much
agitation for the university tt
release the full and highly con.
troversial report that was made
to the commission by the eval-
uating group. The Board O.
Regents has refused to release
this report for the reasons thai
it is confidential, much of it i.
now out of date, as number o1
changes and improvements rec
commended by the committee
have been put into effect; the re.
port is of such length and com.
plexity that any part of it taker
out of context might give 6
wrong impression and possibly
be injurious to the university
and that the report was made tt
the commission for its use ir
reaching a final decision.
Decision Reaffirmed.
The Board of Regents reaf.
firms it's previous decision not tt
release the report of the COM
mittee to the public.
In the areas mentioned by thu
commission, university official.
have taken steps and are in tn.
process of removing Deficiencies
or correcting alleged weaknesses
For instance, action has beer
taken which will enable thu
faculty to participate in th'
formulation of educational poll
cieS, the university is maxim.
every effort to secure an ade
quate library and necessary ad
justments will be made in tn,
field of intercollegiate athletics
Some special mention shoult
be made of the School of Medi
cine since it has been given con
siderable publicity, much O
which has been misleading. Thu
following information is peril
nent:
At the invitation of the Uni
versity of Maryland School o
Medicine, the Liaison Committee
representing the Committee OF
Medical Education and Hospital
of the American Medical Associ
alton, and the Executive Commit
tee of the American Association
; of Medical Colleges, examine
the School of Medicine. Thi
evaluation was done as a routin
procedure in coordination wit
the general survey of the Middl
States Association. Suggestion
ffor improvement were made a
well as taking cognizance of out