CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - The former Mountain State University is suing an accrediting body in an attempt to regain its accreditation.
The lawsuit says the Higher Learning Commission didn’t follow its policies, rules and practices when it revoked the university’s primary accreditation in June 2012. The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
Mountain State was forced to close after it lost its accreditation. Without accreditation, the private Beckley-based university was no longer eligible for state and federal funding, including student aid, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in U.S District Court in Beckley.
“The loss of accreditation is catastrophic for an institution such as MSU for which the vast majority of its students rely upon state and federal financial aid to finance their education,” the lawsuit states.
In revoking the accreditation, the commission had cited the university’s failure to correct major problems in leadership, program evaluations and campuswide governance. The lawsuit alleges that a majority of these issues were related to issues associated with the university’s bachelor of science nursing program, which had lost its accreditation from state and national nursing accrediting bodies.
The lawsuit said the commission’s decision was arbitrary and unreasonable, and its investigation was insufficient. The lawsuit alleges that the accrediting body applied the findings of the National League for Nursing Accreditation Commission and the West Virginia Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses regarding the nursing program.
“It is unreasonable, and demonstrates an insufficient investigation, to apply these findings by outside organizations across the board to other departments and operations and conclude that MSU as a whole did not meet one or more criteria for accreditation,” the lawsuit states.
Mountain State lost its accreditation despite efforts to take corrective measures. The commission could have imposed lesser sanctions of notice or probation, the lawsuit said.
A commission spokeswoman told the Charleston Gazette (https://bit.ly/TtTOSb ) that no one would comment on the lawsuit.
Bridgeport attorney Jack Merinar filed the lawsuit on behalf of three Mountain State board members. He told the newspaper that the lawsuit tells a different side of the accreditation story.
The University of Charleston took over Mountain State’s Beckley and Martinsburg campuses after the school closed.
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Information from: The Charleston Gazette, https://www.wvgazette.com
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