N.C. Central University Chancellor Charlie Nelms said Friday his institution is still in talks with the UNC system about the repercussions from an unauthorized satellite campus NCCU recently stopped operating at a suburban Atlanta megachurch.
The saga surrounding the collection of degree programs NCCU offered for four years at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga. received just a passing mention Friday during at telephone conference meeting of the executive committee of the university's board of trustees.
"We're going to be purposeful, we're going to be transparent and we're going to be responsive," Nelms said, adding he didn't want to say much more about the issue because a review is currently underway.
NCCU is trying to figure out what to do with 39 students whose educations were interrupted by the program's closure, as well as determining whether graduates of the programs have valid degrees. An official from the university's accrediting agency has said degrees earned through the New Birth program will not be recognized because the university didn't tell the agency about the program when it was created in fall 2004.
The Lithonia church's pastor is Eddie Long, a 1976 NCCU alumnus and current trustee who last week donated $1 million to the university.
Follow this link to everything I've written on this issue.
