The Tribune

FORMER deans of Sojourner Douglass College (SDC) yesterday insisted that the Nassau campus was not operating as a “rogue agency” but followed the directives of its Maryland-based administration at all times.

SDC students of the satellite campus are seeking justice for stalled academic careers and financial losses, and accountability from both the tertiary institution and the government over the decision to continue registration and programme courses after international accreditation was revoked in 2015.

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) revoked the school’s accreditation in 2014, citing the school’s financial struggles at the time, and denied SDC’s appeal of the revocation in June 2015.

However, the satellite campus in Nassau continued to register and provide courses for students until mid-2016, when the offices were shuttered.

The Tribune reached out to former Executive Directors Theresa Moxey-Ingraham, and Dr Kevin Rolle, both of whom sought to clarify their roles in view of accusations by angry students.

According to Mrs Moxey-Ingraham and Dr Rolle, the directive to keep the campus open was given by SDC President Dr Charles W Simmons and relied on the circumstance that the institution was registered with the Ministry of Education until 2019.

“I understand the students and I understand their plight,” Mrs Moxey-Ingraham said. “I guess they want to point the fingers at somebody, but they can’t point it at me.

“The students wanted - and rightfully so - they wanted accreditation that came from an internationally recognised institution. We said why don’t you finish at a local institution recognised by The Bahamas, we were really hopeful because the discussions gave us reason to be hopeful and then we decided these people are stringing us along.

“All records collected were sent to Baltimore. We did not dispense funds, we had to deposit funds and anything we needed money for we had to request and the cheques would be forthcoming out of Baltimore.

“We weren’t operating as a rogue agency,” Mrs Moxey-Ingraham said. “We were operating because we had our registration with the Bahamas Ministry of Education and we kept students abreast of what was happening. We kept trying to get an affiliation going with another institution so that the students’ studies wouldn’t be interrupted, also so that any credits that they gained in the year 2015/2016 could assist in their being able to move forward.

“We kept students abreast of that,” she said.

Mrs Moxey-Ingraham is a former Free National Movement senator, member of Parliament and Cabinet minister.

She explained that students received administrative support to attend other institutions but acknowledged issues with the transference of credits obtained post 2015.

One of the most promising routes, she said, were extensive discussions held with Bethune Cookman University, which indicated its willingness to partner with SDC. Despite a country visit from BCU officials, Mrs Moxey-Ingraham said the institution, and others, kept moving the goal post.

Mrs Moxey-Ingraham said she recommended to the college’s executive in Baltimore for a name change, and floated the idea of Freedom College; however, she said SDC President Dr Simmons said he was not of the mind to change the school’s name.

She said she was in the Office of the Prime Minister awaiting a meeting with former Prime Minister Perry Christie concerning the institution’s challenges when she discovered that she had been fired after reading a newspaper notice announcing the new Dean Dr Kevin Rolle.

According to the Baltimore Sun, SDC is currently offering online courses to Maryland students through a partnership with Bethune-Cookman under the name Global Education Service Inc. Courses reportedly started on May 15.

For his part, Dr Rolle told The Tribune that while he was appointed as dean of the Nassau campus in August 2016, when he arrived he found out that the offices had been shuttered the previous month.

“Baltimore was of the opinion that the campus was still open,” he said. “I actually live in New York, I flew down but when I came the campus was already closed and everybody told me it had been that way since July.”

“I never took on the actual role of dean when I came down because there was nothing for me to do.”

Dr Rolle explained that he has known Dr Simmons professionally for 20 years, and was likely entrusted to take on the role temporarily because of his ownership of another local institution, Cherub College.

He told The Tribune that he had a meeting with then Minister of Education Jerome Fitzgerald and returned to New York.

As for SDC students, Dr Rolle said there was an arrangement to allow for students to complete their degree at Cherub College but many of them could not obtain transcripts from Sojourner-Douglass.

“It would be unfair to call my name with SDC,” he told The Tribune, “because it was a role that I never took on.

“I know that a lot of students are angry and upset, but I do believe that the staff of the Nassau campus it would only have been logical for them to act on instruction according to Dr Simmons, he was expecting the Bahamas campus to stay open at least until 2019.

In September 2016, Dr Simmons apologised for the “recent series of miscommunications” to students regarding their academic status.

Dr Simmons pledged the college’s commitment to reconcile any issues regarding the academic progress of former Sojourner-Douglass students and for those students registered between July 2015 to July 2016.

In the letter dated September 13, the SDC president advised students with outstanding balances to settle their accounts with the campus’ bursar Minesh Parekh.

The Tribune contacted Dr Simmons by email yesterday but received no response up to press time.

Attempts to contact the Nassau campus’ bursar Minesh Parekh were also unsuccessful up to press time.