Well into a career, it is not uncommon for a college leader, in a public forum, to vaguely criticize some unnamed past institution —
Oh, I could tell you some stories. Usually, though, they don’t name names.
College presidents seldom speak in detail about board members controlling a football coach’s fate, even though board influence is often assumed to be a factor. Alexander’s decision to describe bluntly the LSU board’s approach has invited scrutiny from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, the university’s regional accrediting agency.
“We will investigate this,” Belle S. Wheelan, president of the agency, said in an email to
The Chronicle on Thursday.
Under the agency’s standards, specifically 5.2.b, a college’s chief executive “has ultimate responsibility for and exercises appropriate control over the institution’s intercollegiate athletics program.”
Alexander’s comments, once brought to the agency’s attention, automatically triggered an investigation under the agency’s “unsolicited information” policy, Wheelan said. In response, Louisiana State will have to document that the university is in compliance with accreditation standards. Theoretically, the university cold be sanctioned if it cannot demonstrate compliance.
Colleges require regional accreditation to receive federal financial aid, so anything that might jeopardize it is potentially serious.
Update (March 18, 2021, 5:55 p.m.): This article has been updated with the news that Alexander's remarks triggered an investigation by LSU's regional accrediting agency.
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