A team from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA) will visit the University in April of 2012 to review the institution for continued accreditation.

“Technically the accreditation is voluntary unless you want federal funds for anything,” Miriam Joseph, Pius XII Memorial Library librarian and steering committee chairwoman, said.

Joseph, who began preparing for the visit nearly three years ago, said that unless the University wishes to receive money for research, financial aid, Pell Grants and loans from the federal government, the institution as a whole must be evaluated by consultants from the HLC.

The last visit from the HLC occurred in 2002, and since then the criteria for evaluation have changed. Joseph said the self-study report that the University submitted to the HLC nearly a decade ago was a descriptive narrative and lacked evidence of assessment.

“Now HLC wants evidence,” Joseph said.

“We have to respond to different criteria in a different way than how we did 10 years ago.”

The criteria, which includes five distinct categories of institutional evaluation, will allow the University to examine the areas that it has improved upon since the last accreditation, as well as give an opportunity to reflect on how the principles of the University’s mission statement are presently being met.

The analysis of each criterion will examine the knowledge and experiences of the campus community, including professional schools and the Madrid campus, and how they relate to the mission of the University.

Joseph said the process of self-study involves the entire institution, including education programs, support services and facilities of the University, its human, financial and physical resources and the structure of the administration, governance and planning.

Joseph said that the steering committee is holding open forums to address the criteria so that they can discuss sufficient evidence, and all members of the University community are invited to attend in an effort to gain appropriate feedback for the self-study report that will be submitted to the HLC by early spring of 2012.

The self-study team is comprised of several sub-committees devoted to evaluating each of the criteria. Joseph said that each committee includes a variety of members from the University, from administrators and vice presidents to professors and students so that every aspect of University life can be addressed and assessed.

Junior and SGA senator Ashley Garcia was asked her freshman year by Sam Howard, then the SGA President, to be the student liaison for the steering committee, and has since worked closely with them to provide appropriate student feedback.

“I am a proud member of SLU and that is one of the reasons I wanted to be on this committee,” Garcia said. “To be able to help SLU in the accreditation process is a once in a lifetime experience for a student, but it helps those here now and soon to come continue to get a strong Jesuit education.”

Garcia said she is responsible for student awareness and involvement and is currently researching other institutions to examine how they involve students in campus life. While Garcia said she has researched several Jesuit institutions that are also accredited by the HLC, she also explores other public and private universities that may provide beneficial information.

“Saint Louis University has a strong message to send and it will be portrayed in the final self-study report as well as to the Higher Learning Commission on their visit,” Garcia said. “Students need to know they are important in this process too and their input is vital.”

While all institutions are reviewed by the HLC under the same criteria, each institution is evaluated on an individual basis related to the specific mission of the particular college or university.

“I think the criteria, because they are so broad, let people think expansively,” Joseph said. “I am seeing some conversations we don’t usually get to have.”

A list of dates of open forums to discuss the criteria with the community and preliminary criterion outline content are available at http://accreditation-hlc.slu.edu.

“This is an opportunity to learn about ourselves and both recognize all the terrific things that go on at this institution, but also a time to think about how we might do things better or differently to help us achieve our goals and fulfill our mission,” Joseph said.