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THE
STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY
OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234 |
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TO: |
The Honorable the Members of the Board of Regents |
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FROM: |
Johanna Duncan-Poitier |
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COMMITTEE: |
Higher Education and Professional Practice |
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TITLE OF
ITEM: |
Conferral of Degrees: Gamla College |
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DATE OF
SUBMISSION: |
January 3, 2004 |
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PROPOSED
HANDLING: |
Approval |
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RATIONALE FOR
ITEM: |
Standard Procedure: By the terms of a provisional charter and until it is made absolute, the Regents confer the degrees |
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STRATEGIC
GOAL: |
Goal 2 |
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AUTHORIZATION(S): |
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SUMMARY:
In November 2004, the Board of Regents was scheduled to confer degrees on graduates of Gamla College. Because Gamla College is chartered by the Regents and the Department provisionally, as opposed to permanently, the College does not have authority to confer degrees. The Regents confer degrees to graduates of institutions with provisional charters. Members of the Committee on Higher Education and Professional Practice requested additional information on Gamla before deciding to award degrees to graduates on its behalf. The Board decided in December 2003, in its capacity as an institutional accrediting agency, to deny renewal of Gamla’s accreditation. The Board of Regents affirmed that decision in June 2004. The conferral of degrees for Gamla was postponed until this month so that additional information concerning Gamla could be provided to the members of the Committee.
The Board of Regents denied an extension of Gamla College’s accreditation because the institution did not meet the accreditation standards on assessment of student achievement, including graduation rates, resources (fiscal capacity) and administration (student advisement), and was only in partial compliance with the standard on curricula. As a result, the request for accreditation extension was denied, prohibiting the institution from participating in federal student financial aid programs authorized by Title IV of the Higher Education Act.
Board of Regents – Program Registration and Voluntary Institutional Accreditation
The State approval process and the Regents responsibility for conferring degrees and program registration is separate from the voluntary accreditation process. Although the institutional accreditation standards in Subpart 4-1 of the Rules of the Board of Regents and the program registration standards in Parts 50 and 52 of the Commissioner’s Regulations are similar, they are not identical.
§ the institutional accreditation standards focus on the quality of an institution as a whole
§ the program registration standards focus on the quality of specific programs while considering broader institutional factors that relate to support for the program.
Thus, it is possible for an institution to meet the registration standards but not the voluntary institutional accreditation standards.
Follow-Up Information on College’s Program Registration and Request to the Regents to Confer Degrees
Following the Regents final accreditation decision in June 2004, Assistant Commissioner Joseph Frey requested additional information from the College concerning the identified deficiencies that relate to the registration of the College’s Associate in Science (A.S.) program in Judaic Studies. In addition, the College was specifically asked to address how it planned to respond to the State Comptroller’s final audit determination dated June 15, 2004, to disallow $968,311 in Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) funds. Following a review of Gamla’s response to this request, Department staff has determined that the College appears to be in compliance with the specific registration standards in curricula and administration. A site visit is required to confirm compliance and will be scheduled.
The Department continues to have concerns about Gamla’s compliance with the registration standards requiring that it possess the financial resources necessary to accomplish its mission and the purposes of each registered curriculum. When the terms of the TAP repayment are established, the College will be required to demonstrate to the Department that it has the fiscal resources to make the repayment while maintaining the operation of its registered program. Failure to meet this standard would be a basis to begin the process to deny the registration of the College’s A.S. program in Judaic Studies, in accordance with the process set forth in Commissioner’s Regulations.
Recommendation
So long as the Department has not found Gamla out of compliance with program registration standards, the College has the right to admit students to its A.S. program in Judaic Studies and to recommend candidates for degrees. As an institution with a provisional charter, the College does not, however, have the authority to award its own degrees; the Board of Regents awards degrees to students who have completed programs at institutions with provisional charters. As with all other provisionally chartered independent colleges, when students complete the program the College forwards transcripts to the Department for review. The Department recommends that the Regents award a degree only after staff have reviewed each student’s transcript and determined that these students have completed the registered program.
In all cases of potential institutional closure, it has been a long established Regents policy to hold students harmless. The Department has found that the Gamla students presented in November satisfactorily completed the registered program and thus have earned the A.S. degrees that the Regents are asked to confer.
Attached are recommendations with respect to conferral of degrees.
Gamla College
The Office of College and University Evaluation has determined that the candidates listed in the attachment have satisfied all of the requirements for the award indicated.
Recommendation: I recommend that the Regents take the following action:
VOTED, that the award indicated be conferred upon the individuals as listed for Gamla College.
Attachment
GAMLA
COLLEGE
Gamla College, an independent, not-for-profit
institution, was granted a provisional charter by the Board of Regents on
December 20, 1996 authorizing the College to offer the Associate in Science
(A.S.) degree in Judaic Studies.
Associate in
Science
21. Aber, Moshe
22.
Berstein, Eliyahu
23.
Chimmel, Yitzchok Eliezer
Chaim
24.
Fasten, Elimelech
25.
Feferkorn, Solomon
26.
Fleischman, Avrum
27.
Frankel, David
28.
Fried, Avraham
29.
Gluck, Joel
30.
Grinfeld, Yosef
31.
Gross, Joel
32.
Gross, Shlomo
33.
Grossman, Shmuel
34.
Grosz, Charles
35.
Horowitz, Mordechai
36.
Horowitz, Moshe
37.
Horowitz, Moshe
38.
Iskodwitz, Yaakov
39.
Kiserman, Moshe
40.
Kiss, Joseph
41.
Kleinman, Naftali
42.
Kohn, Shia
43.
Langsam, Matias
44.
Langsam, Matias
45.
Levitan, Anna
46.
Litchman, Yehuda
47.
Machin Yevgeniy
48.
Moskowitz, Chaim
49.
Myshalova, Riva
50.
Ostreicher, Aron
51.
Ostreicher, Betzalel
52.
Polyak, Tamara
53.
Porgesz, Abraham
54.
Rabinovich, Raya
55.
Rabinowitz, Moshe
56.
Roginkina, Bela
57.
Rubin, Joseph
58.
Rubinfeld, Pinchas
59.
Rusinova, Lyubov
60.
Silver, Eliezer
61.
Sompolinsky, Alexander
62.
Steklova, Khassia
63.
Sternberg, Yechiel
64.
Stern, Shimon
65.
Teitlebaum, Chananya
Y.T.L.
66.
Ungar, Aron
67.
Ungar, Mendel
68.
Ungar, Mordechai
69.
Vishnevskya, Faina
70.
Warfman, Menachem
71.
Weber, Isaac
72.
Weber, Moshe
73.
Weber, Yehuda
74.
Weinberger, Aaron
75.
Weiss, Avraham
76.
Weissmandel, Joel
77.
Wolkenfeld, Abraham