Tufts enters final phase of re-accreditation

Tufts entered the final stage of its re-accreditation process two weeks ago when a team of nine educators from schools similar to Tufts visited the University.

The re-accreditation process -- which is carried out by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) -- occurs every ten years. In this process, schools who demonstrate that they meet the standards of educational excellence established by the NEASC re-establish their membership with the Association.

The team's preliminary report evaluating the university will be sent to President Larry Bacow next month. James Wright, chairman of the team and president of Dartmouth, declined to comment on the visit until the preliminary report is released.

The team praised the school on many accounts, said Dawn Terkla, Steering Committee Co-Chair and Executive Director of Institutional Research. "Overall, they were very happy," she said.

Tufts was awarded high marks for its financial strength, and the many improvements made since the last re-accreditation, Terkla said. "They sang our praises in regards to the library renovations. They were very impressed with our computing resources."

Since the last re-accreditation, Tufts has also improved its physical education facilities with the addition of the Gantcher center, and housing.

These are large accomplishments considering the fact that the university has achieved such financial strength fairly recently.

"Twenty-five years ago we were the most undercapitalized university in the world," professor and former provost Sol Gittleman said. A self-study evaluation conducted by Tufts in 2003 pointed to the need for more financial aid resources and the centralization of school policies.

The team's report must pass through several more hands before this year's re-accreditation process is complete. After receiving the preliminary report and checking it for factual information, Bacow will return it to President Wright and the NEASC commissioner.

In November the final report will be sent back to Bacow and Provost Jamshed Bharucha, at which point it will be available to the public.

Although the process is lengthy, it provides a unique opportunity for self-reflection and critique. "It's not a fill-out questionnaire from US News. It's about our brother and sister universities taking a cold, disinterested look at Tufts' strengths and weaknesses -- with the idea to help us see things we don't see, to help see ourselves as others might see us" Gittleman said.

This view is consistent with the NEASC mission statement, which emphasizes improvement not classification: "The goals are school effectiveness, improvement, and public assurance. Unlike popular magazines, this does not involve ranking institutions, but rather, establishes a level of acceptable quality for all accredited institutions," writes Judith Wittenberg, Associate Director of the Commission on Institutions of Higher Learning at NEASC.

Rather than handing out "pass/fail" labels, the NEASC works to help schools target problem areas and realize goals. Wittenberg describes it as, "very much a peer review process. We try to help with efforts to improve."

While visiting Mar. 9 through 12, the team met with Bacow, Bharucha, all of the deans and vice presidents, the Task Force on the Undergraduate Experience, numerous students and faculty as well as a variety of campus groups and organizations.

Currently, the NEASC serves 1,800 public and independent schools -- from pre-kindergarten to the doctoral level -- in the six New England states.

Warren Davis contributed to this article.