SACSCOC Off-site Committee’s Response

Non-Compliance

LSU has several consortial relationships.  The documentation provided by the university demonstrates that SACSCOC notification was made, documentation of the agreement/contract, and specific descriptions and stipulations of the consortial agreements for the Alliance for Cooperative Course Exchange in the Plant Sciences (ACCEPtS), the Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center (WAAC), and the dual degree program with Hanyang University.  Each agreement has specific terms of limit and statements for termination.  However, the Off-Site Committee is unable to determine frequency of periodic review and evaluation of agreements once they have been initiated.  In addition, the Law Center has dual degree programs with LSU and the only documentation is the catalog listing, no evidence of a signed agreement was provided. 

LSU A&M’s Response

The SACSCOC Off-site Committee noted that Louisiana State University and A&M College (LSU) has documentation for consortial agreements/contracts with several programs and a dual degree with Hanyang University. They state that:

LSU has several consortial relationships.  The documentation provided by the university demonstrates that SACSCOC notification was made, documentation of the agreement/contract, and specific descriptions and stipulations of the consortial agreements for the Alliance for Cooperative Course Exchange in the Plant Sciences (ACCEPtS), the Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center (WAAC), and the dual degree program with Hanyang University.  Each agreement has specific terms of limit and statements for termination.

However, the Off-site Committee indicated that LSU did not provide adequate information on the “frequency of periodic review and evaluation of agreements once they have been initiated” and LSU did not provide a signed agreement of the dual degree programs between LSU and the LSU Law Center.

Periodic Review and Evaluation of Agreements

The periodicity of reviews and evaluations of agreements varies somewhat with the program. The Alliance for Cooperative Course Exchange in the Plant Sciences (ACCEPtS) may be reviewed annually by the participating institutions [1]. The Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center (WAAC) is for a three-year period and will be reviewed again in 2016 [2]. The dual degree program with Hanyang University has not yet begun (anticipated fall 2014), but will be reviewed after 5 years [3]. The dual degree programs between LSU and LSU Law Center is reviewed every three years (see below).

Dual Degree Programs between LSU and LSU Law Center

A Memorandum of Agreement for the Management and Review of Dual Degrees between LSU and the LSU Law Center has been established that documents the guidelines for the ongoing management and review of current and future dual degree programs [4]. The chief academic officer of each campus is required to conduct a review of the course offerings of the other institution on a three-year basis, including the faculty teaching the courses and the credentials used to determine faculty competency to teach those courses. 

On October 22, 2013, the LSU submitted a letter to Dr. Belle Wheelan notifying SACSCOC of its substantive change with regard to the addition of dual degree programs offered by LSU and the Law Center [5].  As noted in the letter to Dr. Wheelan, neither LSU nor the Law Center provided such notification to SACSCOC at the time the programs were approved because these dual degree programs paralleled previously established programs and because they were approved as concurrent degree programs.  The letter of October 22 served as the appropriate substantive change notice.