Bethune-Cookman University interim president: School is in ‘crisis’ but not closing

Bethune-Cookman University is facing “an existential threat,” the interim president said Tuesday as he vowed to correct financial problems and guide the institution back into good standing with its accrediting organization.

Hubert Grimes spoke with reporters, addressing what he described as a “crisis” stemming from myriad issues, chiefly a bad dorm deal that is expected to cost the university millions.

“Our problems reflect the culmination of years of inadequate accountability, suspect governance and, quite frankly, inexcusable management decisions,” he said.

Grimes took the helm of the Daytona Beach university in July 2017. His predecessor, Edison Jackson, retired early after a Daytona Beach News-Journal investigation found the university was suffering from growing debt and that a new dorm, originally estimated at $72.1 million, will cost $306 million over 40 years.

A news release sent to reporters from an external public relations person described the university as “on the verge of extinction.” Grimes said he disagreed with that characterization and refuted rumors the school will close.

“I don’t see that happening any time in the near future,” he said.

However, Grimes didn’t try to downplay the scope of the problems facing the university, which has an enrollment of about 4,000 students.

“We’re in the midst of a crisis that challenges every aspect of this university,” he said.

This is a particularly critical week for BethuneCookman as leaders will speak Thursday and Friday with their accrediting organization, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, during a Board of Trustees meeting. The organization placed the university on probation earlier this year, citing issues ranging from overstated enrollment numbers to financial instability.

If Bethune-Cookman loses its accreditation, students won’t be eligible for federal grants or loans. That situation would be “untenable” for the university, trustee Belvin Perry wrote in a letter earlier this month to Chairwoman Michelle Carter-Scott, and the university would be forced to close its door

Universities also consider accreditation essential because employers look for job candidates who have graduated from institutions that have this credential. And graduates need to have degrees from accredited universities for many professions that require state certification or licensure.

A letter from Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to Grimes in July explaining why the university had been placed on probation said BethuneCookman had two years to show it had made “substantial progress” in correcting those problems.

Grimes vowed transparency as the university works to regain its footing, though he asked for patience and said the process will take time.

“There is little to be gained by detailing the unfortunate and potentially fatal financial decisions made related to our dorm transaction,” he said.

However, he said, the university will make all relevant documents available to the public “at the appropriate time.”

But Grimes declined Tuesday to discuss a forensic audit that had been provided to members of the media, saying the report “speaks for itself.” The report, written by someone who described himself as a former special agent for the Internal Revenue Service, largely focused on a scholarship that has been paid for by the university since 2013.

In Perry’s letter to Carter-Scott, he suggested that trustees were quick to dismiss the document, with one unnamed trustee even suggesting they “shred” it. Perry, an attorney and former chief judge of Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit, wrote that he planned to demand the board hire an independent investigator to investigate Carter-Scott and the Embassy of Hope Foundation, which she runs along with her son, professional basketball player Vince Carter.

At a news conference Monday, the university’s alumni association president called for Carter-Scott to resign, in part because he said she failed to fulfill an obligation to provide $640,000 in scholarships to Bethune-Cookman students through the foundation.

Carter-Scott said she has helped the university identify qualified students to receive the scholarship since 2013 but that her foundation is small and she never agreed to fund the awards.

Grimes also said Tuesday he supported students who protested on Monday after the alumni group’s news conference. One student who joined the protests, Melvin Fremont, a 20-year-old from Palm Bay, said he was concerned the university would shut down before he could finish his degree in music recording technology.

“I don’t want my hard work to be in vain,” Fremont said.

Another student, 18-year-old Deasia Everett, said her classmates were concerned about the university closing and were researching other schools they could attend if it did. Everett, a freshman from Miami studying health and exercise science, said she liked her instructors and had made friends from all over the country.

“Hopefully, they get everything sorted out,” Everett said. “I would really hate to leave.”