Panel ends probe into VCU degree

The commission that accredits Virginia Commonwealth University said yesterday that it is satisfied with the way the university handled the Rodney Monroe degree case.

"We're finished with it," said Belle S. Wheelan, president of the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

The commission decided VCU "had taken adequate steps to ensure that this was indeed a one-time phenomenon," Wheelan said. The commission will require no follow-up action by VCU.

The decision was announced yesterday at the conclusion of the commission's four-day annual meeting in San Antonio.

Wheelan said VCU officials attended the session, but commission members did not question them about the report the university submitted.

She said the commission expressed no opinion on whether Monroe, the former Richmond police chief who now heads law-enforcement in Charlotte/Mecklenburg County, N.C., should return the bachelor's degree he was awarded improperly in 2007.

"That's not within our purview," Wheelan said. "That's a university decision."

But while the commission has signed off on the case, VCU still has unfinished business with the powerful state House Appropriations Committee, whose chairman wants Monroe either to earn the degree or return it.

Del. Lacey E. Putney, I-Bedford, wrote VCU Rector Thomas Rosenthal a letter in October outlining actions the board of visitors should consider.

Putney has expressed concern that Rosenthal has not responded to that letter, Robert Vaughn, the committee's staff director, said yesterday.

But he said the committee likely will wait until the General Assembly convenes in January before taking up the issue again.

Rosenthal said he could not comment on the letter, but he said the commission's decision yesterday was more evidence that VCU had handled the case correctly.

The investigation by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, the legislature's watchdog agency, also corroborated VCU's actions, he said.

VCU is ready "to put this behind us," Rosenthal said. "But, you know, it's not always in our hands."

While Richmond's police chief, Monroe was awarded a bachelor of interdisciplinary studies degree even though he did not meet all academic requirements.

Monroe has said he is weighing options of returning the degree, completing the necessary requirements to keep it, or obtaining a degree from a different university.

The university has made a series of changes to avoid a recurrence. Last month, the board of visitors revised its policy so it can revoke a degree "for cause." Previously, the policy was to revoke degrees only for academic misconduct.

The board also strengthened language in the statements students must sign acknowledging it is their responsibility to understand degree requirements.

Monroe has said he did not know he was in violation of the rule that requires students to obtain 25 percent of credit hours from the university.

The residency rule also is an accreditation requirement to maintain a university's standards.

"It's an integrity issue," said Wheelan, who served as Virginia secretary of education and now heads the accrediting agency for the 11-state Southern region.

Monroe took two courses, or six credit hours, at VCU, in addition to online courses through the University of Phoenix.

Any exception to the residency rule must be approved by the university's Academic Regulations Appeal Committee. Monroe made no application for an exception.

The university, whose internal investigation blamed errors of judgment on the part of some VCU administrators, also instituted ethics discussions among faculty and staff.
Contact Karin Kapsidelis at (804) 649-6119 or .