Every ten years, SMSU has to go through the process of reaccreditation, which is an overall look by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) at how the school conducts itself. If the school passes, it stays as an accredited college and continues as is for another ten years. However, if it fails, then the school may go under, and lose funding.

Overall, many of the professors feel that there was nothing to worry about, that the reaccreditation process would go off without a hitch. As it seems now, that may be the case.

The HLC visit took place on three different days: Oct. 20, 21, and 22.

Most of the visit didn’t directly involve students, though it was said that some members of the HLC might have stopped students in the hall and questioned them for a bit.  The biggest student interaction during the visit happened on the first day, Oct. 20.

The HLC held a campus wide student meeting, where the students of SMSU could talk to the HLC and let them know how the school operates.

The meeting was run by one member of the HLC while other members lingered around in the crowd.  At first, the running member asked the group of students their opinions on certain matters around the school.  Some of the issues addressed included the state of the Residence Halls, how the food was at the Food Court and Residence Dining, how the Financial Aid office conducted itself, the difficulty of the course work, the way the faculty works with the students, and many more topics.

The last fifteen minutes of the meeting were run by the students, with the HLC members listening to any complaints or praises that the students had about anything that may have been missed.

One of the main issues that students seemed to have were how some programs like Music, Film/Radio, and Global Studies weren’t as represented as many other majors.  For example, the equipment used by the Film/Radio majors is around 40 years old, making everything nearly obsolete and hard to replace or repair.

The team leader of the HLC visit, Dr. Renee Neely, has stated that it’s definitely a difficult process, but SMSU has welcomed them with open arms, saying that the visit has been a “wonderful experience.”

On whether the school would get accredited, Neely had no comment, saying that it hadn’t been decided by them at that time.