Normalcy has been restored to picturesque Morris Brown College.
Twenty years after Morris Brown lost its accreditation due to financial mismanagement and scandal, the renowned college has regained its legendary cachet.
The historically black college, which counts Morehouse and Spelman colleges and Clark Atlanta University as its neighbors within the Atlanta University Center, was granted its accreditation in a unanimous vote from the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools Tuesday afternoon, according to Atlanta’s TV station 11 Alive.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools had previously been the governing body that granted MBC its accreditation.
Morris Brown’s President Dr. Kevin James boasted that the college accomplished the rare feat of regaining full accreditation and funding after 20 years after losing it. The importance of this renewed status cannot be understated because it enables students who can attend Morris Brown College to receive federal funding and graduate with accredited degrees.
The local civic community remarked about Morris Brown’s importance in the overall Atlanta educational community
“Morris Brown College is unique to the Atlanta experience when we talk about historically Black colleges and universities,” local scholar and attorney Maurice Hobson told the station. “Morris Brown College was the first college in the state of Georgia that was owned and operated purely and solely by Black people,” Hobson said.
Hobson added that accreditation represents a new era in Morris Brown’s history.
“It is going to take new and innovative ways of understanding college education and what Morris Brown College can be [and] what it’s been in the past,” Hobson said.
“We all want to see Morris Brown win,” Hobson added. “If Morris Brown wins, then Atlanta ultimately wins.”
Below is a recap of Morris Brown’s fall, followed by its eventual resuscitation.
