Only a saint could have resisted a bit of adventurism in such circumstances. Wheelan is no saint. Though a full accounting of her crimes against neutrality would strain this article’s word count, a few lowlights demand to be mentioned.
- In May 2021, Wheelan brought her influence to bear on the then-ongoing presidential search at Florida State University, arguing that candidate (and former Republican state-house speaker) Richard Corcoran was ineligible due to his membership on the institution’s governing board. According to the SACSCOC chief, Corcoran needed to step down from the FSU board before being considered for the top position. Yet Corcoran was on the board only because, as the state’s education commissioner, he was constitutionally obligated to perform that duty. Given that fact, it is difficult to see Wheelan’s gambit as anything but an attempt to eliminate a conservative from leadership contention.
- When, in late 2022, North Carolina governor Roy Cooper (D) attempted to undermine the Republican legislature’s control of the UNC System, Wheelan made a personal appearancein Raleigh on the governor’s behalf. At particular issue was UNC-Chapel Hill’s planned School of Civic Life and Leadership (SCiLL), an academic unit reviled by the Left for its commitment to civil discourse and a culture of free speech. According to Wheelan’s remarks to Cooper’s hastily assembled “governance” commission, UNC-Chapel Hill’s trustees would soon “get a letter [of concern]” from SACSCOC expressing dismay at SCiLL’s creation. Yet such a letter never arrived. Instead, Wheelan confessed the next day that commission chair Margaret Spellings had “asked [her] to mention” Chapel Hill’s alleged malfeasance. The university’s accreditor, in other words, came down explicitly on the side of grasping officials seeking partisan control of the state’s public colleges.
- In both 2020 and 2023, at the height of public debates about the efficacy and constitutionality of campus DEI initiatives, SACSCOC under Wheelan released a tacitly menacing “position statement” urging all accredited colleges to “intentionally cultivate and sustain inclusive and equitable processes.” Behind this gentle language lay a subtle threat. Although your elected officials may be on the side of reform, the statement plainly conveyed, your accreditor believes in DEI.
Perhaps such interference would have been tolerable had SACSCOC cultivated a reputation for excellence under Wheelan’s tenure. Alas, the opposite has been true. As the Texas Public Policy Foundation reported in 2023, SACSCOC-accredited institutions have a worse cumulative graduate-debt-to-earnings ratio than do institutions at all six of the other major accrediting bodies. Though Wheelan’s organization delights in making trouble for red-state public flagships, politically privileged schools (e.g., HBCUs) regularly skate to accreditation reaffirmation despite hideously poor graduation and loan-default rates. In the midst of yet another spat with Florida officials, this time in 2023, Wheelan made the curious claim that “Florida institutions are still myinstitutions” (emphasis added). One can’t help wondering, however, if the Sunshine State’s higher-ed accomplishments have occurred despite, not because of, SACSCOC’s oversight.
