Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 6, 1990                   TAG: 9007060760
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

LIBERTY UNIVERSITY'S VIDEO LEARNING PROGRAM PUT ON ACCREDITING PROBATION

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools recommended beefing up a thin class schedule and hiring more professors at the fundamentalist school's School of Lifelong Learning.

The probation was reported today in a copyrighted story in the Lynchburg News & Daily Advance.

Mark DeMoss, spokesman for chancellor Jerry Falwell, said Thursday association officials moved for probation in response to a report prepared by a fact-finding team. The team visited the fast-growing school in March, DeMoss said Thursday.

"Their main concern is if you're going to continue growing exponentially and growing by thousands, you need to make sure you are able to keep up in faculty and staff," DeMoss said.

DeMoss described the probation, issued during the association's June meeting, as a review period that would not affect the school's overall accreditation.

Liberty University President A. Pierre Guillermin would not release the association's report. Guillermin said the school has traditionally not made public reports dealing with its accreditation process.

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools officials were unavailable for comment Thursday. The executive director, James Rogers, earlier this year declined to give details about the investigation.

DeMoss said the agency's recommendations included adding some classes and increasing faculty and staff.

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools also wanted Liberty to show how it would provide adequate library resources and faculty advisors for students, DeMoss said.

DeMoss said he did not know how many teachers the school employs in the video learning operation. In May, the operation listed 40 faculty members, 11 full-time and 29 part-time.

The video service began in 1985 and currently has about 15,000 students, DeMoss said. On-campus enrollment was about 5,200 last year.

Students can earn undergraduate and graduate degrees by watching videotaped lectures given by Liberty professors and taking tests at home.

Guillermin said the school is still fully accredited and degrees students earn will not be affected by the probation.

DeMoss said the group's findings were not related to Liberty admissions or recruitment policies. The school was criticized by some education leaders earlier this year for appearing to promise students admission before they applied for entry.

Earlier this year, the association's Rogers said admissions and recruitment were among the areas the agency was inspecting.

DeMoss said the association gave the school a year to make changes, but Liberty feels it can meet the requirements sooner.