The Fight that Fractured Saint Augustine’s University
Indy Week
Chloe Courtney Bohl and Erin Gretzinger
February 27, 2025
When a five-member crew of higher education professionals arrived at Saint Augustine’s University in October 2023 to scrutinize its finances and operations, the small, private, historically Black school was already on thin ice.
Founded in the late 1860s by the Episcopal Church as a school for newly freed slaves, Saint Augustine’s, also called SAU, was a pillar of the East Raleigh community with a legacy of educational access and achievement. But that reputation had become imperiled over the years as enrollment trended downward, finances dwindled, and the school repeatedly ran afoul of requirements set by its accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, also known as SACS.
SACS had put the university on probation before, but SAU had managed to win back the accreditor’s favor—a necessity for higher education institutions to access crucial public funding.
At the 2023 meeting, two presidents of other HBCUs, two senior administrators from Christian colleges, and the vice president of SACS converged on SAU to comb through the school’s financial statements and interview more than 20 employees, trustees, and consultants.
The committee’s report, which is not public but was obtained by The Assembly and INDY, said that the school had dire and fundamental financial challenges, and a board of trustees that lacked the ability to evaluate risks to the institution.
Continue Reading
Share
