Fayetteville St. program under scrutiny
Fayetteville | A nursing program at Fayetteville State University has come under scrutiny in recent weeks after 25 of 32 students in the program failed to graduate this spring.
The state Board of Nursing has delayed full approval for the 2-year-old program that awards bachelor's degrees in nursing, saying school officials have failed to comply with rules aimed at helping students understand standards and graduation requirements.
The students who didn't graduate failed a test during their last semester that university officials said was meant to assess student preparation. But some of the students not earning diplomas said they only learned in January that they would have to pass the test before graduating, The Fayetteville Observer reported.
Passing the exit exam, developed by Health Education Systems Inc., was not mentioned in student handbooks and catalogs from 2004 to 2006, the newspaper reported. And school officials originally hadn't planned to use the test until fall 2007, The Observer reported, based on university documents.
Luke Largess, a lawyer representing some of the students who didn't pass, said the students have been made scapegoats for problems with instruction and administration. Largess believes university officials decided to use the test to protect themselves - if too many students failed the licensure exam after graduation, it would make the university and the nursing program look bad, he said.
"This change of rules is not about helping these students, who have spent their money and sweated through the program, but it is about protecting FSU's statistics and image," Largess wrote in a letter to the university.
University officials have defended the program. They learned of some problems shortly after the program started and have worked to address issues as they arose, said Juliette Bell, the university's provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs.
"Our intent all the time is to have a quality program," Bell told the newspaper last month. "If changes needed to be made, they were made. If issues needed to be addressed, they were addressed."
University officials have said the students were well-informed that they would have to pass the exit exam before graduating. While the state Nursing Board did not cite the test in a letter to university officials last month, the board said the department is not in compliance with rules requiring clear communication of standards and graduation requirements.
The university has until Aug. 1 to confirm whether problems have been addressed. David Kalbacker, a spokesman for the Nursing Board, has said the board will work with school officials to address the issues. He said it isn't uncommon for the board to scrutinize new programs.