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UNION — While students staged a mock funeral for their school outside, Kean University's president and trustees held an emergency meeting Monday where they vowed to do "everything in their power" to help the institution keep its accreditation.

The board convened the session a week after its accrediting agency, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, put the Union Township-based university on probation for allegedly failing to meet its standards in issues related to integrity, student learning and other areas. Two days later, President Dawood Farahi and the head of the board of trustees released a joint statement accusing the accrediting agency of violating its own procedures in a "staff-driven agenda" to discredit Kean.

More than 100 students, professors, parents and alumni packed a conference room in Kean Hall for Monday's trustees meeting while dozens of others listened in from the hallway outside. Ada Morell, the head of the trustee board, tried to reassure the worried crowd that Kean was not about to lose its accreditation.

"This board will do everything in its power to ensure that Kean University remains accredited," Morell said. "We will never, never give up on the tremendous progress we have made at Kean. We will do everything in our power to stand up for our students."

Neither Morell nor Farahi referenced the allegations they made in last week’s statement accusing the Middle States accrediting team of unfairly targeting Kean. They promised to provide the agency all the information they are asking for in their review.

"If we roll up our sleeves and do what is needed to be done, we will be fine," Farahi said.

A Middle States spokesman declined to comment on Farahi’s allegations that the review process is tainted. But Middle States officials said Kean remains accredited while they continue their review.

The accreditation problems come at the end of a difficult school year for Kean. Earlier this year, Farahi was accused by faculty of lying about items on his resume. But the trustees allowed him to keep his job after an internal investigation. In April, the NCAA also put the school’s teams on probation for "major violations" of its rules mostly related to the women’s basketball team.

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Kean officials said they are confident the university will meet the Middle States standards and resolve the latest crisis.

The reassurances did not quell everyone’s anxiety. Outside the building, about a dozen students staged a mock funeral for Kean. Students, including some dressed in funeral garb, symbolically threw degrees into a casket. "Kean is in Pain," read one student’s sign.

Inside the hall, dozens of speakers told the trustees they were worried about the university’s future. One recent graduate said he is having trouble finding a job and has gone on interviews where prospective employers have already questioned the value of his Kean degree. The parent of one freshman said her family returned from vacation early to attend the meeting because they were concerned her daughter would not have a school to return to in the fall.

But some of the students and faculty defended Kean. Many questioned why the Middle States team would find anything wrong with the former teachers’ college that has grown into one of the largest public universities in New Jersey.

Losing accreditation is extremely rare in higher education and often takes years of failing to meet accreditors’ requests for changes. Schools that lose their accreditation often shut down because students are unable to get financial aid or use their degrees to get into graduate school. Alumni are still able to use their degrees, but might find the value of their education tarnished by their school’s troubles.

Some of Kean’s 16,000 students said they are aware the effects of losing accreditation are dire.

"We understand the consequences that may follow," said Nakyah Elijah, a Kean senior. "That means our lives for the last three or four years will have meant nothing."

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Several speakers at Monday's meeting called on Farahi and the board to step down.

"The harm that has been done to Kean’s reputation lies solely on your doorstep," said Kathleen Henderson, president of the adjunct faculty union at the university.

The dispute with Middle States began last year when the accrediting agency issued a warning to Kean that it had not met several standards during its periodic review, including rules related to monitoring student success. When the accreditors returned again earlier this year, they found more problems and Kean was placed on probation last week.

Middle States listed more than 15 issues that need to be addressed related to integrity, institutional assessment, general education and assessment of student learning. Kean, known for the tempestuous relationship between its faculty and outspoken president, must also prove to the agency it has "an institutional climate that fosters respect among students, faculty, staff, and administration."

Kean has until Sept. 1 to prove it has met the standards. Then, the accrediting team will visit the school again.

Related coverage:

• Kean University president takes issue with accrediting agency's probation decision

• Kean University still not in compliance for accreditation, report finds

• Irate Kean students march to office of N.J. senator who supports university president

• Kean University president stays put after board shows confidence in leadership