Septembre Russell
Copy editor

Linfield President Thomas Hellie said he received confirmation of the college’s re-accreditation in January.
“It was good news, and we were pleased that this all worked out,” Hellie said. “[Accreditation] is really important for the college because you simply can’t function if you don’t have [it].”
Dean of Enrollment Services Dan Preston, who was co-chair on the Accreditation Steering Committee, said. Linfield is assured to have its accreditation confirmed. He said for an institution not to be accredited translates into its downfall, and it means not having its peers consider the education provided to be worthy of a postsecondary degree.
An evaluation committee qualified by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities assessed Linfield’s self-study last fall. Committees worked between meetings drafting reports, collecting information and writing new policies. A lot of effort went into creating the self-study Preston said.
“If you really want to get a full picture of where the college is right now, you would look at the self-study,” Hellie said.
The college will present the commission with updates on the institution’s improvements Hellie said.
“That is standard procedure,” Hellie said. “In this day and age you never really stop trying to measure your progress and report on it.”
The commission made a number of observations about the college, Hellie said, including the strong sense of community, the commitment of faculty and staff to helping students and the curriculum at Linfield.
“[The Commission] said it was an outstanding curriculum, and they talked about how well taken care of our buildings and grounds are,” Hellie said.
Re-accreditation approval did not surprise him, but Preston said he was relieved. He said not being accredited or even being put on probation has ripple effects.
“Even schools that have accreditation but are put on probation immediately lose the public’s trust, interest in the college drops, enrollment stops and giving slows down,” he said. “So to not be [re-accredited] probably would have meant very dire circumstances.”