Edward Waters College President Jimmy Jenkins Resigns Following Plagiarism Scandal
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.
Dr. Jimmy Jenkins, who was credited with turning around Edward Waters College, increasing its enrollment and its standards, resigned earlier this month after a plagiarism scandal cost the school its accreditation (see Black Issues, Dec. 30, 2004). 
The executive committee of the board of trustees accepted the resignation Feb. 7. The full board will meet to consider the resignation and may appoint an interim president of the historically Black college.
The college was accused of submitting a self-study to its accreditation group that had largely been plagiarized from Alabama A&M University. Any college that deliberately provides inaccurate information risks losing its accreditation, according to the policies of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
Edward Waters is appealing the ruling and was expected to present the case Feb. 22 in Atlanta.
Since then, alumni have complained about Jenkins’ leadership, and Board of Trustees chairman McKinley Young said he would recommend that the board put Jenkins on a one-year probation.
Officials said the college failed to act with integrity and its administration was incompetent.
Jenkins came to Edward Waters in 1997 from Elizabeth City State University.
— Associated Press
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