According to the Knoxville Police Department (KPD), two people were found dead in an abandoned building at Knoxville College when the Knoxville Fire Department (KFD) was called to extinguish an unrelated fire.
“The Knoxville Police Department is investigating after two deceased individuals were found inside of a building on the Knoxville College campus Sunday morning,” KPD said on Facebook.
“After an unrelated fire was extinguished by Knoxville Fire Department personnel, KPD officers responded to a report that there were two deceased individuals in a building separate from where the fire occurred on the Knoxville College campus,” according to KPD. “Officers responded and located the bodies of a man and woman. Efforts remain ongoing to identify the deceased, who were transported to the Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsy. Foul play is not suspected at this time.”
Knoxville College, a historically black college (HBCU) that was founded in 1875, has been closed for 27 years.
Amid financial and administrative woes in the mid-1990’s, the school’s accreditation was revoked by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
In the late 2000’s, Knoxville College appeared to be on the brink of a renaissance, according to a story in Diverse Education.
In 2010, Dr. Horace Judson was hired as interim president with the goal of raising enough money to return the school to solvency, and regain its accreditation.
But in 2013, after little progress was made, Judson resigned from his post.
Complicating matters further, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seized the A.K. Stewart Science Building, where they reportedly removed “thousands” of bottles of hazardous chemicals that had remained on campus when the school closed.
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) first investigated the scene when a local scrapyard said its radiation detector alarms had been triggered.
“TDEC observed many instances of incompatible and improper storage. The facility was unsecured and there were overt signs of trespassing and scrapping. Multiple windows were broken and the exterior doors were unsecured. The facility is directly adjacent to residential neighborhoods,” said an EPA spokesperson at the time.
But after continuing concerns, the Stewart Science Building was condemned in 2016.
Since then, the school has sat in a state of disrepair.
The school is still technically operational, with a reported 32 students enrolled online. The school offers an associates degree in general studies.
However, according to Knox News, earlier this year Knoxville College began working with the University of Tennessee and Morris Brown College in Atlanta, among others, on regaining accreditation.
Vice President Dasha Lundy told that news outlet in February:
We got to this point of accreditation because we owned 50% of the Pilot gas station that was on Western Avenue. That sale put money in our bank to pursue accreditation because you really can’t pursue it unless you’re financially stable. We then hired Dr. Kevin James, the president of Morris Brown College, because he was going through the same thing (of regaining accreditation). It was inspiring because people kept saying, it’s never been done that you can gain accreditation after it’s been gone for several years. He agreed to help us, give us some pointers. He asked what schools around Knoxville can help. We asked the University of Tennessee if they can help, send some of their students that are working on their Ph.D. in higher education, would they mind being our team. They said yes and it’s been quite a journey.
The school is attempting to regain accreditation via the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS), which would allow it to begin offering four-year bachelor’s degrees once again.
“TRACS is authorized to pre-accredit and accredit institutions offering certificates, diplomas, and associate, baccalaureate, and graduate degrees; including institutions that offer distance education,” according to its website.
TRACS’ website explains a bit about its accreditation process:
Institutional accrediting agencies review the entire institution, acknowledging that each of an institution’s parts contributes to the achievement of the institution’s objectives including such areas as governance, finances, administration, curriculum, faculty qualifications, support services, facilities, institutional effectiveness, planning, learning resources, policies, and publications.
As such, TRACS requires that member institutions meet national norms in the areas of curriculum; programs; faculty credentials; and measured student learning outcomes at the course, program and institutional levels.
Knoxville College says it hopes to regain accreditation by next year.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter.
Photo “Knoxville College Building” by Knoxville Police Department.
