University could lose accreditation

The nation’s only liberal arts university for the deaf has been put on probation by its accrediting agency, an indication that the campus continues to face problems months after protests last year shut down the school for days.

Gallaudet University faces a November 2008 deadline with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education to prove it’s in compliance with accrediting standards for leadership, integrity and student retention, among others.

The university, long considered a center of deaf culture, has struggled to maintain its enrollment as more deaf children choose mainstream schools or get implants that allow them to hear.