Editing Dickinson State University (section)

==History==
Dickinson State was established as a [[normal school]] to fill a need for qualified teachers in rural western North Dakota, where fewer than one-quarter of the people working as teachers in the early 1900s were certified as teachers. The university considers June 24, 1918, to be its founding date; this was the first day of classes for the Dickinson Normal School. When first established, the school was tuition-free and operated in the facilities of Dickinson High School. The first campus building, May Hall, was built in 1924.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.dickinsonstate.edu/discover_dsu/about_dsu/history.aspx |title=History Of Dickinson State University |publisher=Dickinson State University |access-date=February 11, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426012614/http://www.dickinsonstate.edu/discover_dsu/about_dsu/history.aspx |archive-date=April 26, 2012 }}</ref>

During [[World War II]], Dickinson State Teachers College was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the [[V-12 Navy College Training Program]] which offered students a path to a Navy commission.<ref name="dickinson-v-12">{{cite web|url=http://digitalhorizonsonline.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/ndshs-dm&CISOPTR=1598&REC=2 |title=Navy yearbook, Dickinson State Teachers College |publisher=Dickinson State Teachers College|access-date=September 29, 2011 |year=1943}}</ref>

===Enrollment and graduation controversies===
In 2011 and 2012, Dickinson State attracted negative attention for some of its academic and business practices. In 2011, the university was discovered to have overstated its enrollments by practices such as counting people as students who had merely attended a conference on the campus.<ref>{{citation |url=http://chronicle.com/article/Battle-Shapes-Up-as-Dickinson/128551/ |title=Battle Shapes Up as Dickinson State U. President Refuses to Resign | work=Chronicle of Higher Education | date=August 7, 2011 | access-date= February 10, 2012 | author=Berrett, Dan}}</ref>  This situation resulted in the dismissal of the university president, Richard J. McCallum.<ref name="CHEAug">{{cite web | url=http://chronicle.com/article/Dickinson-State-U-President/128557/ | title=Dickinson State U. President Is Fired in Wake of Enrollment Errors | work=Chronicle of Higher Education | date=August 8, 2011 | access-date=December 11, 2011 | author=Berrett, Dan}}</ref><ref name="CHEDec">{{cite web | url=http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/judge-upholds-firing-of-university-president-accused-of-inflating-enrollment/39068| title=Judge Upholds Firing of University President Accused of Inflating Enrollment | work=Chronicle of Higher Education | date=December 9, 2011 | access-date=December 11, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ndus.edu/uploads/reports/91/testimony.pdf |title=State of North Dakota Board Board of Higher Education v Richard McCallum |access-date=2011-12-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426042917/http://www.ndus.edu/uploads/reports/91/testimony.pdf |archive-date=2012-04-26 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A [[North Dakota University System]] audit report released in February 2012 found that the school had relaxed standards and waived some requirements to increase enrollment of foreign students and had, over a period of several years, awarded degrees to 584 foreign students who had not completed the required coursework. The report was a followup of an earlier meeting between Dickinson officials and the Higher Learning Commission at which the DSU officials "realized they may have an issue with one or more of the HLC's requirements surrounding academic agreements".<ref name="North Dakota University System">{{citation |url=http://www.ndus.edu/uploads/reports/94/dsu-internal-review-ddj-final-draft1-020912.pdf |title=Internal Review Report: International Transfer Agreement review, Dickinson State University |publisher=North Dakota University System |number=NDUS-IA-01-12 |date=February 10, 2012 |page=7 }}{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Most of the university's foreign students came from China, where the university employed recruiting agents who falsely claimed to be university employees and sometimes misrepresented the university's programs. News media accounts described the audit report as depicting Dickinson State as a [[diploma mill|degree mill]].<ref>[https://www.npr.org/2012/02/10/146694852/n-dakota-university-was-degree-mill-audit-finds Audit Depicts N. Dakota University As Degree Mill] - NPR, February 10, 2012</ref><ref>{{citation |url=http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-11/chinese-at-north-dakota-school-got-unearned-degrees-state-says.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120722213004/http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-11/chinese-at-north-dakota-school-got-unearned-degrees-state-says.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 22, 2012 |title=Chinese at North Dakota School Got Unearned Degrees, State Says |newspaper=Bloomberg Business Week |date=February 11, 2012 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/10/MNJO1N6893.DTL Dickinson State - alleged diploma mill for Chinese] - Associated Press/San Francisco Chronicle, Feb 10, 2012</ref><ref>[http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/degrees-without-the-work-for-foreign-students-at-a-north-dakota-university/ Degrees (Without the Work) for Foreign Students at a North Dakota University] - New York Times, 10 Feb 2012</ref> The audit had been requested by the university's president, Douglas Coston, who took office as Interim President in August 2011, after some university international agreements were found not to conform with requirements of the [[North Dakota State Board of Higher Education]] and the [[Higher Learning Commission]].<ref name="North Dakota University System"/> On the day of the audit release, the Dean of Education committed suicide.<ref>[http://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/dickinson-state-university-dean-found-dead/article_7b400e5a-5427-11e1-b1a6-0019bb2963f4.html Dickinson State University dean found dead] ''Bismarck Tribune'', February 10, 2012</ref> Six months later, in July, Dickinson's regional accreditor, the [[Higher Learning Commission]] (HLC), placed the university "on notice," requiring the university provide detailed responses to concerns found in the accreditor's recent site visit.<ref name=accreditation_on_notice /> That status was removed three years later when HLC renewed DSU's accreditation for ten years.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Letter from Higher Learning Commission|url = http://www.dickinsonstate.edu/Assets/Division-Academic-Affairs/Academic-Affairs-Administration/Accreditation-Planning-and-Reports/2015-Updates/Dickinson%2520State%2520University%2520PEAQ%2520Reaffirmation%25207-27-15.pdf|website = www.dickinsonstate.edu|access-date = 2016-01-22|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160129234849/http://www.dickinsonstate.edu/Assets/Division-Academic-Affairs/Academic-Affairs-Administration/Accreditation-Planning-and-Reports/2015-Updates/Dickinson%20State%20University%20PEAQ%20Reaffirmation%207-27-15.pdf|archive-date = 2016-01-29}}</ref>

===Financial challenges===
In 2023, the university eliminated seven degree programs to address ongoing financial challenges. This included firing tenured faculty in those programs. The university's decisions and actions were met with protests from faculty and others. University leaders also reorganized parts of the university and eliminated other positions.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thedickinsonpress.com/news/dickinson-state-university-unveils-discontinuation-of-seven-majors-tenured-faculty-affected |title=Dickinson State University unveils discontinuation of seven majors, tenured faculty affected |work=[[The New Dickinson Press]] |first=Manuel |last=Holguin, Jr. |date=September 28, 2023 |accessdate=July 12, 2024}}</ref> The following year, the university changed its academic policies to increase class sizes and require faculty to teach more students.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thedickinsonpress.com/news/dickinson-state-university-implements-policy-overhaul |title=Dickinson State University implements policy overhaul |work=[[The New Dickinson Press]] |first=Manuel |last=Holguin, Jr. |date=February 16, 2024 |accessdate=July 12, 2024}}</ref> In response, all seven faculty members in the university's nursing program resigned, protesting that the new policies are unworkable in their program.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.kfyrtv.com/2024/07/11/all-nursing-faculty-resign-dickinson-state-university/ |title=All nursing faculty resign from Dickinson State University |first=Maiya |last=Fleck |date=July 11, 2024 |accessdate=July 12, 2024 |work=[[KFYR-TV]]}}</ref> The university was already under scrutiny by the program's accreditor, the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing, and the state's board of nursing did not approve president Eaton's plan for hiring new faculty. He subsequently announced his plans to resign and Dickinson's nursing program partnered with [[Mayville State University]] to continue Dickinson's nursing program.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/executive-leadership/2024/07/16/dickinson-state-president-resigns-blames-nursing |title=Dickinson State President Resigns, Blaming Nursing Board |work=[[Inside Higher Ed]] |first=Kathryn |last=Palmer |date=July 16, 2024 |accessdate=July 16, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thedickinsonpress.com/news/local/dsu-and-mayville-state-university-forge-partnership-for-nursing-program?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_10536697_nl_Afternoon-Update_date_20240722 |title=DSU and Mayville State University forge partnership for nursing program |work=[[Dickinson Press]] |first=Manuel |last=Holguin, Jr. |date=July 19, 2024 |accessdate=July 23, 2024}}</ref>