When a new campus opens, who is supposed to make sure that it has appropriate permission to educate students and award degrees?

Discussion of these questions frequently focuses on for-profit colleges, but this weekend, The News & Observer of Raleigh revealed that North Carolina Central University had operated a branch in a church outside Atlanta, and awarded degrees, without permission from either the University of North Carolina administration, or the university's accreditor. The program existed for four years and awarded about 25 bachelor's degrees in three fields -- bachelor's degrees that the university plans to honor, even as it shut down the program this summer on the order of its accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

On Monday, officials at the university system pledged to figure out what happened and said explicitly that North Carolina Central had violated university rules by setting up an out-of-state program on its own. But also Monday, the pastor of the church where the program was located said he thought it would soon be up and running again.