By Michael Gryboski, Editor Tuesday, September 02, 2025

The interim president of an Episcopal Church-affiliated historically black university in North Carolina, which is struggling to maintain its accreditation, has resigned from office for personal reasons.

Marcus Burgess, interim president of Saint Augustine’s University of Raleigh, submitted his letter of resignation in July, but the university did not make the move public until Sunday.

Interim Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, Verjanis A. Peoples, has taken over all administrative responsibilities, the university announced, according to WRAL News.

Save SAU Coalition Chairman Benjamin Johnson, whose organization seeks to save the university from its accreditation woes, expressed concern over the resignation.

“In order to continue to have accreditation, you do have to have an interim and acting president,” Johnson told WRAL. “And right now, with his resigning, we don't have an interim president.”

“How do you run a university like this, where you have an interim president for 18 months, and that person leaves? Now you have to go back and restructure that part of it, and we don’t know what the leadership is and what the vision is in that.”

In December 2023, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges voted to remove SAU from membership amid concerns about the institution's financial stability, with an appeals committee upholding the decision in February 2024.

To cut costs, SAU, which reportedly has over 900 students, moved most classes online and cut roughly half of its staff. The university also reduced its expenses by $17 million in 2024 compared to 2023. 

The U.S. Department of Labor acknowledged in May 2024 that it was investigating SAU over allegations that university staff did not receive paychecks for multiple pay periods.

In July 2024, an arbitration committee appointed by SACSCOC unanimously voted to support reversing the accreditation removal, though it maintained that SAU would remain on probation.

However, concerns about the university's finances persisted, with SACSCOC voting last December at its annual meeting in Austin, Texas, to remove SAU from membership.

SAU appealed the decision, but the appeal was rejected in March. A 90-day arbitration process began in which the university remained operational, and graduating students received degrees from an accredited institution. 

SAU announced in July that it was taking legal action to regain its accreditation after an arbitration panel affirmed the SACSCOC decision to remove the college from membership.

"We will stop at nothing to ensure that SAU maintains its accreditation and continues serving our students," said Brian Boulware, then chairman of the SAU Board of Trustees.

SAU announced last month that, because of a preliminary injunction granted by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, it will remain an accredited institution as fall semester classes begin.

As part of the preliminary injunction granted in August, SAU will remain accredited as the litigation against SACSCOC over the accreditation removal decision continues.