The announcement that Michael McKinney's family will sue Ball State for $100 million will not affect the university's accreditation study, members of the accreditation team said.
Margaret Healy, accreditation team member, said that the team would not consider the lawsuit because it was still ongoing.
Michael McKinney, a fourth-year student, was shot and killed by University Police officer Robert Duplain in November. Duplain was cleared of any criminal charges in December by a grand jury.
The lawsuit names the university and Duplain as defendants, according to a press release from the McKinneys' lawyer.
The university goes through the accreditation process every 10 years. An 11-member team is here until Wednesday and is studying how the university functions.
According to the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools' Web site, the accreditation team considers five factors in its study: The university's stated mission, whether the university has the resources to accomplish its goals, if the university is accomplishing its purposes, the ability of the university to strengthen its programs and how the university demonstrates integrity in its practices and relationships with students, faculty and other universities.
Bruce Hozeski, member of the steering committee for Ball State's self-study, said it's important for the university to be accredited.
"A non-accredited university is a bogus institution handing out worthless pieces of paper," Hozeski said.
Healy said the team doesn't focus on individual incidents and specific details.
Hozeski said the lawsuit probably wouldn't keep the university from being reaccredited.
"The accreditation team is going to look at the entire picture of the university," Hozeski said. "I would be incredibly shocked if the team looked at just one piece of information, no matter how tragic it is."
Jayson Manship, Student Government Association president, said the accreditation team would likely look at public safety issues, but he didn't think they would consider the lawsuit.
"They haven't found anyone guilty yet, and you can't take hearsay into consideration," Manship said.
James Kelly, accreditation team member, said the team would look at the overall issue of public safety, and was aware of several changes the university made in December to the University Police Department.
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