Institutionalized Cheating and the Regional Accreditors

What role do the Regional Accreditors play when some of their institutions' lax academic practices are exposed?
I don't recall seeing any kind of fall out coming out from the various scandals over the years. There are various examples. Here's one. See link:
CNN: Some college athletes play like adults, read like 5th-graders - CNN.com

 

The quoted news story focuses on basketball players at the University of North Carolina. The regional agency in that case (SACS) conducted an investigation and required a year of monitoring at UNC:

In another recent example, Penn State's accreditation was temporarily put on "warning" status after the Sandusky scandal.

So there can be some degree of "fallout" from the accreditation agencies. Whether the penalties are really severe enough is another issue.

 

Thanks Caldog. Where did you find this information?
I also think you are right on the money. The issue evidently is "severity" of the penalties. In UNC's case, it's basically a slap on the wrist. But, at least they're doing something about it. It restores my faith in the American educational system, sort of.

However, here is what I find most disturbing in that article (aside from the fact that these schools admit functionality illiterate students):

""They're graduating them. UGA is graduating No. 2 in the SEC, so they're able to graduate athletes, but have they learned anything? Are they productive citizens now? That's a thing I worry about. To get a degree is one thing, to be functional with that degree is totally different."