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Accreditor Rejects Evangelical College
Patrick Henry College in Virginia was denied preaccreditation (the step preceding full accreditation) in April by the American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE), a national organization approved by the U.S. Department of Education to accredit liberal arts institutions and degree programs. Because the college requires faculty to affirm a Statement of Biblical Worldview, it fails to meet an accreditation standard stipulating that “[l]iberty of thought and freedom of speech are supported and protected,” AALE’s rejection letter said. In addition, Patrick Henry College’s requirement that biology professors teach that God created the world in six twenty-four-hour days “appears to restrict curriculum content and teaching to a degree that inhibits the acquisition of basic knowledge.”
Officials at the evangelical Christian college call the ruling discriminatory and have filed an appeal with the AALE, noting that the organization has granted accreditation to an institution affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. Patrick Henry College, which opened in fall 2000 and has strong ties to the Christian home-schooling community, also plans to seek accreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) and through the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools Accrediting Commission (TRACS).
Obtaining eligibility for federal funds, including student loans and grants, is an important motivation for many institutions to seek accreditation, which can be granted by regional accreditors such as SACS, by national accreditors such as the AALE and TRACS, or by specialized accreditors that focus on single-purpose programs and institutions. Accreditation also serves as a marker of legitimacy, and students from unaccredited institutions may have difficulty transferring credits to other institutions or entering graduate or professional programs.
Patrick Henry College says it is committed to avoiding government funding of any kind, but accreditation is still key to its continued operation, because the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, which regulates degree-granting institutions in the state, has given the college provisional permission to grant bachelor’s degrees with the understanding that it will become accredited by 2006.
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