Bob Jones University seeking TRACS accreditation

Say, I just thought of something--a little slow witted?? (never mind)

TRACS now accredits no PhD programs, but BJU has Phd programs--so:

1. will TRACS now accredited a PhD program? or,

2. will BJU drop the Phd? Or,

3. will TRACs accredit BJU only up through the masters?

 

Doesn't TRACS classify institutions in one of four levels? Perhaps they can grant accreditation in such and such a level (not including the PhD), rather than an all-or-nothing grant such as DETC uses.

 

Janko,

There are a couple others besides WLS (which I think highly of).

Like BJU, Central Baptist Theological Seminary (PLymouth, MN) has a long-standing reputation for excellence and is currently vacillating between pursuing RA or TRACS. I am confident they'll get accredited whenever they apply.

The two remaining schools are the rigorous but underfunded Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary and the moderately rigorous and supremely funded Pensacola Christian College. Both are quality schools and to the best of my knowledge, both reject accreditation on principles of separation.

I am pleased with this development. I have never believed that high quality schools needed accreditation, and BJU has made it on their own merits for some time. Yet I am pleased to see TRACS picking up another outstanding school, in addition to Tennessee Temple U., Liberty U., and Northwest Baptist Seminary. Frankly, I hope that Central Baptist (MN) goes TRACS, too.

 

Bill,

I think TRACS is seeking the ability to accredit research doctrates by 2005/2006. They currently are the sole accreditor for schools with Th.M. and D.Min. degrees, so they don't have terribly far to go.

Dave

 

Hi Dave: Thanks for the correction. You are absolutely right about Central Baptist and Detroit Baptist. I had forgotten about them entirely. Even though I'm an east sider, I was really impressed with Detroit Baptist, and chagrined that they offer absolutely no DL as a matter of principle. Pensacola I know very little about.

 

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The sole accreditor for schools w-ThMs/DMins???? What about RA/ATS? You mean the sole national accreditor?

Even though TRACS does not now accredited research docs as PhDs/Thds, criteria for these nevertheless are listed in the TRACS standards.

 

Bill G.: "The sole accreditor for schools w-ThMs/DMins???? What about RA/ATS? You mean the sole national accreditor?"


Bill,

No, no, no...

What I was trying to convey was that schools whose ONLY accreditation is from TRACS already issue advanced degrees such as the D.Min., and especially the Th.M. (which as a research degree, is more significant for our discussion). I was trying to avoid confusion by excluding situations like Liberty University, which is both SACS and TRACS accredited, and issues degrees including the Ph.D. under the aegis of SACS.

Sorry for the mix-up...

DG

 

Actually, TRACS has in candidacy status OGS that offers the Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil). Not to mention that I think they accredit Liberty's Phd just as SACS does.

In other words I do not think there will be a problem.

North

 

Tracs also has a tendency to keep some schools in candidacy status for a long time.

 

I see. Then I'm wrong about there being an issue of TRACS accrediting PhDs.

I do notice that the TRACS standard clearly specifies that grad profs are to have accredited PhDs/ThDs. Last time I looked most or all of the BJU faculty only had PhDs from BJU--which is not accredited. But I asssume TRACS will take those UA BJU PhDs the BJU profs have as the equivalent of accredited docs.

That occasions another issue (which probably is of little interest to many others) : Why should it be thought that the BJU PhD in Bible / Theology is the equivalent of an accredited PhD in rigor?

What might be interesting , assuming that TRACS does take the BJU PhDs of the BJU faculty of Religion as accredited, is to compare the BJU doc in Bible with other docs in Bible from unaccredited conservative schools in the USA as LBU or Bethany of Dothan. Are their programs substantially different from BJU's?

Aside from BJU not offering the PhD in Bible by distance learning, how is the BJU PhD program any different from these others in areas by which rigor may be judged as ,eg, stringent entry requirements, vigorous curriculum, qualifications of professors, or quality in dissertations.

In others words, assuming one can question the decisions of accreditors, and can put aside the issue of utility and can focus just on rigor, what , if anything, suggests that the BJU PhD in Bible/Theology is in any way more substantive than these others as Bethany or LBU?

Yes I know it is conceited of me to consider myself qualified to ruminate on such issues and that likely nobody else cares. Of course, I do very much care. And besides I also dabble in such concerns because they provide some light distractions from my current thinking and writing assignment which now dwells on the problem of why the hypostatic union must or must not cause two psyches in Christ. That also is conceited of me to inquire about. I guess when one feels himself qualified to define God , then all other questions are thought to be easy

 

I'd be curious to know whether TRACS is recognized by the Dept. of Education and/or CHEA to accredit doctorates, or whether TRACS just took it upon themselves to do so and are daring DoEd/CHEA to stop them.

The reason I wonder is that the US Dept. of Education only just recently permitted DETC, ACAOM etc. to accredit first professional doctorates, and this only after a pilot program was run. I don't believe that TRACS would be treated differently than the other acceditors, so if TRACS were recognized to accredit doctorates, I expect that a number of the others would be as well, and there would be a visible process leading up to it.

It's not an insignificant issue. A number of CA-approved schools have had to drop their doctoral programs in order to obtain accreditation. We are familiar with Cal Coast and DETC. Northwestern Polytechnic in Fremont had to drop its Ph.D. in electrical engineering in order to be accredited by ACICS. There are others.

My layman's impression is that TRACS has had kind of an adversarial relationship with the US Dept. of Education in the past, and judging from ICR's battles with the State of California, the Henry Morris style seems to be 'we do whatever we want and if you try to oppose us, we'll see you in court'.

 

I would have to offer the Lutheran Brethren Seminary in Fergus Falls, MN as an example of another unaccredited seminary that is certainly accreditation-worthy, yet that has never pursued accreditation.

Like some of the others mentioned, they have a good track record of their graduates being accepted into advanced programs at places like TEDS.