Court rules theology school violated state law in issuing degrees

From: WorldNetDaily.com
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=21963

Texas seminary ordered
to pay damages
Court rules theology school violated state law in issuing degrees

By Jon Dougherty

© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com

A Texas district court judge has ordered a Fort Worth seminary to pay fines totaling $170,000 for issuing 34 theological degrees without first receiving approval from a state education agency.

Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel of the Plano-based Liberty Legal Institute, which represented the Tyndale Theological Seminary in court, called the ruling an "outrage" and said it was an attempt by the state to regulate religious curriculum. He has promised an appeal.

"The state couldn't even teach these subjects" because of federal separation of church and state provisions, Shackelford said in a statement. "Obviously, the state couldn't indoctrinate people who are going to be in future ministries."

Nevertheless, Shackelford said, "they think they have the right to tell these groups, these denominations, how to organize their curriculum and the professors" who teach the subjects.

Tyndale officials and officials from two other schools that joined in the suit have said if left to stand, the ruling could eventually cost them students because they won't be able to issue degrees in theology.

State officials agreed with the court's ruling.

Tom Kelley, a spokesman for the Texas attorney general's office, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram the state law in the case is religion-neutral.

Calling the law a "simple matter," Kelly said that "under state law, an institution of higher learning cannot confer a degree unless they've been accredited ... or obtained a certificate of authority through the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board."

Tyndale is not accredited, Kelly told the paper, adding that by issuing degrees without accreditation, the school was committing fraud.

The 1975 Texas Education Code specifies that only accredited institutions have the right to award bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees, the paper said.

Travis County District Judge Paul Davis issued the ruling. The Southern Bible Institute in Dallas and the Hispanic Bible Institute in San Antonio joined Tyndale in the suit.

Davis upheld administrative penalties of $170,000 issued by the education board and awarded $34,000 in attorney's fees to the state. But he waived a $3,000 fine for Tyndale's use of the word "seminary" in its name.

Shackelford said the institute believed the court's ruling was anti-First Amendment.

"The state is violating our clients' constitutional rights because the government is saying what is permissible and not permissible in teaching religion," he told the paper. "If government is in control of that, they are controlling religion. They are trying to require state approval of the curriculum, the professors' credentials and the schools' financial resources."

"It's a frightening proposition that the state, the government, now has control of our seminaries," he added. "Any seminary [that] doesn't have its curriculum and its professors approved by the state is fined. So, essentially, the state is in control of religion" in Texas.

The Liberty Legal Institute sued Texas on behalf of Tyndale in 1999 after the education board told the seminary it would be fined as punishment for issuing the degrees without a certificate of authority from the state.

An official with the Texas education board said requiring all institutions of higher learning to be accredited so they can award degrees was a matter of consumer protection.

"When a student invests money, time and effort in obtaining a degree, the student must know that that diploma means something," said board spokesman James Hoard, as quoted by the Star-Telegraph.

 

Texas has long been known as a difficult place for nontraditional higher education. (I've been reading Bears' Guides for 21 years now, and I've yet to see a new school start in Texas. They have the ultimate "Catch 22"; you have to be accredited to operate, but no accreditor will recognize you until you have a track record of operation. The only way to get going is to be affiliated with an already-accredited school.

It's unfortunate this fight is over a religious school, because First Amendment provisions for separation of church and state will be the battle ground. Instead, it would ne nice if a non-secular school was challenging the law based on restraint of trade. That would be a good fight. Just as South Dakota, Montana, et. al. are too lenient, Texas is too restrictive. Having lived there for four years, though, I know Texans tend to like their issues spelled out in black and white, so I wouldn't expect this law to change.

Rich Douglas, Ph.D. (Candidate)
Centro de Estudios Universitarios
Monterrey, NL, Mexico

 

I remember checking this school out several years ago. They had a faculty member, who graduated from their own school with a Bachelor's degree, teaching classes to doctoral students. While I agree in principle with the school in this case, lack of accreditation is hardly their only problem.

Barry

 

And where does this leave the 34 graduates of Tyndale? With a worthless degree?

Russell

 

Probably no more so than before the court's action because:

1. The school wasn't operating legally before the ruling, either.

2. I doubt if the publicity of the case (whatever it may be) will have much play--employers will likely not even hear about it.

3. It may not even matter in some religious circles, where a disregard for "secular" law is a convenient and oft-used ploy. It may have created 34 martyrs out of them.

Rich Douglas