Louisiana Baptist University's ASIC Accreditation Noted on Website

It remains a common practice for diploma mills to create "accrediting agencies" for the sole purpose of claiming to be accredited. That's why my mentor, John Bear, used to urge people to ask not just "are they accredited?", but also "accredited by whom.

The term "accreditation" has both a generic meaning and a contextual one (here in the U.S., at least.) When someone wants to know if a school is accredited, they're not asking whether it has gone through some quality control evaluation. They're asking if the school is legitimate, recognized, etc.

Another point: accreditation in the U.S. is particularly non-governmental. Yes, the USDoE is tasked with maintaining a list of accrediting agencies for the purpose of determining schools' eligibility to participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs. But that's the government tacking onto an existing, private system of self-regulation because it does not have one of its own. The system itself is private and operated by the schools themselves.

 

“In many states, religious exempt degrees can only be issued with degree titles that are clearly religious in nature.” (Link: https://wcetsan.wiche.edu/resources/state-authorization-religious-colleges)

My argument resonates with this idea. Since states have already established certain limits as to the kind of degree titles that can be issued by religious institutions under exemption (here I am only focusing on the states that have exemption for unaccredited religious colleges), I am simply arguing for the reinforcement of this concept by placing bans on PhDs and other academic degrees being offered by religious institutions lacking accreditation. How exactly is this illiberal? Could you explain this? I believe that a Doctor of Philosophy degree should not be included among permissible titles.

For example, the state of Florida, which has extremely liberal policies when it comes to religious exemption, has established the following limits:

1. The institution offers only educational programs that prepare students for religious vocations as ministers, professionals, or laypersons in the categories of ministry, counseling, theology, education, administration, music, fine arts, media communications, or social work.

(I am arguing that degrees of this kind should not be seen as a preparation for any kind of academic career, nor permitted to be advertised in such a manner).

1. The titles of degrees issued by the institution cannot be confused with secular degree titles. For this purpose, each degree title must include a religious modifier that immediately precedes, or is included within, any of the following degrees: Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Master of Arts, Master of Science, Doctor of Philosophy, and Doctor of Education. The religious modifier must be placed on the title line of the degree, on the transcript, and whenever the title of the degree appears in official school documents or publications.

(The religious modifier distinguishes the religious degree from the academic counterpart).

Also, I said “close to worthless” with full knowledge that “totally worthless” would be an overstatement when it comes to unaccredited PhDs. Yes, I know of isolated cases of individuals teaching at accredited institutions, who are in possession of degrees from religious exempt, unaccredited colleges. Still, I am not convinced that this is a commendable path.

Here is a quote from an old issue of "Christianity Today", which is worth referencing:

"Why do preachers, even if a tiny minority, seek out “bargain counter” degrees? Doubtless important strides in ministerial education have placed some pressure upon candidates lacking opportunity for earned degrees, but in these days of “status seeking” the worship of degrees has gone entirely too far. Degrees do not really tell the measure of a man, except perhaps when they are bogus. Even the criteria used by some evangelical institutions in conferring honorary degrees need to be re-examined. The Christian cause is worthy of sound scholarship and intellectual integrity. To sport a pseudo-doctorate in theology or philosophy, while deploring the false front of human pride from the pulpit, is shameful hypocrisy. The vast majority of ministers who have earned their degrees the honorable way, the hard way, will not only welcome this cleanup of degree mills, but will pity the poor cleric who, seeking a shortcut to academic distinction, actually lowered his stature in the sight of God and brought embarrassment to the Church."

 

One of the first universities to award a degree, University of Paris, was chartered by the king. Government regulation of universities goes back to the Middle Ages. Prior to that, the Roman Catholic Church, which is a government, granted the authority to award a degree.

 

I'm pretty old but that is a bit before my time. We need Johann to chime in on this.

 

Kind of miss the guy!

 

Yes, especially because he's one of the few around here older than me.

 

My usual go-to example of how unaccredited religious schools can be reputable is St. Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Seminary. Plot twist: as of this year, St. Sophia is actually accredited by ATS. I'm honestly surprised; the school is very, very small (I'd guess around 20 students total). It seems like cost is not a valid reason to stay unaccredited.

As a counterpoint, there definitely is at least one Ukrainian Catholic seminary in this country, and I can't find its accreditation status from the very limited online footprint.