Trinity College Newburgh

I've pronounced it both "Hikes" and "Heeks," so I was at least half right. Good to know which it is. Thanks.

As for Janko and John Sorrell -- and, really, Steve Levicoff, too -- and their inability to be convinced that Trinity, even with regional accreditation (when it finally gets it), is worthwhile: I understand this completely... and I think they may be onto something. There's no question that Trinity has made some really silly moves in the past; and that regional accreditation or not, some of its fundamental underpinnings (not to be confused with fundamental theology... although it's kinda' that, too) are questionable. Trinity has given the world reason never to trust it. Even though I believe that regional accreditation should be able to trump that, the smart theology degree seeker might be well served to follow John Sorrell's advice and just go elsewhere.

That said, if Trinity would, once and for all, own-up to its prior bad behavior, acknowledge it, apologize for it, convince the world it understands what was wrong with it, and swear that it would never do it again... that, plus the regional accreditation, would, I'll bet, go a long way toward making even Janko say, "Well, now that they've finally said that, it might be a little easier to give 'em a chance."

But I'm sure Trinity will never do anything like that; so we're left, in the end, with either trusting regional accreditation or not. Given how pretty much everyone around here tends to view regional accreditation, just generally, it seems we have no choice but to do so. If not, then we're being disingenuous, aren't we? Or at least exhibiting a double-standard? No?

 

if only...

If they did what Gregg says in his third paragraph, I would no longer have any issues at all against Trinity Newburgh (except for the DA nomenclature thing, but that's fairly arcane). Given my very high regard for SATS, I would still prefer SATS, but only as a matter of personal preference, not as an issue between a school integrity and a school whose integrity is open to question, with or without RA.

As to Gregg's fourth paragraph, no, it's not disingenuous. There are some RA schools I wouldn't recommend. RA is not absolution! What it IS, is a trustworthy guarantee that certain minimum standards are met by all RA schools, not a guaranteed recommendation of all RA schools as great places to study. This is not a suggestion that accredited and unaccredited schools are on parity; they are not. Almost the inverse:
There are a VERY FEW RA schools from which I'd warn people away,
and a VERY FEW UA schools from which I'd NOT warn people away.

 

Good points.

For the reader, Janko's reference to "DA" is a concern of his about Trinity's use of "Doctor of Arts" as a degree title. His explanation of that concern is very interesting and worth understanding.

Janko, would you mind summarizing that here so that it's somewhere around here, in writing, for all to both benefit from now and refer to in the future?

 

Sure. Lemme do it later--gotta run now. Stay tuned.