What Ever Happened to Trinity's Accreditation Bid

Did it fizzle. They redesigned their web site but no announcement. Makes you wonder what happened. NCU managed the process relatively well. Trinity has two physical plants and has been at this for a while. Why the sloooooooow process.

North

 

Which Trinity are we talking about here?

 

I never understood why Trinity(seminary in Indiana) even bothered to apply for RA since it already has global accreditation and worldwide acceptance of its programs. NCA should fall at Trinity's feet for the opprtunity to be associated with such a transcendent institution To seek RA is a step backward for this school which for 34 years has suppressed the temptation to belittle itself with mere RA

 

I am most grateful to a forum member for sending me an dimly-remembered article I've been looking for for years. It is from Christianity Today, May 29, 1981, titled "Short-cut Graduate Degrees Shortchange Everybody." A few quotes:

"One school that advertises frequently and presents itself to the unknowing student as being more than it actually is, is Toledo Bible College and Seminary in Tennyson, Indiana."

"[Founder John D.] Brooke for all practical purposes...awarded himself the Th.D. from Toledo, since he received it not long after he started the school...in the late sixties. He operated it there until 1978 when, for all practical purposes, he was forced out of the state by the Ohio Board of Regents."

The article goes on to discuss, in detail, the two accreditations claimed, one from the later-discredited International Accrediting Commission, and the other "even flimsier" from the American Association of Specialized Colleges run by "Gordon DaCosta...one of the more colorful flimflammers in the annals of phony degrees. In the 1960s, DaCosta created a degree mill in Gas City, Indiana, called Northern Indiana University."*

The article quotes former Toledo faculty on being alarmed when "students were admitted who could barely read," and "dumbfounded to learn at graduation that some of these students were awarded doctorates."

Brook "plans to change the name of the school to Trinity Bible College and Trinity Theological Seminary ."

And so he did.
_________
* My posthumous edition will discuss the founder and president of a very large unaccredited university, endless discussed elsewhere in DegreeInfo, whose own doctorate is from this place, or at least so the literature once claimed.

 

John

You keep mentioning all the juicy details in your pothumous edition, only without names.

Can you hurry up and get it into print.

 

Dr Bear gave me this info sometime back and Trinity was not happy with me.

Pastor Kenny Rhodes

 

Kenny,

Could you elaborate on this?

Thanks,

 

Dennis: "John You keep mentioning all the juicy details in your posthumous edition, only without names. Can you hurry up and get it into print."

John: If you will both indemnify me from legal action and send over a couple of goons to protect me 24/7, I'll be delighted to do it sooner.

 

Well, some time ago I was Trinity student myself. I knew nothing about accreditation so I enrolled at Trinity. I cannot remember now, but something caused me to do some research in the ever-so-confusing world of accreditation. My findings were that Trinity misrepresented their accreditation status by not informing students (in their catalog) that the agency they were accredited with was NOT recognized by the USDE. To me this was a very disappointing discovery but then they became “accredited” by U of L. I thought, hey, maybe now they are accredited. So I did some research on how commonwealth universities were “accredited.” My discoveries lead me to the distinction between a Royal Charter and validation. A Royal Charter in the UK is equivalent to RA in the US. But a validated degree is still a degree granted by the validating university. For example, U of L validates Chester but U of L grants the degrees. Many UK universities validate or accredit other schools but always grant the degrees for them. It is called a validated degree. Trinity did NOT have this relationship with U of L. So while on the surface it looked good it did not give Trinity “global accreditation” or anything under GAAP.
This was when I began to think that Trinity was not very forthright about its accreditation status. As a matter of fact, I have more respect for a school that claims accreditation from a non-recognized agency and CLEARLY states the fact than schools like Trinity.
After my findings I confronted Trinity in their forum and asked all the questions (even for a refund) and they refused to admit any wrong. It was in an email later that I learned from Dr Bear that Trinity had a “history” to say the lest. I even brought this to their attention and then I was “locked” out of their forum. There is just a bad history of telling half-truths. So, I left Trinity for an honest non-accredited school, graduated and then went to ACCS. I did a Doctor of Religious Education with GSST and then enrolled into ACCS’s DMin program with MDiv equivalency. With all the research I did all those years it has come in quite handy for my position as Academic Dean for GSST. I am very well versed with accreditation in the US and the DETC manual and I guess I have Trinity to blame/thank? Well, this is my story. So, for me integrity in Christian Higher Education is the most important. Accreditation is way down on the list. I would much rather be on staff with a school that is honest about accreditation than one who misleads. In my world (ministry) accreditation is really a secondary issue. I have never had anyone ask me if my degrees were accredited, except DETC. I am not saying it is not important because I am working very hard with Dr. Paul Graves to get GSST accredited.

Thank for asking,

 

Kenny

I recall your posting on the Trinity forum. You were handled by Trinity in your being barred as Herod solved the problem of the Baptist. At all cost reputation must be saved.

 

Yes, Bill, I think I remember our conversations on the forum too.
Good to talk to you again my brother and I think ACCS will get through all this.

Blessings,

 

Pastor Kenny,

Thanks for sharing your story about Trinity. I came very close to becoming a Trinity student/victim. But I discovered Dr. Rick Walston and he enlightened me about Liverpool and real accreditation. He also talked to me about GAAP.

I'm still leaning toward ACCS. For now, I"m taking the wait and see attitude.

Roscoe

 

Pastorkenny,

Thanks for the enlightening post.
If the Royal Charter is an equivalent to our RA, then is Validation equivalent to, say, the US DETC?

Thanks,

Starkman

 

The Royally Chartered university grants the validated degree. So the recognition is the same. Greenwich School of Theology and PUCHE have this kind of relationship. Greenwich is in the UK and PUCHE is the degree granting institution in South Africa. The Open University, UK has many of these validating relationships throughout the world.
Thank you for asking. Many blessings to you.