07-17-2007, 03:27 PM
Randall Flagg Wrote:"Oregon has historically allowed unaccredited religious colleges to issue degrees restricted to religious uses. I don't see a big problem with that."
--Alan Contreras-- The Chronicle of Higher Education
And neither do I. I also see no problem when Missouri chooses to do the same thing. If Oregon takes unto itself the right to allow exempted religious schools, all the other states have the same rights. Believe it or not, Contreras ain't God.
Now here's a "real" DL expert's opinion:
Missouri criticized over its religious exemption to degree-granting schools
By STEVE ROCK
The Kansas City Star
Two other unaccredited schools in Missouri illustrate problems with the state’s proprietary schools certification program, according to higher education experts.
The International University in Independence secured a religious exemption in 1986 and has operated with virtually no state oversight. Western States University for Professional Studies in Doniphan, Mo., first applied for state licensure in 1985. Its application was never accepted or rejected, but the school was allowed to grant degrees for more than 20 years.
George Brown — an Australian expert whose paper “Degrees of Doubt: Legitimate, Real and Fake Qualifications in a Global Market” appeared in the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management — called Missouri “a laughingstock of the international community.”
Brown is particularly critical of Missouri’s exemption from state regulation for schools “owned, controlled and operated by a bona fide religious or denominational organization.” Fewer than half the states in the United States offer a similar exemption, according to the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization. Kansas doesn’t grant religious exemptions.
The International University in Independence offers many degree programs, such as a Ph.D. in philosophy and a “fast track” MBA. One of its Web sites quotes a price of $7,800 for a bachelor’s degree and claims more than 260,000 graduates since 1973. It doesn’t mention a religious affiliation.
For years, people from across the globe have queried Missouri’s Department of Higher Education about the legitimacy of the school. Recent responses from Leroy Wade, who heads the state’s proprietary certification program, note that the university “is not regarded by this department as being a part of the recognized academic community in Missouri.”
The school’s small, stone house headquarters — without identifying signs — is sandwiched between a gas station and a store called the Chop Shop on Noland Road. A school Web site, however, shows students walking near a large, white building.
The school’s founder and chancellor, John W. Johnston of Independence, didn’t return several phone calls from The Kansas City Star. Nobody answered the door when a reporter went to the school on two recent occasions.
When the school received its religious exemption, state law did not restrict the degrees that exempted schools could issue. The law was changed in 1991, limiting degrees to those that are religious or theological in nature.
Asked whether the school complies with state law because it appears to offer nonreligious degrees, Wade said: “That’s something we’ll need to review.”
When Western States officials first applied for state licensure in 1985, they sought to grant degrees based largely on “accrued knowledge,” state records show.
David Chance got his Ph.D. there in 2003. Though he took no classes to earn it, Chance said he had to submit a lengthy compilation of his life’s work.