Christian Colleges Remember: With Shekels Come Shackles!

It is time for leaders in Christian colleges to take a stand against a massive Federal power grab of all educational institutions in the U.S. A proposal expected to be effective in November will bring all colleges under the wing of the Federal government. According to former senator Bill Armstrong, "The Department of Education is attempting to subject every college and university in America – public and private – to political supervision," he said in an e-mail to WorldNetDaily. He is also concerned over government approval of all curricula used in all schools.

Moreover, the government is demanding that complaints be monitored and responded to appropriately. Most important, under this proposed federal rule change, institutions of higher education "would be required to have a document of state approval … to operate an educational program, including programs leading to a degree or certificate," said Shapri D. LoMaglio of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities in Bob Unruh’s WND column. Presumably, this would apply to schools that accept any kind of aid (which is practically all post high school institutions) from state and federal governments.

"I think it is the greatest threat to academic freedom in our lifetime," said Bill Armstrong, now president of Colorado Christian University, to WND. Hey, whatever happened to academic freedom that radical leftists screamed about a few years ago when Christians and conservatives criticized feminine studies, Afro-centric studies, explicit homosexual studies, etc.? Now, they are strangely silent proving that leftist, liberal loonies are classical hypocrites.

Frankly, I am not too concerned with what happens at the secular colleges and universities other than the horrific principle of government involvement in education, secular or Christian. I am concerned how this will affect the Christian colleges, universities, seminaries, and Bible Institutes throughout the U.S.

Will any Christian college president and Board of Trustees permit the government to interfere, supervise, and mandate rules to them? Of course, the answer should be “no,” however, that is a lost cause. The fact is, those very people capitulated many years ago when they decided they needed the government stamp of approval upon their schools. It is called accreditation. Almost all, except a handful, of Christian colleges have sought and received government approval through regional accreditation.

Christian educators know that parents are uninformed and have been brainwashed into believing that accreditation and qualification are synonymous. So Christian educators drank the grape Kool-Aid many years ago and some of them said to me, “We will go along with accreditation as long as they don’t tell us how to run our school, what to teach, and what textbooks to use.” Of course, that has been a reality for many years. Those same people did respond to the government’s iron fist by wringing their hands, whining, and whimpering but they adjusted to the surrender of their basic educational and scriptural principles. They sold out to get handouts from government such as grants, loans, and other benefits, enabling students to use government funds.

Now, Christian college registrars cannot even inform the tuition-paying parents the status of their children‘s education unless the student signs a consent form! Required chapel attendance has been forsaken and generally, school officials are walking through a minefield of government and accreditation association regulations.

Some of us in Christian education said many years ago that what government (at any level) funds, it runs and if you take the government’s nickel, you will get their noose. Christian educators “took the chance” and now operate with a noose, loose in some cases, but a noose around their necks.

Now comes the next step when the Federal bureaucracy, not just the state or an accreditation agency, can set the guidelines for any school that awards a degree, diploma or certificate. The thugs in D.C. can determine what courses must be taught for each degree, what constitutes a credit hour, how many hours a professor may teach, what books will be used. And on and on and on.

Can any Christian college president justify permitting any agency to interfere in the discipline of students (sounds quaint, doesn’t it) and to set standards for those students? How about a college’s stand on abortion, homosexuality, fornication (very quaint), and other “sins”? Therefore, those colleges that decide not to abide by new regulations (that may not be too intrusive at the beginning) can expect to lose tax exemption, all student loans, grants, and any benefit from state and federal government.

School officials will have to jump through government hoops in order to satisfy the federal bureaucrats and even fools know that federal bureaucrats are never satisfied.

Remember, with the shekels come shackles.