[Vision2020] NSA Accreditation Revisited
Nick Gier
ngier@uidaho.edu
Tue, 11 May 2004 09:49:28 -0700
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Greetings:
I've waited five days to post this because I wanted to give Russell
Fitzgerald, Executive Director of the Transnational Association for
Christian Colleges and Schools, a chance to respond. I did get a short
response saying that he was too busy to comment on my letter. He did
commend me for my persistence on this matter.
Even though Prof. Fox-Genovese has cancelled (but her illness and a death
in the family may lead one to the suspicion that she cancelled too
dramatically), the main point of my letter is unaffected.
To the Editor:
I want to congratulate the Logos School team on its success in the
mock trial competition in Boise. I also wish to commend all the graduates
at New St. Andrews College (NSA) for their senior theses, whose topics
sound very interesting. I once was an outside reader for one of these
theses, so I know how hard these students work at very high standards.
Getting Professor Elizabeth Fox-Genovese to speak for the NSA
graduation was quite an achievement. For this academic year NSA has laid
out large sums for honoraria not only for Fox-Genovese, but also for the
Rev. Forrest Church for a debate last fall on the UI campus.
It seems to me that this money would have been better spent in
upgrading its faculty's credentials. Currently, the faculty consists of
four PhDs, four MAs, and three BSs, and one BA. NSA's accrediting agency,
the Transnational Association for Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS),
requires a master's degree as a minimum for undergraduate faculty. NSA does
meet the minimum for PhDs, which is a mere thirty percent, a threshold that
would be much higher with more prestigious accrediting agencies.
I sent a confidential letter of inquiry about NSA's faculty
credentials to Russell G. Fitzgerald, TRAC's executive director, and I also
included a four page list of my other concerns. Without my permission,
Fitzgerald shared my letter with NSA's Dean Roy Atwood. Fitzgerald assured
me that there were no problems with NSA's accreditation status even though
one third of its faculty do not meet TRACS standards.
I have now placed my letter to Fitzgerald on my website
(www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/nsaccred.htm.) and will just summarize three of
my concerns. First, that Doug Wilson has hired his brother, his son, and
his son-in-law as faculty; second, that most of the faculty's publications
come from Canon Press, Wilson's own creation; and third, NSA has attacked
the UI administration and faculty and is now pursuing legal discovery about
UI Black History Month.
Nick Gier, Moscow
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Greetings:<br><br>
I've waited five days to post this because I wanted to give Russell
Fitzgerald, Executive Director of the Transnational Association for
Christian Colleges and Schools, a chance to respond. I did get a
short response saying that he was too busy to comment on my letter.
He did commend me for my persistence on this matter.<br><br>
Even though Prof. Fox-Genovese has cancelled (but her illness and a
death in the family may lead one to the suspicion that she cancelled too
dramatically), the main point of my letter is unaffected.<br><br>
To the Editor:<br><br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>I want to
congratulate the Logos School team on its success in the mock trial
competition in Boise. I also wish to commend all the graduates at New St.
Andrews College (NSA) for their senior theses, whose topics sound very
interesting. I once was an outside reader for one of these theses, so I
know how hard these students work at very high standards.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Getting
Professor Elizabeth Fox-Genovese to speak for the NSA graduation was
quite an achievement. For this academic year NSA has laid out large sums
for honoraria not only for Fox-Genovese, but also for the Rev. Forrest
Church for a debate last fall on the UI campus.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>It seems
to me that this money would have been better spent in upgrading its
faculty’s credentials. Currently, the faculty consists of four PhDs, four
MAs, and three BSs, and one BA. NSA’s accrediting agency, the
Transnational Association for Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS),
requires a master’s degree as a minimum for undergraduate faculty. NSA
does meet the minimum for PhDs, which is a mere thirty percent, a
threshold that would be much higher with more prestigious accrediting
agencies.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>I sent a
confidential letter of inquiry about NSA’s faculty credentials to Russell
G. Fitzgerald, TRAC’s executive director, and I also included a four page
list of my other concerns. Without my permission, Fitzgerald shared my
letter with NSA’s Dean Roy Atwood. Fitzgerald assured me that there were
no problems with NSA’s accreditation status even though one third of its
faculty do not meet TRACS standards.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>I have now
placed my letter to Fitzgerald on my website
(<a href="http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/nsaccred.htm." eudora="autourl"><font color="#0000FF"><u>www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/nsaccred.htm.</a></font>)</u>
and will just summarize three of my concerns. First, that Doug Wilson has
hired his brother, his son, and his son-in-law as faculty; second, that
most of the faculty’s publications come from Canon Press, Wilson’s own
creation; and third, NSA has attacked the UI administration and faculty
and is now pursuing legal discovery about UI Black History
Month.<br><br>
<u>Nick Gier, Moscow<br>
</u></html>
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