Southeastern Accreditation

                                                                                                                              Vol. IV. No. 3, April 1991

Southeastern Seminary at Wake Forest, N.C. is accredited by two non-Baptist, outside agencies: the Southeastern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), and the Association of Theological Schools (ATS). Ever since conservatives achieved a majority on the Southeastern trustee board and the major Southeastern administrators resigned, SACS and ATS have been questioning policies and procedures at the seminary. Presently the school is on warning status with SACS, and this status will be reviewed in December. ATS has recently requested separate reports from faculty, administration, and trustees. The reports will show why Southeastern should not be put on probation in June, seminary officials said.

"We are going to give ourselves unreservedly to keep accreditation," said President Lewis A. Drummond. "We are addressing point by point the concerns of our accrediting agencies." Roger Ellsworth, trustee chairman commented, "We are still hopeful of satisfying both SACS and ATS, but prudent planning requires we take into account every eventuality and prepare for it." Robert D. Crowley, Rockville, MD, pastor and chairman of the instruction committee, accused the faculty of blackmail, of being obstinate, of obfuscating the issue, and of blocking steps taken in trying to preserve accreditation.

"Many students are concerned about the accreditation of Southeastern. ... Some have even asked whether or not the events at Southeastern will affect future opportunities for service with the Home and Foreign Mission Boards. These are reasonable questions, but I have reason to believe we will be successful in resolving all matters of concern to our accrediting agencies," said Russ Bush, vice president for academic affairs.

Comment: Even apart from events at Southeastern, there is a basic question whether Southern Baptist seminaries should seek accreditation from agencies whose personnel are neither Southern Baptist nor share the same understanding of the nature of God's word as do the great majority of Southern Baptists.

Should we allow the education of our future denominational leaders to be heavily influenced by those who are not biblical inerrantists? The naive will say that these men simply apply objective standards applicable to any college or seminary, but should a Southern Baptist seminary be governed and administered like a secular school? If the answer is yes, then why have our own seminaries at all?

Some will say that accreditation is necessary so that our graduates can go on to further degrees at respected non-Southern Baptist universities. But Harvard is not accredited, and neither are a number of other well-known and respected universities. Moreover, which is more important, the approval of secular agencies or faithfulness to God's word? Basically, Southern Baptist seminaries are responsible to the Southern Baptist Convention for educating future pastors in sound doctrine, rightly dividing the word of God. Why should we seek the approval in any respect of a non-Southern Baptist group?

From the perspective of a conservative Southern Baptist it appears that SAC and ATS are not objectively interested in legitimate accreditation criteria but rather in hampering and harassing the conservative restructuring of Southeastern. At some point we must deal with the issue whether the SBC should establish our own Southern Baptist accrediting agency. The Executive Committee is studying the feasibility and requirements of this alternative.

[The factual material above is from Baptist Press. The commentary is by T.C. Pinckney.]