Patriot Bible University

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Coordinates: 37°40′16.3″N 106°20′49″W / 37.671194°N 106.34694°W / 37.671194; -106.34694

Patriot Bible University
Established 1979
Type Distance education/ Not accredited
Chancellor Bill Knight[1]
President Wayne Knight[1]
Executive Director Lonnie Skinner[1]
Location Del Norte, Colorado, United States
Former names Patriot University
Registrar Toni Skinner[1]
Website http://www.patriotuniversity.com

Patriot Bible University (PBU), formerly known as Patriot University, is an unaccredited fundamentalist Christian correspondence school located in Del Norte, Colorado [2] which issues religious degrees only.[3] PBU is not accredited by any agency recognized by the Department of Education.[4] It has been called a diploma mill, lacking sufficient academic standards to award degrees.[5][6]

Contents

[edit] History

It was established in 1979 as Patriot University in Dallas, Texas at the home of school founder Lonnie Skinner.[7] Then in 1985 it became affiliated with Hilltop Baptist Church in Colorado Springs[8] Beginning in March 1988 the school was authorized by the State of Colorado Higher Education Commission to issue "religious degrees".[9] In 1993, its address was listed as 6915 Palmer Park Blvd in Colorado Springs with Wayne Knight as President and Director.[10] This address is currently Hilltop Baptist Church.[11] Also in 1993, admission requirements included that applicants must be "Bible believing Christians."[10]

Front view of Patriot Bible University taken on November 22, 2006.

In 1997 Patriot's street address was also listed as the residential address of Lonnie Skinner.[12] In July 2004, the school changed its name to Patriot Bible University and moved out of College Heights Baptist Church and into a building in the small town of 1,700 people in Del Norte, Colorado. According to property records, Hilltop Baptist Church bought the Patriot building, which was valued at $232,495 and it currently has tax exemption.[13] Skinner is a Baptist pastor, Patriot's Executive Director and an instructor. As of 2007, Patriot's Del Norte address is listed by Zabasearch.com as the residence of Lonnie Skinner and the Skinner family (Lonnie, Toni, and possibly Rachael).[14]

In 2007, it had a total of four employees.[15] According to Patriot's website it issues approximately 50 to 100 Christian religious degrees (Bachelor's, Master's and Doctorates) per year, and has about 400 active distance learning based students.[8]

[edit] Accreditation

Profile view of Patriot Bible University taken on November 22, 2006.

In Steve Levicoff's Name It and Frame It? New Opportunities in Adult Education and How to Avoid Being Ripped Off by 'Christian' Degree Mills he explained that while a non-accredited school is not necessarily a degree mill, he wrote that Patriot Bible University was a degree mill.[5] The college has varied its policies over the years, but it has been criticized for awarding students degrees based on questionable standards such as "life experience" or "ministry evaluation" that lack academic rigour and merit.

The university is not accredited by any recognized accreditation associations of higher learning. As of 2007, it was recognized by the American Accrediting Association of Theological Institutions (AAATI), which has no recognition from the United States Department of Education or any other government educational organization.[16] The AAATI is itself considered an accreditation mill, and provides approval to schools for a $100 charge.[5] In 2008, it was accredited by Accrediting Commission International.[17] The ACI is again not recognized by the US Department of Education.[18] The St. Petersburg Times reported, "Alan Contreras, who heads Oregon's Office of Degree Authorization, which closely tracks schools with questionable accreditation. 'Anything accredited by ACI in Beebe, Ark., is either fake or substandard, as far as I know.'"[19]

[edit] Tuition, requirements, and criticism

Close up profile view of Patriot Bible University taken on November 22, 2006.

Critics have charged that Patriot Bible University is a diploma mill as it has unreasonably low graduation requirements, lack of sufficient faculty or educational standards, and a suspicious tuition scheme, among other issues.[5] The college itself has claimed that it simply does not "choose" to be accredited by standard associations.[9] The school's current policies allow students with previous college credits to attain bachelor's degrees, master's degrees and even "Doctor of Ministry" degrees in months, rather than years, for as little as $38 per month plus books. The university offers a monthly fee, unlike most universities, which only charge per-credit fees.[20] Patriot allows students to "prepay" for degrees (such as, D.Min. fully pre-paid, $ 1899) and for those who already have a degree they "are required to complete only 12 courses for the Bachelor of Arts level".[21] The school's catalog contains course descriptions but no listing of the school's faculty or their credentials.

Patriot Bible University is divided into 3 schools - College of Ministerial Studies, College of Christian Education, and Patriot School of the Bible. The College of Ministerial Studies and College of Christian Education offer Christian Bible degrees at the undergraduate, and graduate degree levels. Patriot School of the Bible offers Bible diplomas, certifications, ministry and leadership training, and continuing education.[22]

[edit] Kent Hovind

Much of the criticism of Patriot is leveled at the controversial creationist evangelist Kent Hovind, who received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees at Patriot in 1989 and 1991 respectively, both in Christian Education.[7][23] Hovind's use of the title "Doctor" in particular has provoked interest and subsequently, scrutiny of his education credentials as well as his dissertation.[7]

Doctoral dissertations from reputable institutions are published by the awarding institution and generally lodged with university libraries, as well as being made available to other scholars conducting research in similar areas. However, Patriot will not supply copies of Hovind's doctoral dissertation except with his permission.[24] Bartlet wrote that the copy she viewed is on file at the National Center for Science Education (NCSE), but the organization cannot distribute it due to copyright restrictions.[24] The NCSE's copy was received from Skip Evans who obtained Hovind's dissertation from Patriot with Hovind's permission in March 1999.[24]

Critics have described Hovind's dissertation as incomplete, of low academic quality, poor writing, poor spelling, and ungrammatical style.[24] The lack of quality was described, in part, by the fact that "the pages are not numbered; there is no title; of sixteen or so chapters in the index only the first four are finished; misspellings are rampant ("Immerged" for emerged, "epic" for epoch, and "tentable" for testable are three examples); and the single illustration was apparently cut out of a science book with scissors and fastened to the thesis with glue or tape."[24] Hovind's dissertation was approved by one person, Wayne Knight,[24] who was and remains president of Patriot.[1]

Patriot has posted Hovind's religious testimony on its website and posted a defense of him.[25] In 2010, Patriot responded to Wikileaks' claim to have revealed Hovind's dissertation. Patriot wrote the posting was not the "finished" product, but because they do not "retain ownership to student thesis’ or dissertations, as is commonly practiced by many schools," they "cannot release student work to the public".[26]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Patriot Bible University: Staff, Faculty, Directors". Patriot Bible University. 2010. http://www.patriotuniversity.org/index.php?mod=Articles&menuid=40. Retrieved 2010-07-04. 
  2. ^ "Patriot textbooks are carefully selected from Biblically conservative, professional authors who have written on a focused subject. Course textbooks present and expound on the Bible’s absolute truth and not man’s modernistic reasoning.." from "Why Choose Patriot?". Patriot Bible University. 2008. http://www.patriotuniversity.org/. Retrieved 2008-08-04. 
  3. ^ See State Authorization from "Colorado Department of Higher Education". State of Colorado. 2010. http://highered.colorado.gov/Academics/Colleges/privateaccredited.asp/. Retrieved 2010-06-10. [dead link]
  4. ^ "U.S. Department of Education Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs". United States Department of Education. 2010. http://www.ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. Retrieved 2010-06-10. 
  5. ^ a b c d Steve Levicoff. 1995. Chapter 12, Name It and Frame It? New Opportunities in Adult Education and How to Avoid Being Ripped Off by 'Christian' Degree Mills 4th ed.
  6. ^ {{cite news | url=http://www.yorkdispatch.com/local/ci_3597850 | title=Creationist speaker 'loose about the facts' | publisher=York Dispatch | date= Mar 13, 2006| first= | last= | accessdate = 2010-07-02 | archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20060325220914/http://www.yorkdispatch.com/local/ci_3597850]
  7. ^ "Zabasearch.com". Zabasearch.com. 2007. http://www.zabasearch.com. Retrieved 2007-02-02. 
  8. ^ "Better Business Bureau profile of Patriot Bible University". Better Business Bureau. April 2007. http://www.bbbsc.org/page.asp?id=140. Retrieved 2007-05-02. 
  9. ^ "Patriot Bible University-Admissions". Patriot Bible University. 2007-10-27. Archived from the original on 2007-05-09. http://web.archive.org/web/20070509030816/http://www.patriotuniversity.com/admissionpolicy.htm. Retrieved 2010-07-06. 
  10. ^ "Who Accredits Patriot Bible University". Patriot Bible University. 2008-10. https://www.patriotuniversity.com/Secure/infoAccreditation.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-23. 
  11. ^ "Accrediting Agencies Not Recognized Under GAAP". Degree.net. 2008. http://www.degree.net/guides/non-gaap_listings.html. Retrieved 2009-03-23. 
  12. ^ Bousquet, Steve; Matus, Ron (2007-10-27). "Degree inspires little faith". St. Petersburg Times. http://www.sptimes.com/2007/10/27/State/Degree_inspires_littl.shtml. Retrieved 2009-03-26. 
  13. ^ "Finance & Payments". Patriot Bible University. 2007. http://patriotuniversity.org/index.php?mod=Articles&menuid=4. Retrieved 2007-05-04. 
  14. ^ "Degree Programs". http://www.patriotuniversity.org/index.php?mod=Articles&menuid=83. 
  15. ^ "Christian Bible College Degrees & Training". Patriot Bible University. 2010. http://www.patriotuniversity.org/index.php?mod=Articles&menuid=6. 
  16. ^ Hovind, Kent (August 16, 2001). "Where did you get your degree?". DrDino.com (archived). Archived from the original on 2001-08-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20010816220051/http://www.drdino.com/FAQs/FAQmisc13.jsp. Retrieved 2007-02-24. 
  17. ^ a b c d e f Bartelt, Karen E. (2004). "The Dissertation Kent Hovind Doesn't Want You to Read: A Review of Kent Hovind's Thesis". No Answers in Genesis. http://www.noanswersingenesis.org.au/bartelt_dissertation_on_hovind_thesis.htm. Retrieved 2007-10-24. 
  18. ^ "Testimonials". Patriot Bible University. 2007. http://www.patriotuniversity.org/index.php?mod=Articles&action=show&menuid=94&id=120. Retrieved 2007-05-04. 
  19. ^ "The Price of Truth". Patriot Bible University. 2010. http://patriotuniversity.com/PriceOfTruth3.html. Retrieved 2010-07-04. 

[edit] External links

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