Education Dept. Suspends Grants to Christian College

[NVMojo]

I guess the Education Dept. gets in now that the Williams guy got in trouble with White House for fabricating education news????

October 11, 2005

The U.S. Education Department has suspended at least a half million dollars in grants that it awarded to Alaska Christian College, after concluding that the institution’s use of federal funds unconstitutionally mixes church and state.

At issue is the college’s receipt of a $435,000 grant from the department’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education — an award that Alaska’s powerful Congressional delegation earmarked to the college in a 2005 spending bill — as well as other grants that the college received through similar channels in 2004 and 2003, totaling another $600,000.

FIPSE, as the grant program is known, has long been a program that recognized peer-reviewed, innovative academic initiatives but has been taken over in recent years by Congressional earmarks. The 2005 funds awarded to Alaska Christian, which mostly serves Native American students from nearby villages and reservations, were to be used to recruit students, provide scholarships and pay staff salaries.

more...

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/10/11/alaska

[Caution]

1. Can I get a Hallelujah?!?!

[DavidDvorkin]

2. Hallelujah!

And praise the FFRF!

[Caution]

5. Wooohoo! I may have to upgrade my membership to a lifetime

over this one.

[Angry Girl]

3. Hallelujah AND Amen!

About time those dominionist bastards got a leash.

[toopers]

4. Let's see . . .

We are making education less accessible for native americans, and that is a good thing?

[displacedtexan]

6. Click the link. Read the whole story.

It does sound kind of lame until you read the whole thing. Here's another snippet...

First, Stroup wrote, “the college does not have adequate safeguards to separate clearly in time or location inherently religious activities from the secular activities that could properly be supported by the federal funds.” Second, the college requires students to participate in religious activities, rather than having such activities be voluntary, and third, “we have concluded that the college has used federal funds for religious purposes.”

[toopers]

7. Again, I ask, . . .

making education less accessible to native americans is a good thing?

[beam me up scottie]

8. That's not an education,

that's taking advantage of Native Americans and using our tax dollars to do it.

"The college achieves its purpose in carrying out its core program — to help prepare for college underprivileged students who have earned high school diplomas but who are not ready for college-level academic work — through inculcating religion," Stroup wrote.

As a result, the department suspended any unspent portion of its 2004 and 2005 grants to Alaska Christian, "unless and until" the college submits a plan for correcting how it spends federal money in a way that clearly separates its religious and other purposes.

********

"We want these suspensions to serve notice on members of Congress that ‘religious pork’ will not hold up in court. The wall of separation between church and state, while battered, still holds," Gaylor said. "We have rescued nearly half a million in taxpayers’ money. Public funds should never have been used to help build a bible college or indoctrinate a vulnerable set of students. These students deserve true academic remedial aid, not biblical indoctrination."

[toopers]

9. The article did not say . . .

the students were only permitted to take bible study. Sure, they are forced to take some religious course along with the rest of the curriculum. Again, why is making education less accessible to native americans a good thing?

[beam me up scottie]

10. Nice spin, but in case you haven't noticed, this ain't the msm.

The needs of Native Americans are better served by a secular education, not a bible college.

These students need to learn how to survive in college, not how to proselytize when they get there.

I would think you'd be more upset about them being involuntarily indoctrinated into a non-native religion.

But then again, some people think that missionaries are actually concerned with improving the lives of Native peoples.

[toopers]

13. I probably would be upset, but . . .

according to the article, there are not too many other choices for continuing education in this area, the article did not mention that any of the students were forced to attend the institution, and the article did not mention that the students were required to proselytize before, during, or after receiving their education at this school. I am not trying to spin anything. An educational opportunity is being possibly being taken away from one of the poorest groups in our nation, and I think that is the problem. Tell me which part of my statement is "spinning" the truth?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

17. That's blackmail.

"I'll fund these poor people's education, as long as you let me impose religious activities for them as a precondition. If you say no, you hate them. And no, I won't waive that precondition."

[StopTheMorans]

18. wow, hiding behind the first amendment to promote state-sponsored

religion, and adding a dash of race card too. brilliant :thumbsup:

[beam me up scottie]

19. Spinning is calling what this "college" offers an education.

An unaccredited bible school is NOT considered continuing education.

They attempted to camouflage what they offer in order to qualify for federal funds and they got away with it.

What they did to these students is criminal.

They're no different than the missionaries who refused to give aid to the tsunami survivors when they wouldn't offer up their immortal souls for saving.

[northzax]

25. I would accept that premise

if you can show me that Alaska Christian College provides non-christian religious courses. bet they don't.

[Bridget Burke]

11. Hey, within 3 years they'll be an accredited Christian college!

What kind of certificates does ACC offer?

o Upon completing the program, freshmen students may receive a Certificate of Biblical Studies.

o Returning students, partnering with the neighboring community college, receive a Certificate of Biblical and General Studies after 2 years of earned credit.

Do credits transfer from ACC?

o Yes, ACC has transfer agreements with several four-year colleges and Universities. However, if you are interested in another college or university, the staff of ACC is willing to help you find a way to transfer credits.

o ACC is in the middle of an aggressive 3 year plan to become an accredited Christian college, which will make transferring credits much easier, and will open up more options for post-ACC education.

http://akcc.org/home/akcc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=38&Itemid=131

The student body numbers thirty (30). Many religious schools offer fine educations, even to non-believers. This is not one of them; even the believers are being shortchanged.

[beam me up scottie]

12. Nice research !

I wonder how many more of these pseudo-schools are getting our tax dollars...

[salin]

14. 2003 and 2004 govt $ = 600,000 or about $300,000 per year, at 30 students

that is a whopping $10,000 per student.

[NVMojo]

15. Hello, Jesus doesn't need to be involved in schooling Native Americans!

read the whole article.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

16. Annie Laurie Gaylor from the Freedom From Religion Foundation:

Also from the article:

"These students deserve true academic remedial aid, not biblical indoctrination."

They're perfectly free to proselytize, but they should get the money for that purpose elsewhere.

[beam me up scottie]

20. Annie Gaylor rocks.

She refused to let the reichwing taliban force their agenda on these students.

We need more like her.

[Zhade]

21. I'm from Native stock - your red herring is worthless.

What part of "separation of church and state" don't you understand?

They are REQUIRING students to participate in religious activities. THIS IS ILLEGAL.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

24. Heh. Blunt, sweet & to the point.

:thumbsup:

[oneighty]

22. In my lifetime

our white central school played football against the Indian school football team from the Res four miles from where I live now.

The missionary/federal type school on the Res destroyed the Indians language, their history and their religion.

Then having robbed the Indian children (Finally) of all the old beliefs the 'Indian only' school was closed and the Indians sent to the white school.

It is the way of the round eyes.

180

[beam me up scottie]

23. Some things never change.

And some things can never be made right.

All we can do is fight to stop it from happening to these students and to native people everywhere.

[Taxloss]

26. Some good news. I hope the money is spent on a secular school nearby.

A rare blow for the secular state.

[Megahurtz]

27. Good. Separation of Church and State

is very important.