Institute For Creation Research - School and Accreditation

School and Accreditation

In June 1981, the ICR received formal state approval in California to offer degree programs, and its first graduate level courses were taught in the summer of that year. When in 1988 the ICR sought re-approval, a five-person committee from the California Department of Education sent to evaluate ICR's degree program found its graduate school consisted of only five full-time faculty and some courses were videotaped rather than professor-led instruction. The committee failed to grant re-approval by 3–2 vote, a move the ICR attributed to "religious intolerance" rather than criticisms of the quality of education it provided. This resulted in California's State Superintendent of Public Instruction barring the institute from granting master's degrees in science, which encompassed their existing graduate degree programs in the teaching of biology, geology, astrogeophysics and science. ICR filed a lawsuit against California's State Superintendent, Bill Honig, and was awarded a settlement of $225,000 and given permission to continue its program until 1995 so long as it continued to teach evolution alongside creationism. The original agreement expired in 1995, and California Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education (BPPVE) granted the ICR religious exemption from postsecondary school requirements in California. In 2007, the BPPVE ceased operations and California is without a governmental body to set academic standards of private institutions of higher education.

In 1982 the ICR received accreditation from the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS). According to Henry Morris, TRACS and ICR founder, TRACS is a "product of the ICR Graduate School" and was created "Because of the prejudice against creation-science, outspoken creationist schools such as ICRGS used to stand little or no chance of getting recognition through accreditation." TRACS was officially recognized as an accreditor by the US Department of Education in 1991. Following the ICR's move to Dallas, in November 2007 TRACS terminated its accredited status after the ICR requested its termination. Texas does not recognize TRACS' accreditation.

The ICR's relocation to Texas required it to obtain Texas state approval or become accredited by a regional accrediting agency, in this case Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). The ICR has applied for a temporary state certification there which would have allowed the institute to operate while it pursues accreditation through SACS. In December 2007, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) received an advisory committee recommendation to allow the ICR to start offering online master’s degrees in science education. The Board originally planned to decide on the issue at their January 2008 meeting. At the time it applied, ICR graduate school had approximately 30 to 50 students, most teachers at private Christian schools or homeschoolers, and four full-time faculty.

After seeking the advice from an independent panel, the Chairman of the Texas Board requested information about the research conducted by the faculty, how an on-line program would expose students to the experimental side of science, and asked why "heir curriculum doesn't line up very well with the curriculum available in conventional master of science programs." Subsequently, the ICR asked the THECB to delay its decision until their next meeting, on April 24, 2008 to give them time to respond. Inside Higher Ed reports that "lobbying — by scientists against the institute, and by others in its favor — is going strong." The Dallas Morning News obtained some of the messages sent to the board and published a number of examples and summaries that illustrate just how intense the debate has become. Following the recent response from the ICR to the Board, Steven Schafersman, of the Texas Citizens for Science, reported that the ICR sent out "prayer requests" and is currently arguing a creationist derived distinction of science in their application for approval.

On April 23, 2008 education board's Academic Excellence and Research Committee unanimously voted against allowing the ICR to issue science degrees citing "the institute’s program is infused with creationism and runs counter to conventions of science that hold that claims of supernatural intervention are not testable and therefore lie outside the realm of science." On the following day the full Board unanimously voted against allowing the ICR to issue science degrees. The decision was "based the recommendation on two considerations: 1) that ICR failed to demonstrate that the proposed degree program meets acceptable standards of science and science education; and 2) that the proposed degree is inconsistent with Coordinating Board rules which require the accurate labeling or designation of programs ... Since the proposed degree program inadequately covers key areas of science, it cannot be properly designated either as 'science' or 'science education.'" The ICR said it would appeal the decision saying the Education Board is guilty of "viewpoint discrimination."

In April 2009, the ICR sued the THECB in federal court for imposing "an unconstitutional and prejudicial burden against ICRGS's academic freedom and religious liberties" and asked for the ability to award science degrees. In June 2010, the judge ruled in favor of the Texas Higher Education saying the ICR "is entirely unable to file a complaint which is not overly verbose, disjointed, incoherent, maundering and full of irrelevant information." The judge ruled, "The Court simply comes to the conclusion, which is inescapable, that the decision was rationally related to a legitimate state interest." According to the San Antonio Express-News, "ICR representatives said they were reviewing the decision and may appeal." In the September 2010 ICR newsletter Henry Morris III, the ICR's chief executive officer, wrote: "ICR's legal battle is over," after the Judge granted summary judgment to the Texas Board.