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Don't Believe the Hype about Zaytuna College: America's First Muslim Liberal Arts College
American Thinker ^ | 04/29/2015 | Stephen Schwartz

Posted on 04/29/2015 7:19:59 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

The accreditation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) of tiny Zaytuna College, an Islamist project with seventeen professors and fifty students in Berkeley, California that has been called “America’s first Muslim liberal arts college,” has been lauded -- and misrepresented -- in mainstream press. A Religion News Service article reprinted in the Washington Post and elsewhere, including the Christian Century, described Zaytuna as “A college that requires the study of both Wordsworth and the Quran for graduation... now the first fully accredited Islamic university in America.”

Yet WASC approved only one program: a B.A. in Islamic law and theology. Moreover, it stated that, “The phrase ‘fully accredited’ is to be avoided, since no partial accreditation is possible.” This distortion may be blamed on sloppy reporting, since such a degree program would not a university make, even in a Muslim country. As disclosed by Zaytuna itself in March 8 statement, WACS accreditation provided Zaytuna with a vague status as “an American Muslim college [that] has now joined the nation’s community of accredited institutions of higher education.”  No mention appears of “full” accreditation or pretentions to being a university. According to U.S. Department of Education (USDE), accreditation is optional for private schools in California. 

It appears that Zaytuna originally intended to accept federal and state funds (for which accreditation is necessary), since a list of frequently asked questions on its website declares, “Until Zaytuna College achieves accreditation, students will not be eligible for any state and federal grants or loans.” Yet today Zaytuna (along with such colleges as Hillsdale and Christendom) “does not participate in state or federal grant or loan programs,” a standing that exempts it from federal regulations regarding, the sex and race of the student body.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: college; education; islam; muslim; zaytunacollege

1 posted on 04/29/2015 7:19:59 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Another terror breeding ground. They’ll go after our courts over the long term.


2 posted on 04/29/2015 7:22:21 AM PDT by b4its2late (A Liberal is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own.)
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To: SeekAndFind

What fun it would be to write up a mock syllabus for a liberal arts muslim school!


3 posted on 04/29/2015 7:23:40 AM PDT by miss marmelstein (Richard the Third: "I should like to drive away not only the Turks (moslims) but all my foes.")
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To: SeekAndFind
Muslim liberal arts

Sort of an oxymoron since muslims want to have nothing to do with anything produced by Western Civilization.

4 posted on 04/29/2015 7:26:22 AM PDT by Slyfox (If I'm ever accused of being a Christian, I'd like there to be enough evidence to convict me)
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To: Slyfox

Doesn’t matter. They’re playing the Left like a fiddle and using all of the weapons of rhetoric and linguistics to beat us. After all, who in the media would say, “We don’t want Muslims to get an education!”

The American conservative movement is losing the culture war, because we don’t own the conversations. We’re losing on their battlefields, because the media owns the narrative. We need to change that if we’re going to make any headway.


5 posted on 04/29/2015 7:31:50 AM PDT by rarestia (It's time to water the Tree of Liberty.)
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To: rarestia

Let’s see how long it takes for the ACLU to sue them over not having any gay instructors.


6 posted on 04/29/2015 7:37:40 AM PDT by thorvaldr
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To: miss marmelstein

Can’t wait for the homosexuals and cross dressers to enroll and then sue the school.

You know like muslims have sued Christian schools or homosexuals have sued Christian schools along with the open legged women who want us to pay for their birth control


7 posted on 04/29/2015 7:39:30 AM PDT by manc (Marriage =1 man + 1 woman,when they say marriage equality then they should support polygamy)
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To: SeekAndFind

Why is such a thing even allowed in this country?


8 posted on 04/29/2015 7:44:08 AM PDT by GodAndCountryFirst
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To: rarestia
The American conservative movement is losing the culture war, because we don’t own the conversations.

When people are asked honestly for their opinion the answers are always about 2/3rds in our favor.

We have to look underneath the surface and see that the only thing the left has is really only the "appearance" rather than the substance of what is.

Our job is to point out the truth and let God sort out the rest.

9 posted on 04/29/2015 7:48:44 AM PDT by Slyfox (If I'm ever accused of being a Christian, I'd like there to be enough evidence to convict me)
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To: GodAndCountryFirst

Unabated idiocy running rampant.


10 posted on 04/29/2015 7:51:07 AM PDT by SgtHooper (Anyone who remembers the 60's, wasn't there!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Student loans require the payment of interest, which is haram under sharia. So the accreditation, done to attract students who can get loans to pay for the “education” is done contrary to sharia.

See how that works?


11 posted on 04/29/2015 7:51:46 AM PDT by bajabaja (Too ugly to be scanned at the airports.)
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To: SeekAndFind
A Muslim liberal arts college? Oxymoron Alert!
12 posted on 04/29/2015 9:16:01 AM PDT by Rummyfan (Let us now try liberty)
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To: GodAndCountryFirst

RE: Why is such a thing even allowed in this country?

Because we have the first amendment?


13 posted on 04/29/2015 9:24:04 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

If Islam were a religion, you might have a point.


14 posted on 04/29/2015 9:39:58 AM PDT by GodAndCountryFirst
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To: thorvaldr

Muslims are a protected class, like blacks. They’re allowed to do whatever without inspection because of their beliefs.

The left adamantly refuses to address Islam as a threat, because they know they’ll be consumed by violence and don’t have the balls to fight back.

The American experience right now is like being the sober guy (conservatives) at a bar with a bunch of friends (the left) and having your drunk idiot friends try to “hold you back” from getting into a fight with a bunch of toddlers (Islamists). The Islamists are weak and could be easily beaten by the large contingent of American firepower and might, but the left just keeps telling us we have to be kind and gentle. Meanwhile, those toddlers are going to grow up to become adults at some point.


15 posted on 04/29/2015 10:49:46 AM PDT by rarestia (It's time to water the Tree of Liberty.)
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To: Slyfox

We don’t have a nationally recognized presence outside of, maybe, Fox News, but even their bias is troubling and seen as “right wing” by those who claim no fealty to a cause.


16 posted on 04/29/2015 10:50:39 AM PDT by rarestia (It's time to water the Tree of Liberty.)
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