Posted on 12/10/2010 11:31:44 PM PST by STARWISE
New federal regulations issued by the Obama administration a few weeks ago threaten not only recruitment for Catholic colleges, but more importantly, their very identity.
The new regulations increase oversight for colleges through either state chartering or licensing, which are necessary for colleges to obtain federal aid. While states have always had to approve colleges that receive aid, the new law mandates that states approve colleges by name. States will also have greater power to act on complaints pertaining to colleges.
So why is this a problem?
New regulations represent a federal encroachment on the independence of private institutions and especially religious schools.
Even the Department of Education itself admitted that "a state's role may extend into defining, for example, curriculum, teaching methods, subject matter content, faculty qualifications, and learning outcomes." Catholic colleges that incorporate religious teaching in their curriculum may risk losing federal funding if state governments don't approve of the content.
All sorts of controversial issues come to mind that could be forced into the curricula of Catholic colleges by state governments as a condition of federal aid. Schools like Providence College might have to teach that it's acceptable to get an abortion or that creationism is a myth propagated by religious wackos.
We're not safe from a repeat of what happened at Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina. At this Catholic school, the administration issued a statement that employee health insurance would not fund contraceptives and abortions because it violated Catholic teaching on the dignity of human life. However, eight dissenting faculty members appealed to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which responded by accusing the college of discriminating against women.
Unfortunately, federal regulation is already trying to undermine key precepts of the Catholic faith, which should be actively promoted by Catholic schools across the country.
The scary thing is that even federal officials admit these new regulations do "not limit a State's oversight of institutions." In other words, states have total authority to rule against a school whose curriculum it deems "discriminatory" for promoting life.
Rest @ link
Excerpt:
An explosive report critical of college accreditation was released last month by the Center for College Affordability and Accountability (CCAA). But while CCAA wants to eliminate accreditation, it warns against replacing it with European-style government regulation — what CCAA calls the educational equivalent of the Food and Drug Administration:
In contrast to the improvement we would see in the quality assurance functions, the health and efficiency of higher education would be dramatically hurt by an educational FDA. Both of the historical strengths of higher education we’ve highlighted would be badly eroded. Institutional autonomy would be greatly circumscribed if the government was the ultimate judge of what constitutes a valid education.
Rather than maintaining or encouraging diversity, every institution would be pushed towards a common politically popular vision once a set of universal standards were in place. In other words, an FDA for education “would represent the ultimate in centralization, standardization and uniformity.”
Of course, such a system could also inhibit the freedoms of religious universities. Since the Catholic Church consistently bucks the trends of many “politically popular vision[s],” more government intrusion at the federal or state level could put Catholic universities between Saint Peter and a hard place. We are already seeing this tension unfold with Belmont Abbey College’s case pending with the EEOC, which is trying to force the College to cover contraceptives in its employee health plan.
And The Cardinal Newman Society recently criticized new U.S. Dept. of Education regulations that encourage greater oversight of colleges and universities by state governments.
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Yup .. ever transforming ruining America....dammmm him. And do the same regulations apply to islamic schools and brainwashing centers ?
Nothing is sacred ..
The good news is that there are only a handful of colleges that this will affect.
The bad new is the same.
“Christian faith” my ass.
So when will the ACLU step in to prevent the STATE FROM RULING THE CHURCH. Where is that wall of separation NOW. Is not the wall suppose to work both ways? The Church should influence the State, not the other way around.
This is one reason I did not support faith based initiatives with government funding. What Uncle funds Uncle eventually rules and ruins.
THE goal of these communists is to eliminate Christianity.
Never thought it would happen in America, but alas, it most certainly will if we don’t stop this train wreck.
How quickly we forget that Catholic elementary school systems were originally set up in this country back in the 19th Century -- as a mechanism for educating Catholic children outside the dominant Protestant culture in this country at the time.
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