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