Serving Two Masters: Quality and Conflict in the Accreditation of Religious Institutions

Utilizing a voluntary review process, accreditation agencies judge the value of higher education institutions and programs. In doing so, the six regional associations and other accreditation agencies establish and maintain universal standards, which serve in the assessment of all their member institutions. Even so, the monitoring and quality standards used by the regional associations fail to escape or significantly alter the perception that religious colleges and universities are inferior to other higher education facilities. Essentially, the limited definitions of educational quality and the expectations of accreditation agencies place a special burden on religious colleges and universities by challenging the congruence between their faith and academic missions. Using data gathered from The Chronicle of Higher Education, this article examines the accreditation experience of religious postsecondary institutions to determine whether or not a conflict exists between the institutional obligations and the spiritual nature of religious colleges and universities; and how such a conflict may affect the accreditation status of these facilities.