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This is a very lengthy article so I will try to summarize: The author believes Clarks Summit (the former Bible Baptist College) was managed incompetently, in contrast with sister school Faith Baptist Bible College in Ankeny, Iowa which is doing well with a current enrollment of 500.
He criticizes the name change (removing Baptist from the name) and states that there was a drift away from Baptist and dispensational emphasis and toward acceptance of Reformed theology. [In my opinion, the "drift" away from dispensationalism was a good thing, but hey, that's just me].
"A stated reason for the name-change has since been proven to be false: that graduates from the school who wanted to enter certain foreign countries on a missionary visa status were being 'denied entry since their diploma contained religious titles, i.e. Baptist, Bible'. . . . I was duped into embracing that same train of thought, that 'Baptist and Bible' in our name was a deterrent to missionaries getting into some foreign countries. I have now found out that was ridiculously false. In this age of information, any country that wants to prevent a missionary from entrance / access would simply need to do a background check on individuals to identify their red-flag issues for visa applicants. I was trying to be a loyal foot soldier to the new president who was leading the charge on the name change issue, but it was really the beginning of a slippery slope away from our mission as a school and away from Holding Fast the Faithful Word. In many ways, the real BBC&S that we knew and loved ended with that name change." [Note - I believe this was also given as one of the reasons that Northland changed its name and took Baptist out of the name].
The author states that Clarks Summit was "Drifting . . . Toward Woke Ideology, DEI, Gender Equality, Social-Justice. . . . The school had always maintained the policy requirement for student applicants to state and affirm their personal testimony of faith in Christ, yet exceptions were being made for admitting certain students that openly and honestly stated that they were not Christians, so that they could be recruited to participate in the school’s intercollegiate athletic program. This was a direct violation of school admissions policy." [Note - I seem to recall that this was part of the downfall of Pillsbury Baptist Bible College - they recruited football players who didn't understand that it was a Bible college and that interracial dating was not allowed, and then they filed racial discrimination lawsuits].
He feels that it was a mistake to move away from emphasis on Bible and training for local church ministry, to try to become a liberal arts school: "Best practices in higher education agree that expanding academic offerings during a time of declining enrollment and financial stress is actually counterproductive. A school cannot reap the enrollment and financial gains of adding new programs for new students fast enough, while they actually create more stress to the budget by hiring new faculty to teach in those new programs. Expanding the academic programs at CSU became a black hole and a death knell. In addition, stakeholders were confused as to why the school, with its excellent track record of turning out full-time ministry graduates, was now trying to change its mission and attempt to compete with already well-established, larger Christian liberal arts colleges." [As I understand it, Bob Jones University has been doing the opposite of Clarks Summit - dropping a lot of majors programs that are not ministry-related and that they can no longer afford to maintain. That approach appears to be working better than the expansive policy of Clarks Summit, which helped to lead to the school's demise].
The decision to close Clarks Summit University is final - the campus has been sold to an unknown buyer, with closing expected to take place in April, 2025.
Sale of former Clarks Summit University pending
A sale of the former Clarks Summit University property is pending, according to the real estate agent who listed the property and online listings. Steve Farrell, chairman of Classic Properties, said negotiations are underway for sale of the property in South Abington Twp., and he expects the...