Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools
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| Formation | 1979 |
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President
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T Paul Boatner |
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Key people
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Ron Cannon, Vice President Tanmay Pramanik, Vice President Barry Griffith, Vice President James Flanagan, Acting Commission Chairman William Bowden, Commission Secretary Gary Weier, Commission Treasurer |
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Staff
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14 |
| Website | www.tracs.org |
The Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) is a national educational accreditation agency that focuses narrowly on Christian colleges, universities, and seminaries seeking collegiate accreditation in the United States. TRACS, which is based in Forest, Virginia, is recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. Despite the transnational in its name, the organization almost entirely reviews schools in the United States.
The organization was founded in 1979 to "promote the welfare, interests, and development of post-secondary institutions, whose mission is characterized by a distinctly Christian purpose." According to the Institute for Creation Research (ICR), TRACS is a "product of the ICR" and was created "Because of the prejudice against creation-science, outspoken creationist schools" that had "little or no chance of getting recognition through accreditation." TRACS requires all accredited schools to have a statement of faith that affirms "the inerrancy and historicity of the Bible" and "the divine work of non-evolutionary creation including persons in God's image".
TRACS's first application for federal recognition in 1987 was denied, but in 1991 under President George H.W. Bush, U.S. Education Secretary Lamar Alexander "approved TRACS, despite his advisory panel's repeatedly recommending against recognition." Approval came following TRACS' third rejection by the board in which Secretary Alexander "arranged for an appeal hearing," and critics of the approval said the move was about politics. TRACS' approval "worried" accrediting officials who concluded that TRACS was not a qualified accreditor and the move was criticized by education officials.
Another source of criticism was the 1991 granting of accreditation to the Institute for Creation Research. One of TRACS' board members was Henry M. Morris, founder of ICR. Attorney Timothy Sandefur called Morris's position on the board "highly questionable". In 2007 John D. Morris, Henry Morris' son, asked TRACS to terminate the ICR's accreditation. The reason was, in part, that the ICR moved to Texas and the state did not recognize TRACS.
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