Petition says Atlantic Union misleads students
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Avis Hendrickson, the Atlantic Union College president, said the school is making "measurable progress" in regaining accreditation.
A new online petition from a student at Atlantic Union College in Lancaster alleges the school misleads its students by downplaying its precarious financial and accreditation status.
The small college affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church is attempting a comeback after being forced to suspend classes in 2011 when its accreditation was revoked. It is being reviewed for re-accreditation but remains heavily reliant on church subsidies and students cannot earn an accredited degree from Atlantic Union until 2019 at the earliest.
An unnamed student has posted to Change.org, saying the college has not been upfront with students about those challenges.
“The school seems to continually downplay the situation and lie or trick the current and future potential students into believing everything will be ok,” the student wrote. “I know friends up there who are trying to leave but workers from the school keeps deluding their parents into keeping their kids there.”
As of Monday, 16 people signed on to the petition. If those are all students, it would represent almost one-third of the small student body of about 50 at the end of the spring semester.
Avis Hendrickson, the Atlantic Union president, issued a statement last week addressing the topic without specifically mentioning the online petition. The school emphasizes transparency, Hendrickson said, naming a monthly e-newsletter, monthly faculty and staff meetings, and individual meetings with faculty, staff and students.
Atlantic Union is making measurable progress, the president added, on receiving accreditation again from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, an accrediting organization known as NEASC. In the meantime, the college has an articulation agreement with a sister school, Southwestern University in Texas, and another in the works with Andrews University in Michigan.
The 1,100-word student petition addressed the articulation agreements, which allow students to more easily transfer.
“There are horror stories about the last time the school closed. Some students had to start over their programs or do over numerous classes,” the student said. “And while they may have had articulations with other schools that didn't stop the fact that may students still had to start over their programs and had to do over numerous courses."
Atlantic Union doesn’t make readily clear on its website that students aren’t able to earn an accredited degree at the school. The college, which relies on funding from the Seventh-day Adventist Church for most of its revenue, is attempting to regain accreditation in the coming years, with Hendrickson saying in a recent interview that she hopes to eventually reach about 1,000 students.
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