LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 149

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OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
which deals with secular expectations for governance, responsible
operation, educational quality, institutional viability, and the like.
The two accreditations share similar processes and pursue complementary aims; on the one hand, ethical administration, effective
teaching, and institutional viability; on the other, the advancing of
the confession and nonseminary higher education mission of the
Synod. Synod accreditation, operating substantially within the
churchly tradition of visitation and ecclesiastical supervision (Cf.
Bylaws 3.3.1.1.1, 3.3.1.2; 1.2.1 [j], Const. Art. XII 7), holds boards
of regents (and through them, presidents, faculties, and staffs) of
affiliated colleges and universities accountable to the Synod for the
governance, administration, and implementation of programs and
campus life consistently faithful to the confession of and oriented
toward the mission of the church—not as imposition of an external
compulsion but as “iron sharpening iron” in pursuit of each college
or university’s own all-encompassing, sacred purpose.
Accreditation is formative, in that it engages institutions in
self-study and outside evaluation, relative to the expectations of the
Standards. Every institution will be engaged, no matter its present
degree of success in pursuing the ideals of the Standards, and challenged to demonstrate concrete plans for such pursuits. While CUS
has in the past aimed to state ideals and to work with institutions
with identified deficiencies, this model provides a definite process
intended accountably and transparently to advance all affiliated institutions in their pursuit of the Standards and, therefore, in their
service in support of and on behalf of the member congregations
of the Synod.
Accreditation is also finally summative; that is, it can reach the conclusion that the standards expected have not and cannot reasonably
be expected to be reached. While no one desires this outcome, its
definite possibility is intended to strengthen the intentional working of all affiliated schools with CUE in pursuit of the Synod’s
objectives. An institution or program losing accreditation loses its
ability to prepare and declare qualified church workers for rostered
service in the Synod as well as some of its rights to participate more
broadly in the life of the Synod; it is put on public notice that it is
not adequately fulfilling its churchly mission. Loss of accreditation, when its restoration is no longer being sought (as is obligatory under proposed Bylaw 1.2.1 [a]) or realistically to be expected,
leads to loss of affiliation with the Synod.
This model recognizes the responsibility, initiative, and creative
capacity of local boards of regents and administrations to pursue
the high expectations the Synod rightfully has of affiliated colleges
and universities, and provides not only for minimum expectations
but for individualized, measurable, and reproducible plans for continuous improvement—the development of organic but intentional
processes for improvement of each campus, with prescriptions
and progress visible to the Synod. It provides for CUE to work
transparently with institutions that need to achieve, and are working to achieve, positive change, or alternatively, for CUE to place
on notice or probation, and ultimately to disaccredit those that do
not work to achieve positive change. It provides a framework for
monitoring of and accountability for confessional fidelity, directed
and supervised by CUE and carried out with peer input, that can
be shared regularly with the members of the Synod, to guide their
support and utilization of the institutions.
Therefore be it
Resolved, That a program of affiliated college and university accreditation be established by the adoption of the following bylaws:

149

PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING
Lutheran Identity and Mission Outcome Standards, Accreditation
3.9.6.4
The Commission for University Education shall, in
consultation with its Institution Advisory Council, define and
adopt the Lutheran Identity and Mission Outcome Standards
(“Standards”), a regularly published policy document containing standards for accreditation of institutions and of programs
leading to candidacy for commissioned ministry or to preparedness for seminary study.
(a) The Standards shall express the Synod’s expectations for
a confessional Lutheran college or university affiliated with
the Synod, including fidelity of campus curriculum and culture intended to propagate the faith, strong theology and
campus ministry programs having positive and intentional
interaction with the entire faculty and student population and
with all curricular programs, and success in preparation of
church workers for the Synod and of Lutheran laypeople for
distinctively faithful lives of service to church and neighbor
and in conveying to all students a clear understanding of the
essentials of the faith, generally and in specific relation to
their particular vocations.
(b) The Standards shall be elaborated to support both formative and summative functions. They shall engender local
development and provide for outside monitoring of formative processes, engaging all institutions, even the strongest,
fully in intentional and measurable programs intended to
advance them in richer expression of their Lutheran identity and more expansive and efficient accomplishment of
mission outcomes. They shall also enable the drawing of
summative conclusions, concretely identifying strengths
and weaknesses in institutions and programs, ultimately to
provide clear rationale for decisions about continuation or
termination of accreditation.
(c) As a means of implementing the above two functions, each
institution-level criterion of the Standards describes succinctly one summary expectation for a college or university
accredited by the Synod. Within each criterion, core components describe the necessary aspects involved in satisfying
each criterion. Each core component further provides several
measurable factors useful in internal and external assessment
of performance and planning relative to the criteria. Criteria,
core components, and measurable factors provide not only a
minimum compliance level but a framework for continuous
improvement.
(d) In addition to the standards with institution-wide applicability, the commission shall develop and maintain supplemental
program standards specific to each type of program intended
to result in candidacy for one of the Synod’s categories of
commissioned ministry or in preparedness for seminary
study. Such program standards shall specify, for example, the
instructional and practical curricular requirements expected
to be satisfactorily completed prior to qualification for first
call or for granting of credit by a seminary for preseminary
studies. The commission shall develop preseminary curricular standards in consultation with the seminaries of the
Synod.
(e) The Standards shall be made publicly available on the
Synod’s website and as otherwise determined by the commission.
2023 Convention Workbook