October 27 1997

ARTICLE TOOLS

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Trinity Western Accreditation OrderedBritish Columbia Supreme Court Justice W. H. Davies on September 11 ordered the British Columbia College of Teachers to approve Trinity Western University's (TWU) application for accreditation of its teacher-education program.

Trinity Western University, a Christian school 20 miles east of Vancouver, had been denied accreditation (CT, May 19, 1997, p. 53) but appealed the decision.

The main issue in the dispute involved TWU's community standards document. All students at Trinity Western University are required to sign the document, which states among other things that they will abstain from homosexual behavior.

British Columbia College of Teachers argued that the document "followed discriminatory practices" and that Trinity graduate teachers may be biased against homosexual students in the classroom. Davies concluded that "such a premise is flawed because it requires unfounded assumptions." He also concluded that there was no solid evidence of Trinity Western University graduates being biased.