The Words of David S. C. Kim
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The Words of David S. C. Kim |
President
and Mrs. David Kim cut the cake at the victory celebration.
January 17, 1990 has become a historic day -- the day the Unification Theological Seminary was granted its absolute charter by the New York State Board of Regents. This day was long in coming, but we finally made it in time to offer this victory to our beloved True Father on his 70th birthday. We had prepared many other gifts, but what is more precious to our True Parents than success in our mission? It is truly a wonderful feeling to know that President S. C. Kim could meet our Father in Korea and honor him with this achievement.
How did we accomplish this? Well, Dr. Donald Nolan, Deputy Commissioner for Higher and Continuing Education, said that we must have been doing a lot of praying in Barrytown! I think he's right: prayer is one of the most powerful weapons we have in the fight to establish God's Kingdom. Hong Halmonim (Soon Ae Hong -- Dae Mo Nim) was a great woman of prayer, and recently, through praying with the candles we inherited from her, many of us have come to understand more deeply the value of a life of prayerful dedication to God's Will.
One week before the Board of Regents meetings, our President, Dr. David S. C. Kim, addressed us at morning service and led us in a prayer for the absolute charter. He prayed for all the regents by name, and when he came to the names of those who had opposed us in the past he prayed for them to be unable to stop us this time. I felt that all of spirit world heard this declaration and that a great spiritual barrier was established to protect our charter from their attack.
In 1974 the property at Barrytown was purchased from the Christian Brothers, a Roman Catholic teaching order. Unification Theological Seminary opened on September 20, 1975, under the leadership of David S.C. Kim, appointed by Father as the first President. The first class of 50 students enrolled in a two- year Religious Education program. In the fall of 1980 a three-year Divinity program was added.
UTS quickly applied for a charter, which would enable us to grant Masters Degrees, but the procedure was prolonged and finally in 1978 the application was denied. We were shocked and greatly dismayed. As UTS Professor Dr. Joseph McMahon recalled, "All the faculty were invited to East Garden to meet Rev. Moon and we expected to hear that we had been granted the charter. Instead, he took us out and bought us all new suits!" Although we appealed the decision, it was to no avail.
Finally we made a new application for a provisional charter in 1984. Again we went through the process of assessment and visits by State Education Department staff members and consultants. Although those who actually visited Barrytown expressed their approval, the draft report listed weakness after weakness. Particularly unkind were their accusations against our senior administrators:
"Prior to coming to the Seminary, none of the senior administrators had experience in theological education. The President was a government administrator, the Executive Vice President was a businessman with a doctorate in Economics, and the Academic Dean was in nursing education. None of them holds a degree in theology or any related discipline."
With righteous anger the UTS administration put together a response, pointing out substantive issues that were not valid, relevant or reasonable in an evaluation of a theological institution, documenting improvements planned or already implemented, and correcting a large number of factual errors contained in the Draft Report. Included in the section correcting factual errors we presented the qualifications of President Kim, Dr. Ang and Dean Stewart:
"As senior Unification Church members -- President Kim, serving for over 31 years, Dr. Ang for over 23 years, and Dean Stewart for more than 17 years -- they have demonstrated their qualifications to lead this institution in preparing Church members for both academic and spiritual leadership. As to educational and professional background, President Kim has studied in two graduate theological seminaries in America, specializing in Religious Education and Pastoral Counseling. He also has a Master's Degree in Education, with emphasis on family counseling. Dr. Ang's qualifications for executive administration include a Ph.D. in Economics and a Professional Diploma in Accounting: Dr. Ang has never been actively engaged in business. Dean Stewart served for 20 years in a Catholic religious order and completed her coursework toward a doctorate in Nursing Education Administration."
We never received a final report from the State Education Department -- our response to their draft report was clearly enough! Instead, on November 21, 1986, the provisional charter was approved by the Board of Regents and on January 2, 1987, the two programs (Master of Religious Education and Master of Divinity) were registered.
The
faculty and staff of UTS are pictured here with President and Mrs.
Kim.
However, this was not a complete victory. The registration of the programs was conditional on seventeen points of improvement. Also, although our graduates would now be able to receive Masters Degrees, only those who entered after the programs were registered, i.e., January 1987, were eligible, and their transcripts had to be submitted to the Board of Regents for approval. Thus, over the following three years we made those seventeen improvements and reported on them: we were visited again by an assessment team; we submitted progress reports on various areas, and 22 of our graduates who completed the Religious Education program in June 1988 received Masters Degrees.
In May 1989 we submitted our petition for an absolute charter, and then began the wait that finally culminated in victory on January 17, 1990. There were two meetings of the Regents at which our application for the absolute charter was discussed: on Wednesday, January 16, the Administration Law and Legislation Committee (ALL) met at 5:15 p.m. and on Thursday, January 17, the Board of Regents met at 10:00 a.m. Our legal representative, Mr. Richard Leckerling, attended both meetings and made a full report to us.
The ALL Committee meeting began with only three regents present. The Chancellor quickly made a motion to grant all the charter applications. Regent Griffith responded by objecting to the inclusion of the UTS application with the others. All the other applications were approved and the UTS application was left to be discussed alone! We had expected this strategy from our previous experience, but had hoped that somehow we could be considered along with other schools. However, that was not to be. When Regent Griffith raised the UTS application for consideration, Dr. Denis Paul of the State Education Department reported that Dr. Donald Nolan was coming to the meeting to discuss his recommendation to approve the application. The committee then proceeded with the rest of the agenda items while waiting for Dr. Nolan.
In the interim, four other regents arrived at the meeting. When Dr. Nolan arrived discussion of the UTS application proceeded. Dr. Nolan summarized his reasons for recommending the absolute charter, saying that UTS was conducting its business in accordance with the regulations, based on sound educational practices, and that it possessed the necessary financial resources. In his opinion UTS was "ready to function on their own." He added that UTS had a very "ecumenical" faculty, which was fully representative in terms of degrees, studies and faiths.
At this point the regents appeared to be satisfied with this report, and were no doubt aware that the time was late and they had a dinner scheduled! Regent Griffith therefore called discussion to a close, adding only a comment that he had been named as a defendant by "Rev. Moon in a thirteen million dollar lawsuit." Incredibly, this was the only point he could mention after delaying the discussion for one month so that he would have time to "study the materials"! He also said that he was going to abstain from voting on this matter but that he would undertake no further discussion or objection to its approval. Thus the vote was called and was passed with six affirmative votes, none opposed, and Griffith's abstention. Step one was over!
The next morning, January 17, the UTS charter application was considered at a full meeting of the Board of Regents. This time our application was included in the ALL Committee referral to the Board along with recommendations for other schools. There was no separate discussion of the UTS application. The vote recorded at 12:20 p.m. showed all regents voting in the affirmative on the UTS absolute charter, with the exception of Regents Griffith and Genrich who abstained. It was almost an anti-climax to have the application accepted so easily after our long struggle!
At UTS we breathed a sigh of relief and celebrated joyfully. The hard work on the part of all members of the UTS community had finally brought victory. But also there are others to whom we are grateful for their support in this battle.
God prepared several people to assist us within the State Education Department and Board of Regents. An example I feel is Dr. Donald Nolan, who was appointed Deputy Commissioner for Higher and Continuing Education and therefore had the responsibility of making the Department's recommendation to the Regents. Dr. Nolan is a Christian Brother and graduate of St. Joseph's institution, the very property at Barry- town that is now UTS! Although he has not visited the property since we purchased it, his feelings toward Barrytown are very positive, and it is clear that he is a religious and righteous man.
When God is on your side it is clear that victory will come; the only question is when. Prolongation of the providence is something we are used to reading about in the Bible and in Father's course. It should come as no surprise, then, when it happens to us. Even the final victory is a moment that Satan wants to delay as long as possible. This was obvious in the delay of discussion on our application the one month from December 1989 to January 1990. As the time for the meeting in January drew closer we felt that Satan just did not want to let us have the victory, even though he was already defeated. He wanted to make us suffer even one more month!
This victory is not the end but truly only the beginning of the history of the Unification Theological Seminary. The faculty, administration, students and staff of UTS are proud and grateful that our first President, Dr. David S. C. Kim was able to present the absolute charter to our beloved founder and True Father. Dr. Henry Thompson likened our course to that of Jacob's: seven years to gain Leah (our provisional charter), seven more years to gain Rachel (our absolute charter), and seven more years to gain riches (still to come!). We hope and pray that the future of UTS will fulfill our True Parents' vision for this seminary, and will bring joy and inspiration to our Heavenly Father.