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| Established | 1972 |
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| School type | Private/Unaccredited |
| President | Wendell Evans |
| Location | St. John Township, Indiana, United States |
| Postal Address | 8400 Burr Street Crown Point, Indiana 46307 United States |
| Enrollment | approximately 2700 |
| Faculty | 38 full time |
| Colors | Green and White |
| Mascot | Bagpiper |
| Homepage | www.hylesanderson.edu |
Hyles-Anderson College is an unaccredited Bible college in unincorporated St. John Township, Lake County, Indiana, with a postal address at 8400 Burr Street, Crown Point, Indiana. The college is operated by First Baptist Church of Hammond. It focuses primarily on training pastors, missionairies and other church workers. It also trains Christian educators to work in K-12 Christian schools. The partially-wooded 100 acre (40 hectare) campus includes a lake, football field, bowling alley, and a variety of school and entertainment resources.
History
Hyles-Anderson was founded in 1972 by the late Jack Hyles with financial support from Russell Anderson. The college states that it was established so that pastors, assistant pastors, bus directors, missionaries, music leaders, teachers, and principals may be better equipped to do the work of the Lord. The school was originally located on a campus known as Baptist City in Schererville, Indiana. HAC's former campus was turned into Hammond Baptist K-12 school. This school is also operated by the First Baptist Church of Hammond. After his death, Hyles, who was the school's chancelor, was succeeded by his son-in-law, Jack Schaap, a graduate and former vice president of the school.
The Hyles' boyhood home, a 384 square foot shack in Italy, Texas (30 miles south of Dallas, Texas) was purchased in 2001 in order to create a museum to honor Hyles. The home was shipped from Texas to Hyles-Anderson College. The home was planned to house Hyle's writings, photographs, and other relics on the 2,700-student campus. Ray Young, a close friend of Hyles, said, "We have 5,000 to 7,000 independent Baptists who come here each year for conventions. Reverend Hyles was very much adored by independent Baptists across the country. It should be a major attraction for them."
Academics and accreditation
Hyles Anderson College is not accredited by any recognised accreditation body. As such, its degrees may not be acceptable to employers or other institutions, and use of degree titles may be restricted or illegal in some jurisdictions. The school claims that it does not want accreditation. Hyles insisted accreditation would undermine his ability to control how the college ought to run, and for various other reasons outlined in a sermon entitled, Accreditation. Most bible colleges apply for accreditation through one of the accredition bodies meant for seminaries and religious schools, but there exist a number of bible colleges that refuse to participate in the accreditation process.
The college has 38 full time educators and administrators. Each of the faculty at Hyles-Anderson has at least one degree from Hyles-Anderson College. A number have also received degrees from traditional universities and colleges as well as both accredited and unaccredited bible colleges.
Hyles-Anderson offers Bachelor of Science degrees in the following major concentrations: Pastoral Theology, Pastoral Assistant, Missions, Elementary Education, Secondary Education, General Studies, Music Director, and Music Education. The college offers Associate of Science degrees in Education and in Marriage and Motherhood.
Hyles-Anderson's catalog notes that the degrees it offers in education are not be construed as training for public school teaching. To teach in public schools, most states require that teachers graduate from an approved and accredited school. Therefore, Hyles-Anderson's degrees in education are intended to train teachers planning to teach at private Christian schools.
Hyles-Anderson's science courses include: general chemistry, inorganic chemistry, basic physics, mechanics, geology, electronics, and astronomy.
Policies
Hyles-Anderson has a dress code that says that girls may not wear skirts above the knees. Men must wear neckties to class and keep their hair cut short.
The college's policies also require that women may not go off-campus unchaperoned. Young men and young ladies are not allowed to date alone in cars. Absolutely no hand holding or other intimacies are allowed between the genders. The college provides chaparones and bus trasportation for date nights.
All faculty, staff, and students are required to go soul winning weekly by participating in the evangelistic ministry of the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana. The college claims that 10,000 new baptisms are performed each year at the the Church as a result of this ministry.
As part of the college's separatist tradition, it has strict rules that forbid what it believes are immoral acts. Therefore students are not allowed to: drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, dance, attend Hollywood movies, play cards, or participate in "other questionable amusements". The college states: "We do not fellowship with liberals, but instead take a strict separatist stand from the world and apostasy."
Hyles-Anderson is a supporter of the King-James-Only Movement. The college believes that the Textus Receptus manuscripts, from which came the King James Bible, were inspired word for word. The college also teaches that The Scripture is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice.
Controversy and criticism
Abuse and cult allegations
The Richmond Times quoted ex-Hyles follower and later critic, Robert Sumner, who said "Jack Hyles, runs his church in an authoritarian, almost 'cultist,' manner." Sumner's paper "The Biblical Evangelist, published in Ingleside, Texas, devoted the lion's share of a 24-page issue this month to what it headlined as "The Saddest Story We Ever Published" detailing Nischik's charges and editor Robert Sumner's contention that Rev. Hyles has strayed from biblical teaching and into cultlike mind control. According to the Richmond Times Sumner's article had over 100 allegations. Among the various allegations was that Hyles had "sex satellites" in Petersburg, Beaumont, Texas; and Anniston, Alabama".
This matter also came up again in 2001 when WBBM-TV The Channel 2 News at Ten on May 24, 2001 reported the actions of former Hyles-Anderson student William "Andy" Beith age thirty one was arrested in Las Vegas, NV after a nationwide FBI search pursued kidnapping and rape charges involving Beith's eleven year old student. The report noted "Former fellow Beith church members say Beith has been exposed to unorthodox religious training." When Beith was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison "The judge said Beith's strict upbringing may have been a factor in his sexually deviancy."
On May 28, 1989 The Chicago Tribune reported "former associate Victor Nischik has accused Hyles (President of the college at the time) of having an affair with his former wife Jennie" and questionable financial dealings. Pastor Hyles replied by saying the charges were "false" and "he has given 'hundreds of thousands' of dollars to needy friends over many years but has kept no records of the transactions. The article also explained former deacon of the First Baptist Church, Victor Nischik accused Jack Hyles of committing adultery with Nischik's wife and Hyles' long time assistant, Jennie Nischik.
Hyles also claimed Nischik was "an immoral man." Hyles said that Nischik 's wife discovered him alone in his pajamas with another woman and soon after Nischik's wife divorced him. Hyles also responded to the charges of financial impropriety by pointing out that his salary was only $18,308 in year. He said, "I'm not a wealthy man...I could have been, but I have chosen not to be." Hyles pointed out that the Nischiks and other workers and needy friends regularly received many gifts from himself, including new cars. Hyles replied by saying the charges were "false" and indicating that "he has given 'hundreds of thousands' of dollars to needy friends over many years but has kept no records of the transactions." Hyles was not ever charged with a crime.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that WJBK, a Detroit, Michigan news team, in 1993 following up on allegations in five different fundamentalist churches of children molested by church workers, traced each alleged perpetrator back to Hyles-Anderson college. This news team produced a 30-minute documentary called Preying from the Pulpit for the Detroit Michigan Eyewitness News program. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Hyles "disputed the latest reports point by point in a speech to Midwest ministers and businessmen, brought together by COMPASSION - Churches Organized & Mobilized for Preservation and Safety for Sunday Schools in Our Nation." Hyles also claimed that one of the people in the report said to have attended Hyles-Anderson College had not really attended the school.
Combs' child abuse
Reverend Joseph Combs and his wife, Evangeline Lopez Combs were members of First Baptist Church of Hammond and Combs was also a professor at Hyles-Anderson College.. The two adopted Esther Combs, who "experts" say was "tortured" for nearly 20 years. "The 410 scars she accumulated from curling iron burns, baseball bat beatings and other abuse went undetected because she was in the care of a minister and his wife, who used a cloak of religion and home schooling to isolate her." While one babysitter testified "that they suspected Esther was mistreated but didn't want to contradict Combs, who had been their Bible professor at Hyles Anderson College."Furthermore, another babysitter testified she "reported her suspicions to the college president, but apparently nothing was done, she said." In 1986, Combs moved to Florida to start a church. After accusations of abuse, they moved to Tennessee. There they were charged in 1998 and convicted in 2000 of kidnapping, child abuse and aggravated assault.
Merrillville Homes
The Northwest Indiana Times reported three former Hyles-Anderson students were arrested for a burglary "rampage" in January 2004 after the President of the college helped obtain a confession from two former students. A realtor entered a Merrillville house she was selling only to find several times missing. She was later contacted by James Clement Jr., attorney for the First Baptist Church of Hammond, and said "he had received information about the Merrillville burglary from church officials." Two of the former students confessed to school president Jack Schaap. One of the former students charged in the crime was charged with rape with a fourteen year old, but the rape charge was dropped and he plead guilty to burglary.
Alumni
- William "Andy" Beith (BA) - Former principal of Liberty Baptist Academy and convicted of child sex abuse on an elementary school student.
- The horse of John R. Rice - (Honorary PhD)
- Bob Gray- (BA and Honorary PhD) - Founder of Texas Baptist College
- Jack Schaap - The Hyles-Anderson website claims that he received a B.S., M.Ed., and D.D. degree from Hyles-Anderson. He is currently the chancellor for the school.(There is no such degree mentioned in Hyles-Anderson's catalog or website. (There is no record of a earned DD ever offered from this school )
References
- Spivak, Diane Hyles' birthplace to be rebuilt on campus: Texas home of college co-founder will rest at Hyles-Anderson Northwest Indiana Times 7 November 2001
- Associated Press Texas childhood home of prominent minister planned as Indiana museum Schererville, Ind. November 6, 2001
- See accreditation database at CHEA
- Founder Jack Hyles asserted that the college remains unaccredited because the government would "take away our freedom."
- ^ Hyles-Anderson Catalog. Website accessed May 25, 2006.
- ^ Ed Briggs. "Fundamentalists' House Displaying Widening Cracks" Richmond Times. Richmond, Va.: Jul 22, 1989. pg. A-9
- Michael Hirsley, "Pastor denies adultery, 2 other charges." Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Ill.: May 25, 1989. pg. 1
- "Pastor Denounces Sex Allegations as 'A Lie Spawned by Lucifer'" Richmond Times-Dispatch. Richmond, Va.: Jun 02, 1993. pg. B-4
- ^ "Charges All Lies, Hammond Pastor Says," The Chicago Tribune, May 28, 1989.
- "Pastor Linked to Sex Abuse Lashes Out," Chicago Sun-Times, June 2, 1993.
- Hyles: I'm no dictator. First Baptist leader defends Northwest Indiana Times May 28, 1993
- ^ Becky Campbell. "Experts say Combs child abuse case unusual," The Associated Press, April 7, 2000.
- Esther Combs faces the woman she called mother and asks: Why?. The Associated Press. 25 April 2000.
- ^ Deborah Laverty.Officials charge ex-Hyles students in burglaries Northwest Indiana Times April 22, 2004
- Deborah Laverty.Rape charges dismissed against former local student Northwest Indiana Times December 22, 2004
- The school catalog (PDF) page 57-80 does not mention any DD program or any doctorate. Those pages say Hyles-Anderson offers Bachelor of Science degrees in the following major concentrations: Pastoral Theology, Pastoral Assistant, Missions, Elementary Education, Secondary Education, General Studies, Music Director, and Music Education. The college offers Associate of Science degrees in Education and in Marriage and Motherhood.
See also
External links
- Hyles-Anderson College– Official Web Site
Criticism
- The Jack Hyles Story by Robert Sumner mentioned in the articles
- Biblical Discernment Ministeries criticism of Hyles