Working Procedures
Table of Contents

The Association members are the actual accrediting arm of the Association of Reformed Theological Seminaries. The membership is comprised of representatives of the board, staff, or faculty of the member institutions. The work of the Association is divided into the following areas:

Initial Accreditation (pp. 23 ff.)
Ongoing Assessments
Sanctions
Governance

Initial Accreditation
The work of Initial Accreditation is explained in a preceding section of this Handbook.

Ongoing Assessments
As materials for Annual Ongoing Review (pp. 26 ff.) are received by the Association they are distributed to members for preliminary review. Institutional materials are distributed at the discretion of the Association, to be reviewed by members in preparation for general discussions by the Association at its annual meeting, which can result in one of the following actions:

Commendation and Continuance
Notations and Follow-up
Sanctions

Commendation and Continuance
If the Association determines that all reports are in order and the institution continues to meet the standards of the agency, a letter of Commendation and Continuance will be sent to the institution reporting this conclusion.

Notations and Follow-up
The Association may, in the light of its review, withhold sending a letter of Commendation and Continuance until it is completely satisfied that the institution conforms to the standards of the agency. In this case a Letter of Notations shall be sent, expressing the Association’s concern with any particular areas of institutional health and well-being, together with recommendations for action. The institution receiving such a letter shall remain on full Membership status, but is expected to respond to the Letter of Notations, expressing its response and indicating actions to be taken to correct any deficiencies, together with deadlines by which those actions will be taken. All notations must be resolved within the year following the meeting at which they were issued, unless an extension is granted by the Association for good cause shown. The Association will assign one member of its body to follow-up. When all follow-up requirements have been met, at the discretion of that member, the letter of Commendation and Continuance will be issued and a report prepared for the subsequent annual meeting of the Association. All follow-up of Notations will be reviewed at the next annual meeting.

Sanctions
Sanctions against a member institution will only be issued when any Letters of Notation have failed to accomplish the desired result. Sanctions may include:

Suspension of Privileges
Suspension of Membership
Termination of Membership

Suspension of Privileges means that the institution remains a member of the agency, but without participation at the Association annual meeting, until any Letters of Notation enduring beyond the year of their issuance have been resolved.

Suspension of Membership means that the institution is temporarily deprived of Membership status and all benefits pertaining thereunto and may only report itself as a member of the agency whose status is described as “Suspended.” Suspension of Membership is taken when Suspension of Privileges has failed to resolve outstanding Letters of Notation for a period of one year, as outlined above. Suspension of Membership can be sustained for one additional year.

Normally, unresolved Suspension of Membership will result in Termination of Membership after one year of Suspension (one year after Suspension of Privileges is taken, two years after the unresolved Notations were issued). Outstanding Notations which remain unresolved for a period of three years will thus normally result in Termination of Membership by the procedure outlined above. Member institutions which lose their membership status through Termination of Membership can only rejoin the agency through the process previously explained, beginning with Candidacy.

Officers of the Association
Each year at its annual meeting the Association elects a Chairman, Vice-Chairman, and Secretary-Treasurer.

The duties of the Chairman are to make the arrangements for the annual meeting and facilitate all communications concerning the meeting with Association members. In addition, the Chairman presides over the annual meeting.

The Vice-Chairman assists the Chairman in his duties and presides over the annual meeting in his absence.

The Secretary-Treasurer maintains the bank account of the Association, keeps the minutes of its annual meeting, and assists the Chairman and Vice-Chairman with any necessary communications.

Chapter 5