7 Investigates Christian college set to open on Lon Morris campus

JACKSONVILLE, TX (KLTV) - A new Christian college in East Texas is facing questions from the community about legitimacy.

Carver Christian Institute (CCI), known one week ago as Carver Christian University & Theological Seminary, was set to begin classes in less than three weeks.

After KLTV 7's investigative team began researching the school's affiliations and accreditation, school officials now say they will hold off on beginning classes until everything is in order.

CCI's president C. Dewayne Hollins says he's bringing something new to East Texas with a seminary school offering both religious and non-religious certificates.

"We have a lot of pastors in the area that can't take off to go to Dallas for seminary, neither can they go east of the Mississippi to go to Atlanta," said Hollins.

The fledgling school is housed on the campus of shuttered Lon Morris college, a Methodist based two-year college that closed four years ago due to a bankruptcy.

CCI offers certificates, bachelors and doctorate degrees, mostly on biblical subjects, according to Hollins and school brochures.

In June and July, the school grabbed local headlines for bringing Jacksonville a southwest branch of the historic Carver Bible College in Atlanta.

On Wednesday, Carver in Atlanta's Registrar Olive Jacks told KLTV there was no such thing as an East Texas branch of their school.

Hollins admitted there was never a signed agreement between his school and the Atlanta school, but he produced emails from early July showing he was in discussions with the school officials in Atlanta. He acknowledged the discussions ended with broken ties.

Jacksonville business owner Tricia Thomason said when Hollins addressed their Rotary Club, she was initially excited about what the new school would bring.

"I was quite impressed with him; he told us about being affiliated with Carver College in Atlanta," said Thomason.

Now, she's more skeptical.

"Basically when they told me that they had started a Go Fund Me page...that raised some red flags for me," said Thomason. "On why an institution that was affiliated with Carver College in Atlanta, why they would need that?"

Hollins said the donations are to help sponsor scholarships for potential students. He said about 25 students have enrolled, and a dozen faculty members have been hired. Hollins also said CCI is accepting applications for their extension sites at Delta Community College in Monroe, Louisiana and San Jacinto Community College in Houston.

Though it is unclear exactly when ties with Carver in Atlanta failed, Hollins said his school changed their logo and school name to reflect the new status.   The name Carver, he said, was preserved to honor scientist George Washington Carver.

Paperwork filed with the Texas Secretary of State confirms the name change was made August 16.

Hollins says they are in the process of letting their enrolled students know about the changes. However, without the Atlanta affiliation, CCI's accreditation remained questionable.

On Wednesday, Hollins told KLTV the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools [TRACS] and the Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE) were their accrediting agencies.

"TRACS is national, ABHE is regional, that's where we will offer our biblical degrees," Hollins said on Wednesday.

When asked if CCI is accredited with ABHE or TRACS, Hollins responded 'That's pending. It's pending. Pending for both, yes.'

KLTV contacted both accrediting agencies, neither have accredited the school and a TRACS representative said nothing from CCI is pending.

On Wednesday, Hollins confirmed that beginning classes on September 6 was still the goal for CCI.

On Thursday, when questioned about the pending accreditation, he admitted the applications had not been sent to the ABHE or TRACS.  He also said the school now planned to wait to begin classes until everything is in order.

CCI continues to seek clearance from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), and the Texas Workforce Commission.

Public Relations Director for CCI, Sonja Turner, said the school's religious affiliation has made it difficult to know which agencies govern their school.

Emails from June between Hollins and THECB discuss obtaining a religious exemption for religious-only instruction, however, CCI's program includes non-religious subjects of real estate, culinary arts, and refrigeration certificates. While accreditation is not required for a school to hold classes, Hollins said they had planned to try to get accreditation with TRACS before the first student graduated, which at a minimum would be in two years.

Hollins said the enrolled students have only paid application fees at this time.

Update: CCI announced a town hall meeting to be held Monday, August 22 from 4 to 6 p.m.  According to the institute's Facebook page: After much media scrutiny and many questions about the possibilities of the historic Lon Morris Campus being revived by Carver Christian Institute,we the Carver Christian Institute family would like to invite the entire Jacksonville community to the beautiful Ruby Chapel for a town hall meeting. Please join us to get answers to your questions from the hearts of the people involved in the actual process and from people only desiring to bring positive possibilities to the Jacksonville community. 

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