Memoirs by Dr. Samuel H. Sutherland (1987)

MEMOIRS BY

DR. SAMUEL H. SUTHERLAND PRESIDENT EMERITUS

MARCH 30, 1987

Table of Co Tape 1

ntents

1. .. How Did Biola Avenue Get Its Name? 3 ... How Was The Purchase and Sale of the Downtown Campus Lot Important in Biola's History? 7 ... How was the La Mirada Campus Site Selected? 16... How was the High Debt Eliminated? Did the School Ever Go Into Debt Again? 18 ... How Was The Accrediting Association of Bible Colleges Started?

Table Of Contents Tape 2

1. .. Can You Recount the Process and the Trials That Biola Went Through to Gain Initial Accreditation With the WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges)? 11. .. Were You Pioneering the Field of Accreditation From the Point of View of a Christian College, or Were Other Christian Colleges Accredited Through WASC? 12 ... Were Individuals Sent to the Campus For a Week or More at a Time to Check the Curricula? Or Were You Working Between Your Office as President and The Sacramento Offices? 14 ... Was It At This Point That a Five-Year Program Became Necessary When Liberal Arts Accreditation Was Included With the Bible College Units? 15... In The Late Sixties, Dr. Pullius Was Involved With the Examining Committee. Was He Involved With This Accrediting Team From the Beginning? How Long Did He Stay? 17 ... In Engaging the Process of the WASC Accreditation, The Applications and So Forth, Were There Expenses to the School Relative To This Kind of Action? 18... Were the Reports Extensive? 18... How Long a Period of Time Did It Take Before Accreditation Was Finalized From The Time You Applied Until it Was Actually Provided? 19 ... During This Time, Were You Also Applying for Accreditation With the Association of Bible Colleges (AABC)? Were The Applications Concurrent?

Table of Contents Tape 3

1... On The Part of Yourself and the Board, What Was the Vision For The Campus With Respect to the Assumptions for a Master Plan? For Example, What Enrollment Did You Envision and What Kinds of Facilities Did You Envision After that Date? 3 ... What Is Your Observation of The Historical Pathway That Biola Has Followed to Attempt to Remain True to the Initial Ideology and Purpose as Stated in the Articles of Incorporation of 1936 Up Through Today? That is, Has Biola Remained True to its Ideology and its Purpose and Are We Still Fulfilling That Purpose? 5 ... What Should The Board of Trustees, The President, The Administration, The Faculty be Doing to Ensure that We Remain True to Our Ideology and to Our Founding Purpose? 10... What Are Some of the Dangers and Pitfalls That We Should Continually Be Aware of and Watching For to Ensure that We Do Not Stray From Our Original Purpose and Follow the Pathway that Many Other Institutions Have Followed to Their Dismay? 12 ... What Do You Mean and What Do You Envision When You Sometimes State in Recent Years That "The Best Days Are Yet Ahead for Biola?" 15... What is Your Vision of Biola for the Future? 15... Has Biola Been Successful and Faithful in Meeting the Needs of Training Those Who Want to Serve as Missionaries?

Table of Contents Tape 4

1. . . What Were Some of the Highlights of Your Time as Dean? President? As a board Member after Leaving the Presidency? 8 ... When Were You Ordained?

Table of Contents Tape 5

1... What Were Some of the Highlights While You Were President? 10 ... What Were Some of the Low Spots During the Time You Were President? 11 ... What Situation or Situations Were the Most Frustrating? And What Mistakes do You Feel You Made During the Time You Were Dean and President? 14 ... What Were The Circumstances that Led to Your Resignation and Dr. Chase's Presidency?

MEMOIRS BY

DR. SAMUEL H. SUTHERLAND PRESIDENT EMERITUS

MARCH 30, 1987

Table of Contents Tape 1

1... How Did Biola Avenue Get Its Name? 3 ... How Was The Purchase and Sale of the Downtown Campus Lot Important in Biola's History? 7 ... How was the La Mirada Campus Site Selected? 16... How was the High Debt Eliminated? Did the School Ever Go Into Debt Again? 18... How Was The Accrediting Association of Bible Colleges Started?

MEMOIRS BY DR. SAMUEL H. SUTHERLAND PRESIDENT EMERITUS June 20, 1986 Page 1 - Tape 1

QUESTION:

HOW DID BIOLA AVENUE GET ITS NAME?

RESPONSE:

Before there was ever a street, there was simply a line named Holder Avenue on the tract map of the new, and as yet totally unbuilt, City of La Mirada. When we decided to move to La Mirada, I felt that as long as we were starting in a new area we might as well identify it with Biola as much as possible. So I suggested to the Board of Trustees that we apply for a name change from Holder Avenue to Biola Avenue. Apparently, Mr. Holder was a friend of Mr. McNally, and he just put that name in as a mark of friendship. At the time we were thinking about the name change, there were four organizations that owned all of the land between Stage Road and Imperial Highway. The La Mirada Development Company being the parent company, there was a DeVon Construction Company, the Shaw

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Construction Company, and Biola College. DeVon Construction and Shaw Construction were subsidiaries of the La Mirada Development Company. We made application for a name change and received three corroborating letters from the three organizations. Nobody else owned land; therefore, there was no one to object to the name change. We contacted the County Planning Commission and presented our application. We followed the proper notification process and on the day of the hearing we were to present the verbal application with the necessary written requests. A request was made to hear any discussion of the matter and two or three Biola Board members spoke on behalf of Biola to request the name change. There was no one to object so the Commission approved the name change to Biola Avenue without any question. An interesting sideline of this subject was that within two months after the change was made, houses began to be built on the

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southern end of the new Biola Avenue next to Stage road. I received a call from the secretary of the Planning Commission one day concerning a letter that had been sent to the Planning Commission, requesting the name be changed back to Holder Avenue. I asked the secretary just what that meant, and she said she was a member of the Church of the Open Door and was very friendly toward Biola. She agreed to notify us if there was any need for us to appear before the Planning Commission. Otherwise, we would just let everything stand as it was. Nothing ever came of that request, so we do not know who wanted to change it back, but the name stuck. That is how Biola Avenue came into existence. That was one of the few events in my career here at the school for which I can claim credit.

QUESTION:

HOW WAS THE PURCHASE AND SALE OF THE DOWNTOWN CAMPUS LOT IMPORTANT IN BIOLA'S HISTORY?

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June 20, 1986 Page 4 - Tape 1

RESPONSE:

By way of background, it should be noted that when I became President in 1952, one of the first recommendations that I made to the Board was that we erect a 13-story building on the lot that we had previously purchased across the street from the downtown location. My ideas was that we erect a 13-story building (which was the height limit in the City of Los Angeles in those days) because we needed the added room space for various facilities which we did not have in the original buildings. One day Dr. Ray Myers, the Chairman of the Biola Board of Trustees, Dr. Talbot, Chancellor of Biola, and I, met at the Jonathan Club. We were guests of Ray Myers because he was a member of the club. We thoroughly enjoyed going there to eat lunch, so as often as I could conscientiously do so, I suggested that we have lunch at the Jonathan Club. During lunch we talked about the building on the lot. I recall Ray saying, "Sam, what do you have in mind for

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the building? Why do we need a 13-story building?" So I began to enumerate how the rooms might well be used: (1) We would need a dining room for the public, (2) We needed a whole floor for library space, (3) We needed four floors (two floors for a Biola gymnasium and two floors for a Church of the Open Door gymnasium) because various organizations had active recreational programs, and the space could well be utilized for those purposes, (4) We needed additional space for classrooms, (5) On the upper floors we needed space for guest rooms for parents and friends of the school who were visiting. At any rate, I hastily informed them as to how we could well utilize the 12 or 13 floors in the new building. Then Ray put a question to me: "Sam," he said, "do you know how much you're talking about by way of cost?" Well, being a preacher I didn't have the remotest idea of how much we were talking about, but out of the blue I said, "Yes, we're talking about a building that will cost around one-

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and-a-half million dollars." He gulped a couple of times and then Ray began to figure on the paper napkin at the table. Finally he said, "Well, you 're about right, figuring $100,000 a floor, 13 floors, plus the two basements would take us to one-and-a-half million dollars." Then he was very quiet. did not know how the wheels were turning, but finally he came up with an idea. He said, "You know, we can move out of the downtown location, buy ground out somewhere, and we could put up all of the facilities there that we have here for one-and- a-half million dollars!" That brought me right out of my chair and I said, "Do you mean that?" And he said, "Yes!" And I said, "Let's go!" Well, Dr. Talbot was sitting in his seat half asleep. I'm not sure he knew what we were talking about, but at any rate he exclaimed in his Australian drawl, "Yeah, let's go!" That was the beginning of the idea of moving away from the downtown location onto a new campus. I

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QUESTION:

HOW WAS THE LA MIRADA CAMPUS SITE SELECfED?

RESPONSE:

We began looking around for an appropriate site for the new campus. I had in mind a 50- acre campus with an additional 25 acres for housing of faculty and friends of Biola; therefore, we needed a 75-acre campus. We looked all over southern California, in the San Fernando Valley, in the hills back of Glendale, Pasadena, Monrovia, and along the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains. We looked at the Pacific Palisades area and we looked down around the peninsula where Marineland is now located. We looked in eastern L.A. County. We wanted to keep the name "Bible Institute of Los Angeles" and expand it from the idea of being within the City of Los Angeles to being within the County of Los Angeles, but we wanted to keep it within the County of Los Angeles. About that time, representatives of Coldwell

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Banker Realtors told us of a new $150- million planned City called La Mirada on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County. They suggested that we look over the site where that new City would be located. So Russ Allder, our Business Manager, and I went out with them to the orange, lemon, olive groves, and wheat fields which constituted the land on which this $150-million City was to be built. We looked at several sites in the area. Finally, they took us to the place that they had previously thought we would be interested. It was then Luitweiler Avenue (now known as La Mirada Boulevard) overlooking two small lakes. Those lakes were in the area now roughly covered by the football field, the music building and surrounding gymnasium area. When we looked out over that site, which was originally set apart for a regional park, we said the land above those two beautiful little lakes was exactly the spot we wanted. And so we settled quickly upon those 75 acres.

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We envisioned our campus would overlook the regional park, part of which was to be surrounding those lakes, and a tunnel going under La Mirada Boulevard. The rest of the regional park could be put on the eastern side of the boulevard. A price was set at $4,500 an acre for the land we wanted. Everything seemed to be fine, but the Southeast Recreation Department's Board dragged its heals until it was rather disgusting in the minds of the La Mirada Development Company to have to deal with them. Therefore, they told us that if we wanted to purchase the entire land area where the ponds were located, they would sell the land to us for $2,000 an acre. We could then put our athletic facilities down there and have more high land for subdivision purposes and still have a campus of 50 acres or more. The offer sounded very good to us, and that deal was finally consummated. The net result was that we ultimately purchased 160 acres of the high land above those lakes and the low land including those lakes. We then subdivided

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85 acres and were able to have a 75-acre campus instead of the 50 acres that we originally planned, which is the 75 acres we now occupy (actually it is 74 and 9/lO's acres or thereabouts). It does not include the McNally property, which at this point of time, April 30, 1986, we hope to be able to buy within the next three or four years. It is of interest that the lot we purchased in 1942, across the street from Biola's downtown location, brought quite a financial boost to the school. When I became Dean in 1942, it was the only vacant piece of land around the school area. I felt as the school developed we would need that property; therefore, I made the recommendation at a Board meeting that we purchase the property. I was immediately shot down with the statement, "Sam, we got you in as Dean of an educational institution, not as a promoter of real estate." I learned my lesson real fast and kept quiet. However, Ray Myers, who was Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the

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time, and a very well-known real estate developer in southern California, did not give up on the idea of purchasing the lot across the street. He got his staff to do some research and discovered that the man who owned the lot lived in the California Club, which adjoined the same parking lot. They discovered that the man was willing to sell the lot for $65,000. It was approximately 150 feet wide and 300 feet deep. Dr. Myers was interested enough in it to put down a $5,000 deposit with a 30/60 day option. He said at the next Board meeting that he thought the purchase of the lot was a good idea, and that it was such a good idea in his thinking he put down a deposit, and if the school didn't want to buy it, he would buy it himself. He added, "I'll pay the $65,000 for it, and in three or four years' time, I'll sell it to the school for $150,000, and you men will think you got a good deal." Well, that brought the men to a halt with quite a jerk. And the upshot of the whole thing was that they wheezed and snorted around for awhile and

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then they purchased the lot. Biola owned that lot for ten years, during which time the parking lot rentals brought in over $300,000 in revenue to the school. It was that same lot where we originally planned to build the 13-story building to supplement the downtown facilities. As a result of the luncheon we had at the Jonathan Club, we decided to move; therefore, the lot was put up for sale. By that time it had become a key lot. The Superior Oil Company wanted to build a 12-story building on the comer of Flower and 6th Street. There were some rather cheap hotel facilities, plus small stores on the rest of the area facing 6th Street between Hope and Flower. So the lot, although it was not on Hope Street, was a rather key lot for any good-sized development. Ray Myers, Dave Isaac, and other men on the Board of trustees arbitrarily set a price of $350,000 for that piece of property then owned by Biola. Coldwell Banker's men thought that was a rather

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exorbitant price, to which they said, "If you get $250,000 for it you'll be lucky!" Ray Myers held out for $350,000. There were two or three individuals interested in the property for the lower figure. The Superior Oil Company wanted the lot as a part of the complex which they had in mind to be erected at the corner of 6th and Flower. They wanted it for their parking area, but they did not want to pay the price. So there was dickering which went on for quite some time. Finally, Ray said that if we couldn't sell the lot for $350,000 clear to anyone, we would hold it ourselves, put up what was then called a pidgeon-hole parking lot several stories high to be used for parking automobiles, which was a very popular new concept in parking at that time. Ray set a deadline at 2:00 p.m. on a certain date and informed Coldwell Banker who had the exclusive option on it. I had lunch with Ray on that particular day. When we got back from lunch about 1 :30 p.m., we went into his office and waited until the deadline, which

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Also the industrial district of Los Angeles was moving in that direction, and it would be worth far more than $5,000 an acre if we wanted to subdivided it. Our real estate men got on the job and determined that $5,000 an acre was a very fair price and so part of the $350,000 for the lot was used for the purchase of that 27 acres at $5,000 an acre. We then started to look around for a site to move our campus. The men subdivided the 27 acres and they got their original money back, plus an additonal amount so that their net proceeds increased another $150,000 on the sale. This meant that the $350,000 we received from the lot, plus the $150,000 profit that we made on the 27 acres in south Los Angeles, brought in $500,000. Ultimately we obtained $500,000 from that lot. I have often said if I had only been wise enough, I would have consummated that deal myself and lived an easy retirement, but it was the Lord's will that it should go to the school. So with $500,000 clear, we moved onto our new campus in La Mirada.

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QUESTION:

,...

HOW WAS THE HIGH DEBT ELIMINATED? DID THE SCHOOL EVER GO INTO DEBT AGAIN?

RESPONSE:

There is an interesting historical record which pertains to the money that we got for the campus and subsequent money for the buildings and campus development. During the Great Depression of the '30's, the school, unfortunately, found itself $1,400,000 into debt. During those depression years, the Board of Trustees could have turned the downtown property over to the creditors, walked out and built a new campus for less than the $1,400,000 indebtedness. But they elected not to do that and they saw that the debt was eliminated, then the school went on to its present status. However, when the school got out of debt in 1942 or 1943, thanks in large measure humanly speaking to Dr. Talbot, the Board of

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Trustees decreed that never again would the school go into debt. That has held true to the present time in 1986. There are one or two exceptions to that ruling by the Board of Trustees. We borrowed money for the 300 bed women's dormitory at the north end of the campus. It is a self-amortizing loan; therefore, we did not have to mortgage anything more than the land on which the building stands. That is equally true with the largest men's dormitory at the extreme southern end of the campus. By 1986, the north dormitory is probably almost paid for, and the southern dormitory is well on the way to being paid for. In this way, we could bring in four or five hundred more students than otherwise would be the case, so it was a good deal for the school and students as well. There has never been a mortgage on the campus from the time that we cleared the debt to the present moment.

~ MEMOIRS BY DR. SAMUEL H. SUTHERLAND PRESIDENT EMERITUS June 20, 1986 Page 18 - Tape 1

QUESTION:

HOW WAS THE ACCREDITING ASSOCIATION OF BIBLE COLLEGES STARTED?

RESPONSE:

I assumed the position of Dean of Biola in 1942. In 1943, we held the annual Torrey Memorial Bible Conference. One of the speakers was Dr. Walter Wilson, then President of Calvary Bible College in Kansas City, Missouri. He came to visit me one afternoon in my office to talk about various things. I said to him at that time, "Dr. Wilson, why don't you get the school Presidents and the Bible school Deans together and form an accrediting organization, so that we can upgrade the academic standards of the whole Bible School movement?" He seemed to think that was a splendid idea, but he said, "Sam, you're the one to organize this group." said, "No, I'm out here on the West Coast, unknown to any of the men, and it ought to I

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be someone from the Mid-west or the East." He said, "On the contrary, if anyone from the Mid-west or the East tries to organize it, all the other men will be jealous of him. You're unknown, and they have no reason to be jealous of you, so you're the one to go ahead and do it." Well, we both let the matter drop and about a year later he wrote to me. He said, "I'm waiting to hear from you regarding the formation of a Bible School accrediting organization." I said, "Well, I've been thinking about it, and the time didn't seem right." Another year passed, he wrote me again and this time it was a little embarrassing because I hadn't done anything about it. A year later, World War II was winding down in the European theatre, and Dr. Wilson wrote me again. In order to get him out of my hair, I started to do something about it. I knew that the Biola Board of Trustees would never look with favor upon me spending my time in such an organization. They thought that I should be

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spending even more time at Biola. So I came up with what I thought was a rather good idea. I suggested to them that in view of the fact the war in the European theatre was over, and that we were beginning post-war conditions and developmental programs, it might be a good idea for me to take a tour of the various Bible schools and talk with the men concerning their plans for the post-war era. They agreed that was a good idea, and so I was granted permission to proceed. fulfilled that part of the job, but in the meantime, I wrote to the various schools and suggested that the Chief Executive Officers of the various schools get together and consider the possibility of an accrediting association based upon a solid doctrinal position on which all of the schools could agree. We agreed to avoid any doctrinal differences among the schools. The response was just so-so. Some thought it was a very good idea, others thought it was just an idea. There was enough interest in the idea that I felt justified in proceeding with details, so I I

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arbitrarily called for a meeting to be held at Winona Lake Conference Grounds on a certain date. I think it was in 1946. Then I started on my trip. I went to Multnomah School of the Bible and got Willard Aldridge, then President of the school, to agree to attend. I went to Denver Bible College and got the President to come. The response was favorable at Northwestern Schools in Minneapolis. I went on to Chicago and finally Dr. Culbertson, then President of Moody Bible Institute, to come and at least discuss the matter, although there was some question as to whether Moody would be interested in joining an organization like that. The following schools were interested: Fort Wayne Bible College, with Dr. Whitmer; Cleveland Bible College, with Dr. Osbourne; Providence Bible Institute in New England; the President of National Bible Institute in New York; and Dr. McQuilken of Columbia Bible College. Altogether, we had representatives of 15 schools who came to discuss the feasibility of organizing such a

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....., y

program. We met for three days and the more we talked the more interest was generated. An organization, m fact, was set up. They voted me in as President, and Terrel Crum as Secretary. We were authorized to go down to Washington, D.C. to talk to Dr. John Dale Russell, who was with the government in connection with the Office of Higher Education. It turned out that he was a born-again Christian and was interested in upgrading the whole Bible School movement. He knew Moody Bible Institute quite well. He also knew of Biola and one or two other schools. We had a very profitable meeting with him and the organization was under way. Instead of going down to Winona Lake again, because of the time it took to get to Chicago and then to shuttle down to Winona Lake, we decided with the consent of Moody Bible Institute_,to meet in Chicago at Moody. For several years thereafter, we met at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.

......

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There was a committee formed to draw up a Doctrinal Statement and a Statement of Standards for membership in the organization. Dr. Witmer, Dr. Crum, and other academicians were on that committee. They did a tremendous job in getting the organization under way. Incidentally, one sideline we met by way of mild opposition was the fact that a collegiate organization had been formed under the auspices of the NEA (National Association of Evangelicals). They had met for two or three years and discussed the possibility of establishing an accrediting association. Every year after considerable discussion, two or three men were appointed to prepare papers looking toward the formulation of such an organization. The first thing that the men wanted to do at Winona Lake was to appoint individuals to prepare papers. In my innocence, I almost blew my stack. I said, "Gentlemen, we're not here for the idea of preparing papers, we're here for the idea of getting some action

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and getting an organization under way. Let's forget the papers and do the work that's set before us." Well, the men were sufficiently enthused about that idea and so we did not need to go through a long period of paper preparation and further discussion such as the NEA required. The organization was actually started right at that time and place and became worthwhile almost from the very beginning.

Table Of Contents Tape 2

1. . . Can You Recount the Process and the Trials That Biola Went Through to Gain Initial Accreditation With the WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges)? 11. .. Were You Pioneering the Field of Accreditation From the Point of View of a Christian College, or Were Other Christian Colleges Accredited Through WASC? 12 ... Were Individuals Sent to the Campus For a Week or More at a Time to Check the Curricula? Or Were You Working Between Your Office as President and The Sacramento Offices? 14... Was It At This Point That a Five-Year Program Became Necessary When Liberal Arts Accreditation Was Included With the Bible College Units? 15... In The Late Sixties, Dr. Pullius Was Involved With the Examining Committee. Was He Involved With This Accrediting Team From the Beginning? How Long Did He Stay? 17 ... In Engaging the Process of the WASC Accreditation, The Applications and So Forth, Were There Expenses to the School Relative To This Kind of Action? 18... Were the Reports Extensive? 18... How Long a Period of Time Did It Take Before Accreditation Was Finalized From The Time You Applied Until it Was Actually Provided? 19 .. . During This Time, Were You Also Applying for Accreditation With the Association of Bible Colleges (AABC)? Were The Applications Concurrent?

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QUESTION:

CAN YOU RECOUNT THE PROCESS AND THE TRIALS THAT BIOLA WENT THROUGH TO GAIN INITIAL ACCREDITATION WITH THE WASC (WESTERN ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES)? There were some real major problems that we had to overcome in order to get accreditation by the Western College Association or WASC: 1) We needed to overcome the opposition of certain members of the Board who were against the idea of being accredited by a secular organization; 2) we needed to overcome faculty opposition; 3) we needed to overcome considerable alumni opposition; 4) one of the biggest sources of opposition was the Western College Association itself. They always considered Biola as a sub- collegiate organization, not to be considered worthy of equality in any way whatsoever with the colleges of the WASC. I think we

RESPONSE:

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ought to make it clear here that the initials WCA and WASC refer to the same organization. WCA is the Western Collegiate Association, and WASC is the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. We use those terms interchangeably, but they refer to the same organization. The first problem to overcome was the Board of Trustees of the then Bible Institute of Los Angeles (BIOLA). We had moved from the concept of the Bible Institute into the concept of the Bible College in the years immediately following World War II. The faculty had been upgraded academically. We felt that we were doing a quality work, comparable to the quality of work being done in at least some of the colleges who were members of the Western College Association, and so we had to persuade everybody else that it was a worthwhile affair. There was a great deal of questioning as to whether we should try to get accreditation with a secular organization, because the experiences of other colleges did not lead to much

,.....,

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encouragement concerning the value of accreditation by a secular organization. Those of us seeking accreditation with the Western College Association looked with a degree of alarm at the knowledge that every school in southern California which had been originally started by a denomination, such as Pomona (Congregational), Redlands (Baptist), Whittier (Brethren), Occidental (Presbyterian), Chapman (the Christian Church), USC (the Methodist Church), every one of those schools had long since departed from their faith and could only be called Christian with the broadest meaning of the term. In fact, across the country there was only one school that remained true to the faith for two or three generations after it was started, which was Wheaton College. So my problem was to assure the members of the Board that it was not necessary to turn modernistic or liberal, while at the same time we were upgrading our academics. I had absolutely no precedent to follow to assure the men that Biola would not

,.....,

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necessarily go downhill spiritually if we upgraded the academics. After a great deal of persuasion, Dr. Ray Myers, Chairman of the Board of Trustees was willing to go along with the idea. Dr. Talbot, Chancellor, was also willing. Dave Isaac was willing to go along, but there were some members of the Board who were adamantly opposed to even consider trying to enlarge our curriculum sufficiently to qualify for membership in the WCA. The whole program took a great deal of persuading and occupied several years' standing. The same problems arose when we met with the faculty, and also when we met with certain members of the alumni. Some of the alumni had gone on to get higher academic degrees, but not many had obtained those satisfactory degrees. In those years they did not see the need of going any further in their training. They felt that the Biola training was sufficiently satisfactory, so why bother about upgrading the academics? These developments took long hours and innumerable meetings to hammer out a

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program that they felt would safeguard the spiritual life of the school and which at the same time would bring us into the post-World War II academic era. It was my conviction that if we were aware of this danger, that half of the battle would be won, and we would be constantly on the alert to keep the school from falling into the same line of others. That was one of the greatest difficulties to be overcome. When we were finally able to persuade the majority of the faculty, and an appreciable number of the alumni, that everything was satisfactory along this line, we had to deal with the Western College Association officials and persuade them that we were a worthy school to become a member of their organization. Incidently, after World War II, Dr. Talbot took a tour of the mission fields of Africa, Asia and South America. Wherever he went, he asked the Biola alumni missionaries if they felt it would be worthwhile to offer degree work at Biola and for us to try to get

MEMOIRS BY DR. SAMUEL H. SUTHERLAND PRESIDENT EMERITUS

June 20, 1986 Page 6 - Tape 2

accreditation. Without exception, they thought that it would be a wonderful accomplishment, and that they had met with missionaries from England, Europe and a few from the United States who had collegiate training. None of them had training as thorough as Biola's alumni but at least they had some Bible training. They could put the degree B.A. after their names when they graduated. Further, they said that the natives did not begin to understand what B.A. meant. All that they knew was that these missionaries had gone to some school called a college or a university and had gotten a degree. They also realized that some of their native young men had finished all of the training they could get in their own land, and they left and went to a school in England, Europe or the United States, stayed there a certain number of years, and when they went back to their native land to their own people, they could put the letters B.A. behind their name, meaning something they had achieved for four years or more of collegiate work.

MEMOIRS BY DR. SAMUEL H. SUTHERLAND PRESIDENT EMERITUS

June 20, 1986 Page 7 - Tape 2

Biola graduates could not do that. Therefore, our graduates realized that they had a real handicap in this regard. In addition to this, some of the natives took secular work at the schools and universities and then came back and began to teach a false doctrine known to us at that time as modernism. Our graduates tried to show them the evils of modernism, but since our graduates had not gone through a school of higher learning like their own young people had attended. Therefore, our graduates did not know as much as their graduates did, which was a real handicap in their ministry. Dr. Talbot returned from missionary tours satisfied that we would have to go ahead with collegiate work and offer degrees. He felt that if we could hold the school true to the faith, he was no longer against improving the academics and would go along with our desire to bring the school into a full collegiate standing. When Dr. Talbot went to India on a tour, he was greeted by some of the Biola

MEMOIRS BY DR. SAMUEL H. SUTHERLAND PRESIDENT EMERITUS

June 20, 1986 Page 8 - Tape 2

graduates at the Ramabai Mukte Mission. He met with Miss Carol Terry and raised this question with her. She had already known of our desire to go ahead into the collegiate program and was in favor of the idea. Dr. Talbot recounted the experiences he had had with other missionaries in Africa and other parts of India on his tour, and she encouraged him to write to me as soon as possible and assure me of his backing in putting over the concept of a good collegiate program. He said he would let me know when he got home. She said, "No, write him a letter right now." And so she sat him down at the desk and practically browbeat him into writing a letter that I received and which made not only my day, but my whole experience complete. He started out his letter with the phrase, "My Beloved Sam." When I read that salutation I knew something good was coming. When he wrote a formal letter it was always, "Dear Dr. Sutherland." When he just wanted to write a memo about some little thing it was,

MEMOIRS BY DR. SAMUEL H. SUTHERLAND PRESIDENT EMERITUS

June 20, 1986 Page 9 - Tape 2

"Dear Sam." But when he started out, "My Beloved Sam," I instinctively felt that there was something good which was going to come from that letter. He wrote about his experiences on his tour and then he came to his concluding paragraph and said, in effect, that he wished that he had gotten my vision earlier and helped to push ahead sooner into getting a full collegiate program. He said, "When I return, I want you to give the Board your whole program. I will back it 100% and with Ray's help we'll push it through. wish I had gotten your vision sooner." So, with that signet, I looked forward to his return with keenest anticipation. The other major hurdle that we had to overcome was to get WASC to look with favor upon our application. Mrs. Gloria Graham was teaching certaln Education courses at that time. Margaret Jacobsen was also teaching Education courses and both were well qualified academically. I made several trips to Sacramento to talk with the head of the State Board of Education, and I

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MEMOIRS BY DR. SAMUEL H. SUTIIERLAND PRESIDENT EMERITUS June 20, 1986 Page 10 - Tape 2

more particularly, the Division of Higher Education, to discuss the matter of getting State accreditation for Biola. I had been told that if we could get State accreditation, it would be easier to get into WASC. discovered the opposite situation at the State Department. They said if we could get into WASC, it would be easier to get State accreditation, which was evidently a run- around and neither one was overly anxious to give us the accreditation we desired. Although the State was not an accrediting agency, they gave us recognition, but not accreditation. We incorporated all of their requirements over a period of years and then we went back to the Western College Association with our formal application. This took place in 1951. In the meantime, while we were discussing this idea, we let them know that we were planning to move the campus onto a 50-acre site somewhere in southern California, but that we had not selected the site as yet. Immediately, this became an I

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MEMOIRS BY DR. SAMUEL H. SUTHERLAND PRESIDENT EMERITUS June 20, 1986 Page 11 - Tape 2

excuse to postpone accreditation, because they said they did not want to accredit a "paper organization." They were gracious enough to say that they thought we might be able to qualify if we were not planning to move, but they thought it would be better to wait until the move was actually made. That was along in 1952 or 53 by that time, and actually we did not get accreditation until 1960. WERE YOU PIONEERING THE FIELD OF ACCREDITATION FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF A CHRISTIAN COLLEGE, OR WERE OTHER CHRISTIAN COLLEGES ACCREDITED TIIROUGH WASC? Very good question. We need to keep in mind the distinction between "Christian college" and "Bible college." There were many so-called Christian colleges that were members of regional accrediting associations and were highly respected in academic

QUESTION:

RESPONSE:

r- MEMOIRS BY DR. SAMUEL H. SUTHERLAND PRESIDENT EMERITUS June 20, 1986 Page 12 - Tape 2

circles. However, there were no Bible colleges who were considered academically qualified to become members of regional college associations. So Biola had to overcome this mindset of the State Department of Education. WERE INDIVIDUALS SENT TO THE CAMPUS FOR A WEEK OR MORE AT A TIME TO CHECK THE CURRICULA? OR WERE YOU WORKING BETWEEN YOUR OFFICE AS PRESIDENT AND THE SACRAMENTO OFFICES? That's a very good question, and let me answer it in this way. When we decided to move to the campus, as stated above, that held up any progress toward accreditation until 1960 when we moved onto the present campus. A team was appointed by the Western College Association to examine the school. They met on campus for parts of

QUESTION:

RESPONSE:

MEMOIRS BY DR. SAMUEL H. SUTHERLAND PRESIDENT EMERITUS June 20, 1986 Page 13 - Tape 2

three days. The Chairman of the Examining Committee was President Cassasa, then the President of Loyola University, a Catholic institution. Some of us were a little fearful of his Catholic persuasion, but it turned out that he was the best friend we had on the team. He was impressed with the academic stature of Biola, compared with the previous ten years during which we were making plans for our move to the campus. There was a professor on the Examining Committee from Fresno State College who checked our fundamental stance position. He raised the question to the Examining Committee, "How is it that anyone could be considered intellectual and follow the fundamental teachings that we espoused?" President Cassasa spoke right up and said, "Ladies and Gentlemen (there were two nuns on the committee) we're not here to examine the doctrinal position of this school. We're here to determine whether they are doing a collegiate caliber of work in the classrooms. I believe they are. Let's leave out the

MEMOIRS BY DR. SAMUEL H. SUTHERLAND PRESIDENT EMERITUS June 20, 1986 Page 14 - Tape 2

theological implications altogether." Well, President Cassasa had such stature that when he spoke no one argued with him, and so that question never seriously came up again in that committee meeting, nor any re-examining committee since that time.

QUESTION:

WAS IT AT THIS POINT THAT A FIVE- YEAR PROGRAM BECAME NECESSARY WHEN LIBERAL ARTS ACCRED- ITATION WAS INCLUDED WITH THE BIBLE COLLEGE UNITS?

RESPONSE:

It was much earlier that we had increased the curriculum to five years for a Baccalaureate Degree. We required one year of Bible and doctrine, and we gave our students a full four-year liberal arts program. So back when we first started talking about this, we raised the requirement to five years.

QUESTiON:

MEMOIRS BY DR. SAMUEL H. SUTHERLAND PRESIDENT EMERITUS June 20, 1986 Page 15 - Tape 2

IN THE LATE SIXTIES, DR. PULLIUS WAS INVOLVED WITH THE EXAMINING COMMITTEE. WAS HE INVOLVED WITH THIS ACCREDITING TEAM FROM THE BEGINNING? HOW LONG DID HE STAY? Dr. Pullius was Dean of Pepperdine College and then he was chairman of the Graduate Department at the University of Southern California where he taught until he retired. Dr. Pullius was a Christian and was very sympathetic with our position, although he was not a premillennialist. We engaged him about 1955 or 56 when the move was becoming more and more eminent to advise us on how to proceed as to additional necessary coursework; what we should do academically so far as our faculty was concerned by way of establishing tenure, sabbatical leave, getting the faculty to work towards advanced doctorates in their

RESPONSE:

MEMOIRS BY DR. SAMUEL H. SUTHERLAND PRESIDENT EMERITUS June 20, 1986 Page 16 - Tape 2

respective fields, and so forth. He was invaluable help to us in this regard. I must insert a little item of interest here. I made the statement at one time that I believed it was morally and intellectually dishonest for any person to become a dean or president or, indeed, become a faculty member of a school, and try to change the doctrinal position of that school. I thought it was intellectually and morally dishonest. If he did not like the school the way it was when he became employed, he certainly should not try to remain and change it. In view of the fact that all of the colleges in southern California had departed from the faith of their fathers, Dr. Pullius felt that it would be inadvisable for me to present such a wholesale condemnation, so I did not use the phrase anymore publically. But I still believe with all of my heart that if anyone tries to change the doctrinal position of Biola, some Johnny-come-lately, I think that he deserves to be completely reprimanded and dismissed.

MEMOIRS BY DR. SAMUEL H. SUTHERLAND PRESIDENT EMERITUS June 20, 1986 Page 17 - Tape 2

QUESTION:

IN ENGAGING THE PROCESS OF THE WASC ACCREDITATION, THE APPLICATIONS AND SO FORTH, WERE THERE EXPENSES TO THE SCHOOL RELATIVE TO THIS KIND OF ACTION?

RESPONSE:

Yes. There were lots of expenses. Every time an Examining Committee came to visit we needed to take care of the expenses, which ran into hundreds of dollars on every visit. Whenever we prepared reports to Sacramento or to WASC, we were responsible for making up fifteen to twenty copies, and sometimes as many as fifty, copies of the report. Naturally we wanted them presented as thoroughly and as neatly as possible, so it was quite an initial expense. But we were coming along well enough financially that we could afford it. If we could not have afforded the initial expense,

MEMOIRS BY DR. SAMUEL H. SUTHERLAND PRESIDENT EMERITUS June 20, 1986 Page 18 - Tape 2

we could not have afforded to get into accreditation with WASC.

QUESTION:

WHERE THE REPORTS EXTENSIVE?

Yes, they were. Sometimes they wanted two pages, sometimes 70 pages, so forth and so on, and on both sides of the page. Yes, they were extensive reports.

QUESTION:

HOW LONG A PERIOD OF TIME DID IT TAKE BEFORE ACCREDITATION WAS FINALIZED FROM THE TIME YOU APPLIED UNTIL IT WAS ACTUALLY PROVIDED?

RESPONSE:

We were applying from 1948 to 1960. We finally received full accreditation in 1960, so it was 12 years or more.

MEMOIRS BY DR. SAMUEL H. SUTHERLAND PRESIDENT EMERITUS June 20, 1986 Page 19 - Tape 2

QUESTION:

DURING TillS TIME, WERE YOU ALSO APPLYING FOR ACCREDITATION WITH THE ASSOCIATION OF BIBLE COLLEGES (AABC)? WERE THE APPLICATIONS CONCURRENT?

,... I

RESPONSE:

Yes. While we were working on accreditation with the Western College Association, we were also in the process of forming the Accrediting Association of Bible Colleges.

Table of Contents Tape 3

MEMOIRS BY DR. SAMUEL H. SUTHERLAND PRESIDENT EMERITUS

June 20, 1986 Page 1 - Tape 3

·QUESTION:

ON THE PART OF YOURSELF AND THE BOARD, WHAT WAS THE VISION FOR THE CAMPUS WITH RESPECT TO THE ASSUMPTIONS FOR A MASTER PLAN? FOR EXAMPLE, WHAT ENROLLMENT DID YOU ENVISION AND WHAT KINDS OF FACILITIES DID YOU ENVISION AFrER THAT DATE? That is a whole new facet of the entire work of Biola. Let me begin by saying that I envisioned a Bible college during World War II. It was a Bible institute then with a collegiate nature, but not a full-fledged Bible college. I felt that when World War II finished, we would need to move ahead academically to meet the needs of the post- World War II era, even as we had developed the curriculum from the original Bible institute concept before WWI to when we enlarged the curriculum following WWI to meet the needs of that day. So I began to

RESPONSE:

MEMOIRS BY DR. SAMUEL H. SUTHERLAND PRESIDENT EMERITUS

June 20, 1986 Page 2 - Tape 3

make plans to that end, even though I realized that we dared not present anything to the Board of Trustees at that time, because they were not thinking in terms of any advancement other than the old Bible institute concept. I assumed, of course, that the school would always remain in the downtown location. One of the earliest recommendations I made when I became Dean was a recommendation to the Board that we buy the lot across the street from the institute buildings with the idea that ultimately we would need to erect another twelve or thirteen-story structure to accommodate the increasing demands of the school. We were running at a full house where we were at the original location, and we needed this for development purposes. Incidentally, when I made that suggestion to the Board of Trustees, I was very kindly but severely rebuked. One Board member said, "Sam, we hired you as Dean. Not someone to engage in real estate speculation."

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