A Madison-based organization is suing the U.S. Department of Education for funding a parochial college that doesn’t offer any degree programs.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, an organization dedicated to the firm separation of church and state, announced the lawsuit Friday against the U.S. Department of Education for providing funding to the Alaska Christian College in Soldotna, Alaska.

The school, consisting of 37 students and five faculty members, was allocated $435,000 in late November of 2004 through the department’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education.

According to an FFRF release, ACC was the only unaccredited, non-degree school in the nation that received such funding in 2004.

FFRF, a national organization, was informed of the ACC funding through Alaskan FFRF members who had read a Juneau Empire editorial criticizing the school for receiving funding from the government, FFRF spokesperson Annie Laurie Gaylor said.

According to Gaylor, this is FFRF’s first federal suit of this kind. Nonetheless, the group has had past victories against several organizations that have breached the separation of church and state.

“The point we’re making with all of this is [that] this is public money,” Gaylor said. “[ACC] can’t even call them professors. They have five teachers and we’re paying their salaries and they’re not teaching anything academic.”

FFRF thought it is particularly objectionable ACC’s student body is made up of 90 percent native Alaskans, Gaylor added.

“It’s missionizing the native Alaskans,” Gaylor said. “This is part of that whole missionary mentality.”

Still, Gaylor said his largest concern is with regard to the general well-being of the U.S. government.

“What’s at stake is our Bill of Rights, our secular government,” Gaylor said. “The Great American Experiment is unraveling right before our eyes.”

Although the group is suing for only the most recent allotment of funding to the ACC, nearly $1 million total has been provided for the university.

However, ACC officials believe the FFRF’s characterization of the ACC does not express the whole story.

According to a statement released yesterday from the university, ACC functions by assisting native Alaskans and Native Americans in making the transition to extended college-level education after completing ACC’s two-year program.

“There are emotional, intellectual, spiritual, physical and social components in people’s lives,” the statement said. “ACC’s mission is to give students opportunities to grow in each of these areas through mentoring, academics, tutoring, career assessment, Bible learning, Native community and counseling.”

Contrary to FFRF’s claim, ACC President Keith Hamilton said ACC does offer degrees in conjunction with neighboring University of Alaska Community College. ACC offers a combination of general education courses and Biblical courses. Additionally, the university offers a two-year certificate of Biblical and general studies and a one-year certificate of Biblical studies.

“We went through the rigorous process like any other institution and we were rewarded,” Hamilton said.

According to Hamilton, ACC provides students who come from small villages with a solution to acquiring a degree, since there are not major universities in vicinity.

Still, some are skeptical of how the case will go.

University of Wisconsin law professor emeritus Gordon Baldwin said ACC would probably be allowed to stand if the government is not discriminating from other faiths.

“You can’t be penalized because you’re Hindu or because you’re Christian or because you’re Presbyterian,” Baldwin said. “If you had a program where a broad range of schools got the same treatment, it would probably stand.”