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REPORT ON REV. DRUMMONDDrummond degree phony,By MU ALNOftSunday Times Staff Writer CONCORD — The Rev. Frederick A. Drummond does not have a doctoral degree as he publicly claims, the Sunday Times has learned.Neither does Drummond, the controversial minister of the Church of Our Saviour in Con-cordville, have a master’sdegree. Nor does he have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited university, this newspaper has learned.Drummond was denied a Ph.D. degree by non-accredited Baptist Christian College in Shreveport, La. when questions arose about his academic credentials and his character,the president of the college said Tuesday.Drummond enrolled in other theology programs at least twice. He lasted one semester at the San Francisco Baptist Theological Seminary in 1969, failing four of five study courses, according to seminary president Amo Weniger.In 1971, he enrolled in the Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Bib. He stayed a little more a year before dropping out.This history is in direct contrast to Drummond’s sermons,which frequently are laced with accounts of his hard struggle in seminary to get his doctor ofMinister's alma mater folded under fire for false recordsBy BILL ALNORSunday Times Staff Writer The college the Rev.Frederick Drummond claims awarded him his bachelor's and Ph.D. degrees was never accredited and it folded in 1982, education officials told the Sunday Times.Baptist Christian College of Shreveport, La. terminated its relationship with an extension campus, Sacramento Baptist College of Citrus Heights,Calif., after charges of academic fraud were leveled by the mother school, according to James Thorpe, president of Louisiana institution.Sacramento Baptist College is the college from which Drummond, a former used car salesman from South Africa, claims to have received a bachelor of arts degree in 1973. Drummond apparentlyattended few—if any—classes at the school. From 1971 to the purported graduation date, he lived in Springfield, Mo. where he simultaneously attended classes at another college before dropping out.In 1973, he spent much of his time founding the Galilean Baptist Church.Since the Sacramento Baptist College folded in early 1982 Drummond’s academic records are not available. And O.C. Harris, the man who ran the Sacramento Baptist College on behalf of the Baptist Christian College in Louisiana, could not be reached for comment.But Charles Williams of the California Private Postsecondary Education Department in Los Angeles said the college’s request to be granted a state exemption from education laws governingDoctor of Divinity and Doctor of Theology degrees was denied in 1982 and the school folded shortly thereafter.Drummond claims to have earned a Ph.D. from the college in 1981. But a former high-ranking member of the church said Drummond did not receivea PhD. degree in the mail from the Sacramento Baptist College until 1983 or 1984—at least a year after the institution folded.Thorpe said Harris was dismissed from the college after the faculty discovered he was not supplying accurate academic records on the students attending the extension school in Sacramento.Drummond’s case was an example, said Thorpe. The Sacramento college placed the controversial pastor on the Louisiana college's list to graduate with a Ph.D. in 1982. But when school officials examined Drummond’s academic record it was incomplete. There was no record of a bachelor’s or master’s degree, Thorpe said.Harris’s whereabouts could not be determined by the Sunday Times.divinity degree. He refers to himself as Dr. Drummond and insists his congregation refer to him by that title.The preface to The Secret of Human Greatness,” Drummond's 135-page book published in 1985 with church offering money, says:*Tnderick came to the United States from South Africa in 1968 and moved to Bellas where be began bis formal studies. After attending several Bible colleges and seminaries, be graduated from the Sacramento Baptist College and Theological Seminary in 1981 with a PhD.Drummond did not return a phone call to explain the apparent discrepancy.According to James Thorpe, president of the Baptist Christian College, the administration denied Drummond a non-accredited PhD. degree in education on May 17, 1982, when faculty members raised questions about “his character.Thorpe said Drummond was listed as a student at the time at the Sacramento Baptist College in Citrus Heights, Calif., an extension of Baptist Christian College.Certain faculty members met and decided that they could not proceed with graduation exercises due to Ids character,” said Thorpe in a telephone interview Tuesday. .Thorpe added that when questions emerged about Drummond just prior to the
Newspaper Details
Upper Darby Sunday Times
Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, US
Sun, Dec 14, 1986
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Kaeli B.
NA, 10 Mar 2025
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Upper Darby Sunday Times
