[OG Note: Degrees in astrology have been available in Britain for years.]

Astrology school sets off controversy

Monday, July 23, 2001

By ROBERT McCLURE SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

LYNNWOOD -- College degrees in astrology?

It's an idea whose time has come, say the founders of Kepler College of Astrological Arts and Sciences.

To hear the Kepler folks tell it, students who will launch into course work this week are part of an historic accomplishment at the dawn of a new millennium.

"The founding of Kepler College is the most important event in astrology's history in several centuries," wrote Joanne Wickenburg, chairwoman of the college's board of trustees, in introducing the school. "We at Kepler believe that bringing astrology back into a college setting is long overdue."To some others in academia, the notion of bachelor's and even master's degrees in astrology is a little hard to take.

"Ludicrous," grumbles Alvin Kwiram, vice provost for research at the University of Washington, who is particularly incensed that Kepler won the authorization of the state Higher Education Coordinating Board. "If I set up a college of tae kwon do, would they approve it? ... What if we had a college of quack medicine?"

From an office park just off Interstate 5 not far from the Alderwood Mall, the college offers degrees mostly by computer but requires students to attend a one-week intensive seminar each term to study astrology -- defined by Webster's as a "pseudo-science claiming to foretell the future by studying the supposed influence of the relative positions of the moon, sun, and stars on human affairs." The next term begins Wednesday.

Kepler is named after Johannes Kepler, the noted German mathematician and astronomer who also practiced astrology.

"The promoters of Kepler College have honored Kepler not for his strength but for his weakness, as if a society advocating drunkenness named a school for Ernest Hemingway," wrote John Silber, chancellor of Boston University, in a scathing May opinion piece published in the Boston Herald.

But founders of the college say they merely seek to restore legitimacy to a practice that people embraced for thousands of years.

Astrology lost public acceptance in the 1500s and 1600s at the same time that scientists were proving that the Earth revolves around the sun, instead of the other way around. Astrology had been based on the earlier view that the earth was the center of the universe. One who helped substantiate the latter world view was Kepler, who died in 1630. By the 1700s, astrology was being removed from university curriculums.

"Anything that had to do with spirits started getting eliminated," said Enid Newberg, president of Kepler College. "Things that could not be scientifically measured were dropped."

That did not completely obliterate the practice, though, and in the 1800s interest was rekindled. In the last century, those who employed astrologers included President Reagan's wife, Nancy, and German dictator Adolf Hitler.

Nine years in planning, Kepler kicked off its inaugural class last July. Fifteen to 18 students from the first year will be joined this week by about a dozen new students, Newberg said.

Kepler's faculty includes educators who have earned master's and doctoral degrees in subjects such as humanistic psychology, mythology and history.

Tuition is $5,000 a year. The course of study includes the history of astrology in the first year, a second year that includes examining "how modern thinking and modern myths shape society's current beliefs about astrology," and third and fourth years that include "astrology, psychology and the counseling arts."

What will students do with a degree in astrology? It's hard to say, Newberg conceded.

People with English degrees don't always teach language, she said, and not every Kepler graduate will be a professional astrologer.

She can imagine, for instance, someone with a Kepler degree becoming a human-relations manager. Others may move into counseling. Some might help clients make investment decisions. Plus, she points out, astrology "is a very big industry."

The Higher Education Coordinating Board did give the college authorization to open, but not accreditation, HEC Board spokeswoman Barbara Dunn said.

Accrediting institutions look at the content of a college's curriculum, while the state HEC board simply checks to make sure "the school has all the structures together, from a business standpoint, to operate here in the state of Washington," Dunn said. State law says the purpose of the HEC Board's authorization power is to ensure "fair business practices and adequate quality among degree-granting institutions operating in the state of Washington and to protect citizens against substandard, fraudulent, and deceptive practices."

At Kepler, "The students are going to be challenged," vows Newberg, the president.

Newberg said she hopes to get the college's first accreditation from the Distance Education Training Council. At a minimum, Kepler will have to stay open another year before applying, and Newberg hopes to gain accreditation by the end of 2002, she said. However, she said she has not yet checked into the process details.

So, how long will it be before Kepler can say it is fully accredited?

That, Newberg said, is hard to predict.

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2001