Consolidation Perspective

My two alma maters, Western Seminary & Multnomah Bible College, are considering consolidating into one school. It isn't a foregone conclusion that it will happen, but they're seriously considering it. The thought of them being one makes me both happy and sad. The sad comes because it'll seem like I got my Masters from the same place as my undergrad. I can let that issue go fairly easily though.

What makes me happy is that Multnomah won't try and start their own counseling program. Being able to stand alongside Western's established program is the right thing to do. Within Portland there are already too many schools cranking out counselors that can't get jobs (the city isn't big enough to support them all). If the merger goes through it means Multnomah will most likely change to a University model, which will benefit everyone. The only thing that scares me is dropping "biblical" from the institutional name. I hope Bible is kept in the name somewhere simply to keep the vision and purpose at the forefront. There's no point in keeping "Western" in the name because it doesn't mean much. My vote is for Multnomah Biblical University.