This petition is being issued to The Office of Advanced Professional Studies of Columbia Theological Seminary, CTS, in Decatur, GA by DEdMin students out of growing concern for the social injustice that has occurred to the CTS DEdMin students who began their studies under the 2010-11 and 2012-13 Student Manuals. These Student Manuals were issued to the students during their Introductory Seminar for the program and told that the document was equivalent to the Bible for the DEdMin program. The Bible does not change over time and neither should the Student Manual. The students that this petition negatively impacts are individuals from cohort 3 and 4. The concern is that the students who agreed to be a part of the DEdMin program from these cohorts were informed of the DEdMin project during the Introductory Seminar as well as through their individual research prior to applying and being accepted into the program under a set of guidelines that we are now being told have changed. These students made an agreement with CTS to pursue their studies as outlined in the DEdMin Student Manual issued by the seminary for their incoming class. DMin and DEdMin students alike were informed via e-mail on February 9, 2014 by Dr. Kevin Park that the guidelines that were previously agreed upon by all had been changed effective immediately, without prior notice, for any student that had not already taken the Project Proposal Workshop prior to January 1, 2014. Thus, the DEdMin Bible has now changed. This e-mail brought up multiple concerns for the DEdMin students signing this petition. If the students had known this information sooner, then they could have taken a Project Proposal Workshop prior to this date to avoid falling under the new guidelines. When did CTS know about these issues and what more could have been done to protect the interest of the students? The issue has become one of trust, honor, integrity, and ethics. Additionally, it does not appear that CTS did enough to advocate for the good of the students by simply agreeing to the terms of the visiting accreditation team of the Association of Theological Schools, ATS. We believe more could have been done. This petition is requesting that CTS approach ATS on behalf of all DEdMin students who enrolled under the 2010-11 and 2012-13 Student Manuals through cohort 3 and 4 to request that the negatively impacted DEdMin students be given several options allowing for the option of falling under the guidelines in which they began their enrollment where the Final DEdMin Project was a length of 25-35 pages or to select the new guideline requested by ATS for the 80-125 page project as outlined in the February 9, 2014 e-mail from Dr. Park. Lastly, the DEdMin students deem it wise to also ask for a third option whereby the student could complete a second Practicum in lieu of a Final Project as the DEdMin program, afterall, is a practical doctorate. If it is determined that CTS is able to make this decision without the approval of ATS, then we ask that the petition be approved and acted upon immediately. It should be noted that several DEdMin students have had to postpone taking a Project Proposal Workshop due to these concerns and the fact that the new guidelines are still a work in progress which further delays the process and the ability for a student to graduate on time or when they intended. The spirit of this petition comes from the desire to see social justice and fairness for the DEdMin students who enrolled under certain guidelines that were presented in detail during the Introductory Seminar. Please consider the request of this petition. Furthermore, the signatures attached is our request that you act upon the petition for the good of the students in the DEdMin program.