Seriously Christian Must Not Equal Unserious Academics

I am sick of hearing from “mainstream” Christian academic institutions of higher education that other colleges and universities that do not subscribe to the Land O’ Lakes statement or the American Association of University Professors’ absolutist vision of academic freedom are not really colleges, or degrees from those schools are less valuable, or professors there are less scholarly, or a host of other put-downs.

Typical is this from the WSJ: “Phi Beta Kappa, the honors society, hasn’t established a chapter at any of the evangelical colleges that make up the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, including Wheaton. Kelly Gerald, a spokeswoman, says the society wants to uphold what it sees as the values inherent in the liberal arts and sciences, such as tolerance for diverse points of view. The American Economics Association, which operates a Web site for academic job seekers, deletes references to religious preferences in job listings.”

My spur is a that today on GOP3.com we saw another instance of this kind of thinking from Marquette’s president, Fr. Wild, in his justification for rejecting Students for Academic Freedom: “Such academic freedom for the faculty is a necessary prerequisite for any serious academic institution, and there is no Catholic university of standing that operates otherwise.”

That kind of thinking is a sad reflection on higher education in America today. In a zeal for tolerance and freedom, the defenders of the Ivory Tower show no tolerance or freedom for those institutions that take a limited view of academic freedom. They put down or push out those schools that think differently about their identifies.

So I will set out, with my following seven examples, to show that schools that have very narrow understandings of academic freedom, consequences of very powerful understandings of their religious identities, can also be a “serious academic institution” and “of standing” in the world.

THREE EVANGELICAL EXAMPLES:

Wheaton College: Hiring for Mission: “Wheaton, like many evangelical colleges, requires full-time faculty members to be Protestants and sign a statement of belief in ‘biblical doctrine that is consonant with evangelical Christianity.’ In a letter notifying Mr. Hochschild of the college’s decision, Wheaton’s president said his ‘personal desire’ to retain ‘a gifted brother in Christ’ was outweighed by his duty to employ ‘faculty who embody the institution’s evangelical Protestant convictions.’” The reason for the firing: Professor Hochschild had decided to convert to Catholicism.

Wheaton College: “Of Standing“: Wheaton College ranked 11th in the nation in the total number of graduates (all fields) who went on to earn doctorates according to Franklin and Marshall University’s latest survey, which included more than 900 private colleges and universities. In the US News “National Liberal Arts College” catergory, Wheaton ranked 61 (in Marquette’s catergory, National Doctoral, we’re 81). Wheaton’s alumni include former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, former US Senator Dan Coats, and the evangelist Billy Graham. Marquette’s average SAT score for an entering freshman is an 1180; last year at Wheaton it was a 1336.

Liberty University: Religious Influence: “Liberty’s professors integrate a Christian worldview into every subject area. This biblical foundation is the cornerstone upon which we build academic excellence. Our faculty hold degrees from more than 400 colleges and universities. They join Liberty only after completing a rigorous interview process that confirms a born-again relationship with Christ, a clear understanding of the Purpose and Aims of Liberty, and a commitment to teaching excellence.” Liberty was founded by Baptist preacher and televangelist Dr. Jerry Falwell.

Liberty University: “Of Standing”: With one college, five schools, a law school, and a seminary, Liberty is home to 10,000 students. They are the reigning and ranked national champions of college debate, warranting a flattering profile in the New York Times. They have 18 D-I athletics programs in the Big South. Many of you will remember when Marquette was one of three schools selected to be profiled in US News’ Best Colleges 2005 – Liberty joined Cornell and ULCA as the profiled schools in 2006.

Grove City College: Academic Freedom: “Grove City College is nearly unique in private academe as an institution that accepts no government funding of any sort. It is an avowedly Christian institution with a politically conservative worldview. Additionally, it has remained on the American Association of University Professors list of censured colleges and universities since 1963, twice as long as any other American institution of higher education.”

Grove City College: “Serious“: Their average SAT: 1279. Marquette: 1180. GCC has 2 more National Merit Finalists than Marquette (19-17) among a student body less than one third the size. 56% of Marquette’s class of 2009 were in the top 20% of their high school class; at Grove City 59% were in the top 10% of their class.

THREE CATHOLIC EXAMPLES:

Ave Maria Law School: Seriously Catholic: Crisis: “[T]he main thing that makes a law school Catholic, [Dean Bernard] Dobranski says, is its commitment to the Catholic intellectual tradition….The law school chapel hosts eucharistic adoration, the rosary, the Liturgy of the Hours, and daily Mass. In addition, there are crucifixes in the classrooms, and many classes begin with a prayer. Dobranski also supports Ex Corde Ecclesiae (Pope John Paul II’s apostolic constitution on Catholic universities) and disagrees with those who say that the document limits academic freedom…”

Ave Maria Law School: “Serious” Academics: Professors received advanced degrees from Michigan, Chicago, Harvard, Stanford, Fordham, Notre Dame, Virginia, Princeton, Cornell, and Georgetown. Three of the last four years Ave Maria had a higher first-time Michigan bar exam pass rate than the University of Michigan, one of the top law schools in the nation. In the last five years, Ave Maria has hosted lectures by: Supreme Court Justices Thomas and Scalia, the Sec’y of Veterans Affairs, the Director of the White House Faith-Based Initiative, a former White House Counsel, a former Solicitor General, the Cardinal Archbishops of Sydney (Australia), Chicago, and Detroit, and the Chair of the President’s Council on Bioethics.

Franciscan Steubenville: Academic Freedom: “The Rev. Dan Pattee at the conservative Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio displays his mandatum in his office. All 12 of his fellow professors, most of them laity, have one, he said. “I don’t think the mandatum is asking us to do anything new,” Pattee said. It’s “just kind of formalizing things that Catholic theologians have already been doing for centuries.” He wonders why anyone would refuse. So does his school. Franciscan University requires new hires to get a mandatum and last year rejected a job candidate who declined.”

Franciscan Steubenville: “Serious”: A 2005 Newsweek story. A 3.58 average high school GPA of enrollees. The late cardinal of New York, John O’Connor, called Steubenville “the premier Catholic institution in the U.S.A.” At one point a few years ago it had 80 undergraduates intent on the priesthood.

University of Dallas: Ex Corde: “[A]n authentic response to our Catholic identity and character includes the institutional incorporation of the four essential qualities of a Catholic college or university we find in the opening chapters of Ex Corde Ecclesiae. We are called upon to exhibit a ‘Christian inspiration,’ ‘a continuing reflection in the light of Catholic faith upon the growing treasury of human knowledge,’ ‘fidelity to the Christian message as it comes to us through the Church,’ and ‘an institutional commitment to the service of the people of God and of the human family.’”

University of Dallas: “Serious“: The undergraduate class of 2005 contained nine Fulbright Scholars. One percent of all MBAs in the world received their degree from UD. The Fiske Guide to Colleges states that the University of Dallas is the best Catholic-affiliated school south of Washington, D.C. Recognized by the Princeton Review for being “one of the best private school bargains in the nation” and in the top 20 for having outstanding professors.

ONE FINAL EXAMPLE, MY BIG CLOSER: BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

Brigham Young University: Academic Freedom: Academic Freedom: ”

It follows that the exercise of individual and institutional academic freedom must be a matter of reasonable limitations. In general, at BYU a limitation is reasonable when the faculty behavior or expression seriously and adversely affects the university mission or the Church. Examples would include expression with students or in public that:
contradicts or opposes, rather than analyzes or discusses, fundamental Church doctrine or policy;
deliberately attacks or derides the Church or its general leaders; or
violates the Honor Code because the expression is dishonest, illegal, unchaste, profane, or unduly disrespectful of others.
Reasonable limits are based on careful consideration of what lies at the heart of the interests of the Church and the mission of the university. A faculty member shall not be found in violation of the academic freedom standards unless the faculty member can fairly be considered aware that the expression violates the standards.

According to a 1997 report from the American Association of University Professors, “infringements on academic freedom are distressingly common and that the climate for academic freedom is distressingly poor.” According to Wiki: “[I]n llate 1992, the university’s board of trustees vetoed without comment a BYU proposal to invite Pulitzer Prize winner and Harvard University professor Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, an active feminist, to address the annual BYU Women’s Conference. … [I]n 1993, BYU denied continuing status to Cecilia Konchar Farr, who had publicly advocated a pro-choice position on abortion, and to David Knowlton, who had discussed the church’s missionary system at an independent Mormon forum. In 1996, BYU dismissed Gail T. Houston, a feminist who advocated prayer to a Heavenly Mother… Most recently, in 2006, part-time faculty instructor Jeffrey Nielsen’s contract was not renewed after he wrote an op-ed … which criticized and opposed the Mormon Church’s stance on same-sex marriage.”

Brigham Young University: A “Serious Academic Institution” and “Of Standing”: BYU students benefit from a campus environment that consistently ranks in the top 10 percent of institutions nationally in being supportive, being academically challenging and in fostering active and collaborative learning among undergraduates as measured in the annual National Survey of Student Engagement. In the 2007 US News rankings, BYU was 70th in National Doctoral Universities, Marquette was ranked 81. BYU’s Law School was ranked 37; Marquette was 101. Among undergraduate programs, Public Accounting Report in 2005 ranked BYU’s accounting program second in the nation. U.S. News & World Report rated the business management program 37th in 2006, and Business Week in 2006 ranked undergraduate business programs eighth (Marquette came in 46th). Finally, the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago rated BYU 10th in the nation as a school of origin for graduates who go on to earn doctoral degrees.

SO TO ALL OF YOU WHO SAY THAT IF MARQUETTE FAILS TO HOST PRO-ABORTION SPEAKERS OR FAILS TO TOLERATE PRO-ABORTION FACULTY, I SAY SEE BYU!

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