Wednesday, August 01, 2007

A bear market

It saddens me to see my alma mater lose some of the best profs it has, especially when the school... well, let's just say the school didn't fight particularly hard to keep its most valuable assets. It makes me concerned about the direction of the school, or at least some of its present leadership. This isn't an isolated incident; other top professors have left, either under pressure or for undisclosed reasons (with strong suspicions that differences of opinion with the school played a heavy role). Aside from the atmosphere of distrust thought police herald, one has to wonder what affect this can have on accreditation. The school is already struggling to make quota of profs with doctorates from schools other than itself. This makes three less this summer, if my count is right.

I understand jealously guarding orthodoxy in a Christian school, but the "image" the administration insists its "insiders" conform to has nothing to do with orthodoxy; it's just that--an image. Judge for yourself what is prohibited these days. Now tell me, does this create an environment in which one can spiritually grow and flourish?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dearest Rebecca, such a tight rope faith/grace and works of love. I pray for the ones of your generation that I know, that you don't throw out the baby with the bath water so to speak. Stay faithful to the truth keeping your heart and mind focused on accuratly reflecting the character and nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is faithful, oh that we would be the same. I honestly do pray for you.

Becca said...

If by "baby" you mean BJU, have no fear. I haven't totally dismissed the school--indeed, I care about it deeply, and not just because its reputation has a direct impact on the marketability on my resume. Which is why what I hear from it is so troubling to me. I have heard about many wonderful things that are happening there and great praise for the new leadership, so news that these academic and spiritual gems of the school are being driven out is all the more troubling. These are the teachers who challenged us to think, offered their time and offices as safe havens for us to grow spiritually, prayed for us, and stayed in touch with us after we graduated because they cared that much about us as people. The best theory I can muster is that certain folks within the school are testing the bounds of power with the changing of the guard. I hope that is all it is and this is a hiccup and not a trend.