Maintaining the Institutional Ethos
DNA, John Fea, and Chris Gehrz
Often in the midst of a class discussion, one of more students would use the phrase “piggybacking off of that…” and share their insights on the topic at hand. I was never a huge fan of the phrase (because there was often no connection whatsoever) but I find myself in need of it. Or perhaps it’s the improvisation classes’ “yes, and…”.
In any case, I’m adding my two cents worth to comments already made by John Fea and Chris Gehrz. Yesterday, Chris’ SubStack began by acknowledging an earlier work by John.1
Earlier this week at Current, John Fea commented on the commencement ceremonies at Liberty University, where the featured speaker was Republican politician Tim Scott. That event — and how it was presented on social media — reminded John that Liberty
was founded as a culture war institution. It exists, and always has, at the unhealthy intersection of evangelical faith and Republican politics. So it should not surprise us that the Standing for Freedom Center, the organization responsible for promoting Liberty’s Christian Right mission, used the university’s 2024 graduation ceremony to score points in the culture war. At Liberty, that’s what they do. It is in the school’s DNA. Even the most sacred moments in the university calendar—such as commencement—must be used to attack political opponents.
In reading John’s original post from last weekend, I was reminded of the Liberty chapter in Tim Alberta’s book. Liberty was birthed during Jerry Falwell’s big celebration of the nation’s 1976 bicentennial with a huge rally on the grounds. All the standard tropes were present. There were flags, speeches, the necessary recital of Second Chronicles, and a concern to take the nation back from the secularists.2
In his post, Chris wrote the following:
Among other distinctives from the Pietist tradition, I argued that the people of Bethel have inherited and extended its irenic posture. We tend to welcome diversity of perspectives as a source of strength, and we seek to be known for who we love and who we hope to become, not who or what we oppose.
I think there is great value in understanding the core values of an institution. While there can be significant diversity of thought about practice, one hopes that all that diversity still connects back to the central idea.
Nearly twenty years ago, I organized a gathering for higher education leaders in the Church of God, Anderson. I presented a paper (now long gone) arguing that some elements of COG theology could be identified in the universitys’ operating culture: a belief that “all blood washed ones” were part of the community, that independence from hierarchy was primary3, and that community was to be celebrated.
Regardless of the diversity present among members of the institution, they connect back to the central ethos, what Chris and John called the DNA. This has to do with how hiring takes place: what kinds of people are interested in applying4, how the search committee responds, and how the new hire is enculturated.
At another of my institutions, an early president was a remarkable scholar. In addition to reading about him in the institutional histories, I was given an audiotape of a dialogue he had about the values of Christian higher education. He had served as the president of two different denominational schools and was an academic at heart. His ideas could have been a foundation for how a Christian university could operate.
But there was another president that I think also shaped the institutional ethos, but not in the best way. He had been president in the early years of the school. But a group of religion students, backed by some disgruntled faculty, argued to the trustees that the president wasn’t “spiritual enough” since there hadn’t been spontaneous revivals on campus under his leadership. I believe that the contrast between these two presidents has in many ways defined the institution to this day.
Chris closed his piece with what I identified on social media as a very depressing paragraph:
So I’ll just sum up in this way: the best way to change the DNA of a Christian university — for better or for worse — would be to change how faculty are hired (and whether they’re hired for full- or part-time work), to change expectations for tenure and promotion and the resources available to help professors meet those expectations, and to change their role in shared governance.
If you follow higher ed news, you understand why this paragraph is depressing. The increase in contingent faculty, the elimination of tenure protections (if they were every there), the pressures of finances, and the loss of shared governance are happening all over the country in all kinds of institutions.
So how does an institution regain its ties to institution DNA or ethos? One option is to make bold moves5 that demonstrates the commitment to ethos. For example, this week Belmont, a Christian university in Nashville, announced that they were open to hiring faculty members of a variety of faith traditions or no faith at all. But the president, Greg Jones, placed this change within the heart of institutional ethos6:
Greg Jones, president of the university, said he sees the new, university-wide policy as a part of its Christian mission and a way to foster a “sense of hospitality and welcome.” Prospective faculty members have to be tolerant of the university’s religious practices, like prayers at the start of meetings, but they don’t have to be Christian to support Belmont’s “Christ-centered mission,” he said. This includes “key virtues about respecting each other as children made in the image of God” and “humility.”
On the other hand, when institutional ethos goes astray it requires bold prophetic voices to call things back to where they belong. This was illustrated after KC Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker spoke at Kansas’ Benedictine University commencement last weekend. It was, to say the least, a nearly reactionary set of claims. Initial reports were the university, which has become aligned with Traditional Catholics, was supportive of his claims on a variety of social issues. The Benedictine Sisters, responsible for founding the institution saw things differently and called the university back to its ethos.
The sisters of Mount St. Scholastica do not believe that Harrison Butker’s comments in his 2024 Benedictine College commencement address represent the Catholic, Benedictine, liberal arts college that our founders envisioned and in which we have been so invested.
Instead of promoting unity in our church, our nation, and the world, his comments seem to have fostered division. One of our concerns was the assertion that being a homemaker is the highest calling for a woman. We sisters have dedicated our lives to God and God’s people, including the many women whom we have taught and influenced during the past 160 years. These women have made a tremendous difference in the world in their roles as wives and mothers and through their God-given gifts in leadership, scholarship, and their careers.
Institutional ethos depends upon brave individuals to call the university back to its core values, to remember the best defining events, and to be willing to re-interpret that ethos in contemporary ways. While ideally this would be the task of administrators and trustees, it will likely fall to faculty and alumni to protect the DNA of the institution.
I couldn’t figure out how to format the double quote.
They could have written Taking America Back for God a nearly 50 years before Whitehead and Perry did.
This is because there is no actual membership in the COGA. Theoretically. Recent actions to pull ministerial credentials over LGBTQ+ affirmation is a major contradiction to that original ethos.
I once had a prospective faculty member who read the COG Cleveland website and was quite concerned about whether he’d fit the culture. I explained that he’d gone to the wrong website and he joined us (but didn’t fit after all).
Dare I say “Fearless”?
I have a similar story in the book about Belmont’s LGBTQ support group used the institution’s core values to advocate for policy change (thanks to Jonathan Coley).