The Heritage Foundation Loves Christian Universities

Their new college guide

This morning, Inside Higher Ed had a piece titled “Conservative and Exploring Colleges? The Heritage Foundation Has Ratings for You.” It reports on how the Heritage Foundation — of Project 2025 fame — has come out with an alternative college guide to compete with US News and others.

Currently, their list has 280 schools on it (which is pretty meager). The story reports that Heritage used these metrics:

To sort the colleges into the three categories, Heritage researchers said they took into account four-year graduation rates and students’ postgraduation incomes—statistics one might expect in college and university comparisons. But their listed metrics also include the prevalence of diversity, equity and inclusion administrators; the number of “conservative” compared to “liberal” clubs; and whether institutions have bias reporting systems, require diversity statements in hiring or house departments of ethnic or gender studies.

Here is a picture of their map:

If you click on their link in the story, you can drill down by state or by category. There are 102 “great option” institutions marked in green (36% of total). There are 79 “worth considering” marked in yellow (28%) and 99 “not recommended” marked in red (35%).¹

Here’s how you get to be a green school:

These universities and colleges represent a strong choice for families prioritizing freedom, opportunity, and civil society. These schools offer an intellectually rigorous and well-rounded campus environment. These universities generally remain independent of extensive DEI administrative influence or bureaucracies and offer a solid return on investment, evidenced by competitive post-graduation income levels and commendable four-year graduation rates. Furthermore, these institutions typically uphold a conducive atmosphere for free expression, making them well-suited for those seeking academic excellence and ideological balance.

The further into that paragraph you go, the more it betrays the Heritage agenda. Rigor and well-rounded environment, no DEI structures, competitive income, “commendable”(?) graduation rates, and ideological balance².

Naturally, I went to the list to see who the green light schools were. Over a third of them were CCCU schools. Some others were conservative Catholic schools, Missouri Synod Lutherans, Latter Day Saints, and some state schools. Another seven CCCU schools are in the yellow category.³ There are no CCCU schools in the red category.

I’m heading to Seattle tomorrow to speak the Seattle Pacific University (a green school) faculty retreat.⁴ I’m talking about the themes of my book, The Fearless Christian University.

Having just finalized my presentation about reimagining Christian higher education in light of what we know about Gen Z (more next Friday), I’m not sure that being on a Heritage list because you don’t have liberal clubs or DEI officers or gender studies programs is the way to reach these students.

I’ve argued for years that the changes in the rising generation mean that institutions aiming for politically conservative white evangelicals are competing in a shallow pool. PRRI reports that 11% of Gen Z are white evangelicals. If everybody chases this same population, it will create a scenario in which schools all lurch to the right to compete. Meanwhile, they let vast populations who might be interested in attending their Christian university know that they aren’t welcome. In an era of tight budgets and continuous belt-tightening, this feels like a luxury these schools cannot afford.

1. They must be fans of traffic lights.

2. Conservative voices welcome.

3. The green and yellow CCCU schools make up about half of all the CCCU.

4. My next SubStack will be a week from today.