Lesson: Don’t judge an entire academic institution based on the actions of one of its alumni. At the same time, don’t pass immediate judgment on an alumna because of your assumptions about Christian colleges.
Let me be clear from the start, in no way do I want to support the actions of the Attorney General and the Bush administration in this whole firing fiasco. But in the coverage of the story, particularly in regard to Monica Goodling (whom you may know as that woman that plead the fifth when called to testify), has revealed once again how we all can come too quickly to easy conclusions through lazy assumptions. The short story is that Monica Goodling was the director of public affairs for the Department of Justice and had some kind of role in the 2006 U.S. attorney firings controversy. When called to testify, she decided to plead the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
So, naturally, people wondered who this Monica Goodling person was and they saw that she went to Regent University (Pat Robertson’s school) and some school called Messiah College. Well, the assumption seems to go, she must be one of these “religious right” folks and Messiah must be a “religious right” school too. One editorial article actually described the two schools as “fundamentalist Messiah College and evangelical Regent University created by TV preacher Pat Robertson.” Now, there’s an interesting twist: apparently Messiah is more conservative than Regent University. A Washington Post article describes the character of Messiah simply by informing the reader “that [it] does not have co-ed dorms or allow alcohol on campus.” Elsewhere, I’ve heard that people have picked up on Messiah’s Community Covenant, which talks about the prohibition of “alcoholic beverages,” while it also condemns “greed, jealousy, pride” and other things. This is used to point out that Christians are a bunch of hypocrites. That’s not headline news, whether or not it’s true in this case. The regulations about alcohol are debated, however, not just amongst the students, but faculty and administration as well.
One syndicated article merely states that Messiah College is “committed to embracing an evangelical spirit,” which is actually a misquotation and should be “committed to an embracing evangelical spirit.” Big difference in word order there. The quote comes from the school’s “Identity and Mission” statement, which you find by simply clicking on “About Messiah” on the homepage. What they left out was the rest of the sentence:
The College is committed to an embracing evangelical spirit rooted in the Anabaptist, Pietist and Wesleyan traditions of the Christian Church.
Granted, if the press used words like “Anabaptist, Pietist and Wesleyan traditions” then they would have to define these things for their audience. But Messiah has distinguished themselves from other types of evangelicalism by these traditions. If members of the press (or bloggers or whoever else is declaring an opinion on Messiah) knew what those traditions were and how they are embodied at Messiah College, they might be surprised. Furthermore, they ignored the more important following sentence in the statement (and this is a sentence that I have memorized):
Our mission is to educate men and women toward maturity of intellect, character and Christian faith in preparation for lives of service, leadership and reconciliation in church and society.
The bad press also has not latched onto one of the slogans of the school: “Unapologetically Christian, Rigorously Academic.” The first phrase would be great fodder for snide comments, and yet the second phrase doesn’t fit the characterization of a Christian school as not truly academic. Never mind that Messiah College was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as number four in its “Best Colleges” for comprehensive bachelor’s colleges in the North in 2007.
Whether the press explicitly states that they view Messiah College as a fundamentalist institution or whether they describe it in a tone that implies as much, they have not done their homework. A fundamentalist school does not have a woman as its president, as does Messiah College, one school out of a mere 23% of all college presidencies in 2006. A fundamentalist school does not allow “Equality Ride,” a gay rights protest bus, on campus and allow students to discuss the pros and cons of gay rights in a reasonable way. A fundamentalist school does not put on controversial plays and art shows. They do not invite people like progressive Christian leader Jim Wallis, Gary Haugen of International Justice Mission, The Color of Water author James McBride, Naomi Tutu, and Senior NPR Correspondent Juan Williams on campus as speakers (and those are just the ones off the top of my head). They do not have an entire center dedicated to “Service and Leaning” and take on the challenge of serving the social needs of a local city.
A fundamentalist school does have a statement of faith which affirms “inerrancy” of the Bible and denounces evolution in favor of “creationism.” These things are not to be found in the statements of Messiah College. Will you find students who believe these things? No doubt. The student body is generally more conservative than faculty and administration, in my estimation (though the students do have College Democrats as well as Republicans, mind you). I came into Messiah as a fundamentalist myself, but was one no longer after my first semester of classes. If you want to get an idea about Messiah College, check out the things discussed in the student newspaper or the Alumni and Parent magazine (the most recent issue is dedicated to environmental concerns). Read the latest news of activities on campus. In response to all this press coverage, Messiah’s President, Kim Phipps made this statement released yesterday (4/3/07):
Statement to Messiah College Employees and Alumni re: Recent Media Coverage
In recent weeks there has been local and national media interest in Messiah College . The reporting, unfortunately, has often been inaccurate and misleading. In connection with the media coverage of alumnae Monica Goodling, and other recent stories, Messiah College specifically, and Christian higher education in general, has been mischaracterized by many media outlets and blogs, either directly or through innuendo, as substandard in academic quality and narrow in its breadth and diversity of thought.
This has occurred in spite of the fact that College administrators and faculty have worked diligently with reporters to provide accurate, contextual information about Messiah, our mission, our academic quality, and the caliber of our faculty, students, and graduates. As an administrative team, we are being equally diligent in our efforts to correct this misinformation and set the record straight with our colleagues in the media who have inaccurately portrayed Messiah College . Recent events have affirmed my resolve that a continued priority for the Colle
ge must be to increase visibility and awareness of Messiah’s education distinctives to a broader regional and national audience.I am honored to be the president of an outstanding academic institution such as Messiah College . Our students are intelligent, gifted leaders who are compelled by their Christian faith to make a difference in our world through the use of their God-given intellect, talents, and abilities. Our educators, administrators, and staff are dedicated scholars and accomplished professionals, committed to supporting students in their educational experience. And our graduates exemplify service, leadership, and reconciliation, by the meaningful contributions they offer in all the areas of contemporary culture and society, both in the United States and around the globe.
Thank you for the role that you fulfill in the Messiah College community and for your commitment to our common mission.
Kim S. Phipps
President
Finally, I’d like to say that based on news coverage on Monica Goodling alone, I had a very negative impression. I was thinking along with everyone else: She took the fifth?! That doesn’t look good. But then when I saw Messiah College blasted and indirectly associated with Pat Robertson (since she went to his Regent University for law school), I realized just how quickly we pass judgments without knowledge. Dean Curry, professor of politics at Messiah, remembers Goodling and is quoted in Messiah’s student newspaper about her decision:
“It’s important to remember that [Goodling] hasn’t been charged with any crimes. This is all about politics,” said Curry. In Curry’s opinion, Goodling has pled the Fifth and chosen not to testify because “she feels that the environment in Washington is so politicized that she might open herself up to legal liability.”
Maybe we should try to give people the benefit of the doubt more often. Not that we know what she has or hasn’t done and why she has or hasn’t done it, but maybe we should just chill out a little bit. The political wars have their own collateral damage, and in this case that happened to be the reputation of a fine academic institution.
