CHRISTIAN COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES Jasmyne Channel Kari Jo Freudigmann Jami Garner
OVERVIEW College Types History Separation of Church and State Inculturation Evolving Role of Academics Application of This Knowledge to Student Affairs
COLLEGE TYPES Orthodox Critical Mass Intentionally Pluralist Accidentally Pluralist
ORTHODOX Owned, operated, and funded by the church Strongly encouraged to subscribe to the belief of the Christian church Strictly cohere to Christian beliefs
CRITICAL MASS Similar to Orthodox schools; both are rigidly based on Christianity Colleges define critical mass in different ways A certain percentage of administrators, faculty, staff, and students have to adhere to Christian beliefs
INTENTIONALLY PLURALIST Allows for both secular and sectarian views Ensures that the Christian viewpoint doesn t dominate Aims recruitment strategies toward Christian students In actuality, Christian students are a small percentage of the school
ACCIDENTALLY PLURALIST Does not keep track of how many Christian students attend the institution Religious history becomes lost through generations May not be defined as a religious institution
HISTORY European Colleges Colonial Period 19 th Century 20 th Century
GENESIS: COLLEGES IN EUROPE Dates backs to medieval universities in Paris and Bologna in 1200 C.E. Students could earn diplomas in law, medicine, or theology School of Theology Required to take a liberal arts class Banned Aristotelian philosophy Reformation Catholic churches controlled universities for years Increase in new learning and technologies (i.e. printing press) Humanists, Calvinists, and Lutherans were established during this time Calvinists are the Puritans that established the first university, Harvard Established the beginning of universities in America
COLONIAL PERIOD First nine colleges in the United States were established by churches The colleges established in the colonial period were based off the medieval European colleges Denominational colleges were treated as the modern public institutions do with funding They educated clergyman, doctors, servants, and teachers Original Name Current Name Year Established Harvard College Harvard University 1636 Puritan College of William and Mary College of William and Mary 1693 Anglican Primary Religious Affiliation Yale College Yale University 1701 Congregationalist College of Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania 1740 Nonsectarian College of New Jersey Princeton University 1746 Presbyterian King s College Columbia University 1754 Anglican College of Rhode Island Brown University 1765 Baptist Queen s College Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey 1766 Dutch Reformed Dartmouth College Dartmouth College 1769 Congregationalist
19 TH CENTURY Religious colleges began instructing in the sciences Bible study and chapel attendance became mandatory Student enrollment increased Minorities Oberlin College was the first institution of higher education that admitted women in 1837 In the late 1800s, Protestant institutions of higher education became coeducational Several seminaries that only admitted women opened Presbyterians began admitting African-Americans to send as missionaries to Africa Growth By the late 1800s, Congregationalists established 21 institutions of higher education By the turn of the century, there were approx. 200 Catholic institutions of higher education Catholics also pioneered graduate schools Morrill Act of 1862
20 TH CENTURY Religious colleges lost over a third of their students to public institutions of higher education American Association of University Professors (AAUP) made an official statement that religious colleges should not be considered public colleges Court cases over religion increased exponentially in this century How much input should the government have in private school curriculum?
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE Funding Secularization
FUNDING Added pressures on the government and religious colleges in the 1980s, had them collaborating to the benefit of both Religious colleges need funding to help increase enrollments The government wanted to advance more humanitarian goals Is government aid too high? With government assistance, religious colleges cannot require compulsory chapel or religious curriculum Secular programs have to be separated from sectarian ones Burden proof on religious colleges Separation of Church and State These words actually never appear in the constitution Establishment Clause vs. Free Exercise Clause Pervasively sectarian Neutrality Test
SECULARIZATION Separation of faith and knowledge Declining importance of religion in social life, diminished strength for religious organizations, and waning religious commitment among individuals Due to needed funding from the government Rescinded mandatory chapel, lessen reference to religious mission, and less required religious courses
INCULTURATION School Curriculum Potential Instructor s Role
INCULTURATION Dynamic, dialogical, diacritical, and dialectical encounter between Christian faith and societal culture The culture of Christian colleges affect the condition of its students and faculty The purpose and mission of a Christian institution of higher education leads to the understanding of student s cultural development It is believed to be impossible to separate culture and religion at Christian schools, and that makes it difficult when international students attend these schools
SCHOOL CURRICULUM POTENTIAL Private, religious schools have both an implicit and explicit curriculum Implicit: The religiously embedded lessons in non-religious curriculum (i.e. geography or math) Explicit: Required religious courses
INSTRUCTOR S ROLE Teacher s religious involvement and beliefs are just as important as their pedagogical approach Faculty must be experts in their areas of study, stable in their faith as Christians, and model citizens
EVOLVING ROLE OF ACADEMICS Colonial Era 19 th Century 20 th Century
COLONIAL ERA Before the establishment of colleges, education was solely influenced by religious teaching from home The ambiguous nature of colleges led to ambiguity with the curriculum Emphasis on math, sciences, arguments of morality and civil virtue, and on God Philanthropy had a close tie to religion in this era Through religion, colleges became a convenient way to donate to charities
19 TH CENTURY Morril Act of 1862 Other religious institutions of higher education started to pop up (i.e. Catholic, Jewish) New England colleges increased in number; no longer a need to provide land to sons Private, religious colleges becoming state schools after the end of the Civil War Student enrollment increased exponentially during this era Demographics evolved Rich, young, white males older, middle class males Adoption of German education model; a challenge to Christian education A stronger push toward technical training College presidents became the force behind fundraising for their institutions
20 TH CENTURY Christian colleges began turning toward mainstream education A need to establish a link between Christian morality and modern living Four characteristics of Christian institutions of higher education The Bible is central to student life Appreciation of the quasi-sacredness of each person Sense of community fellowship Societal change Purpose of faculty was to aid in the development of student s character, morals, and academic growth Private donations to private, religious colleges increased during this era Campus ministers began to rise to a higher prominence
APPLICATION TO STUDENT AFFAIRS
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT TO STUDENT AFFAIRS PRACTITIONERS? Understanding the history of Christian colleges helps one to understand the genesis of higher education in America Understanding the beginning of higher education can lead to an understanding of the origin of student affairs Understanding the complicated history of higher education can assist student affairs professionals to avoid making the same errors again
QUESTIONS?
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