The content on SAFE is divided into material that is written by identified students/alumni and material written by anonymous students/alumni. While it is unfortunate that some material is anonymous to the general public, there is a rational explanation for this. In signing their names to the Erskine student and alumni petition letter of concern to the ARP General Synod, many requested that their names be left anonymous. Part of the reason why many students wished to left anonymous is because of fear of retribution by the Administration, faculty, or Board of Erskine. Thus, these students feel the need to remain anonymous so that they may safely and humbly communicate their concerns to Christ’s Church without suffering repercussions from those whom they are criticizing.
For an example of the shape these repercussions may take, one may recall a situation more more than two and a half years ago when a dozen or so students from Erskine wrote a letter in the fall of 2006 to the Minister and His Work committee of Second Presbytery (ARP) concerning an act of intimidation by an administrator towards a student. In the course of the committee’s investigation of that situation they also discovered that a broader “culture of intimidation” existed on Erskine’s campus. The committee reported this to the March 2007 meeting of Second Presbytery as a part of their recommendations to the presbytery (which were all approved). Since that time, nothing else has been done by the ARP Church, the Erskine Board of Trustees, or the Erskine Administration to eliminate this culture, despite the Administration’s statements to the contrary.
For those reasons, it is understandable that many students wish to remain anonymous. The opinion of a significant portion of the Christian students at Erskine is that this “culture of intimidation” is still present. Additionally, because of this culture of intimidation at Erskine and social pressures within the student body, some students did not contribute to this website even though they had information about Erskine that would be valuable to the ARP Church and the general public. Therefore, the concerns published on this website are not be treated as communicating the exhaustive concerns of Erskine’s evangelical students and alumni. We hope you sympathize with these anonymous students.
-The Editors