Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from an op-ed that appeared in the October 2007 issue of The Erskine Mirror. Though one of the situations – the oversight of Admissions – has changed since this op-ed was published, the situations described do raise questions about the commitment of the Administration to Erskine’s mission. The op-ed is reprinted by permission, with some editorial changes for brevity and clarity.

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Two news articles—one on the “snag” concerning the search for a Director of Campus Life, the other on the transfer of oversight of Admissions and Financial Aid from Academic Dean Dr. Weatherman to Chief Financial Officer Mr. Greg Haselden—in [the October 2007] issue of The Erskine Mirror highlight the two greatest challenges facing Erskine College at present. The first challenge is whether or not the Board and Administration of Erskine College will have a coherent educational vision for what it means for Erskine to be a Christian liberal arts college. The second challenge is for the Board and Administration to actually be faithful to that vision by placing the right people in the right positions to apply that vision in accordance with their own individuality and creativity and to develop an environment where faculty and students can passionately seize and embody that vision.

I would like to call to the attention of the student body the clear and distinct possibility that neither challenge is being met at present and that we as students have a stake in understanding why this is the case. To show this, I will attempt to do two things [only one of which will be mentioned here]. First, I will discuss how the two decisions mentioned above expose the two challenges facing Erskine I mentioned above…

First, what connects the dots between the above-mentioned decisions? Dr. Ruble’s decision to not hire a candidate who is a Roman Catholic for the [Director of Campus Life] position drew commendation from those concerned about maintaining the integrity of the identity of Erskine College as the College of the ARP Church. But should those sectors invest as much significance in that decision as they did? For (all criticisms of the justness of the decision aside, relevant though they be) while Dr. Ruble’s decision in that case marked a formal nod to Synod’s insistence that only evangelical Christians be hired at Erskine, one must still ask some hard questions. First, one must ask how those sectors that opposed Dr. Ruble’s decision concerning the DCL position must now temper their criticism of the President, since Mr. Haselden is also a Roman Catholic. Likewise, the defenders of the President’s decision concerning the DCL position now must face the question of what to do with a glaring inconsistency in the President’s [own] position.

Second, we must ask: What initiatives have we seen from the Administration in the way of offering a coherent vision for what defines the identity of Erskine as “a Christian liberal arts college?” (http://www.erskine.edu/about-erskine/presidentmessage.shtml) Have there been any initiatives to further strengthen the reputation of academic excellence that hitherto has defined Erskine College? We have plans for new athletic teams, but do we have a coherent, clear vision for Christian higher education done excellently and an administrative agenda for how we will implement it?

…At this point, the dots begin to connect with the second decision mentioned above: the move of oversight over Admissions and Financial Aid from Dr. Weatherman to Mr. Greg Haselden. Do we see here the lack of an educational vision colliding with the inertia of Erskine’s administrative culture? Or was it just an efficient administrative move? Would it be logical that the oversight of Admissions—which ought to play a key role in maintaining the distinguished nature of our student body—be transferred from the Academic Office to the Business Office if the Administration had a coherent vision for an improving the excellence of the Christian liberal arts education that should be offered at Erskine? What does the move symbolically say about the Administration’s priorities? Students have a personal stake in the direction of this institution, and we ought to be asking: “How are these decisions affecting the trajectory of our institution? Are these decisions preserving and promoting the ability of Erskine to be an excellent Christian liberal arts college? Or are they diminishing it?”

…I would submit that the challenges facing us are clear. The ARP Church needs to move beyond church politics as usual and implement its vision for the Christian liberal arts. The Board of Trustees needs to follow suit in holding to such a vision, and ought to make decisions that will affirm that vision. The Administration of the College and its administrative culture need to move beyond the mire of institutional politics as usual and refuse to any longer countenance the fragmented educational vision and weakness of will that compromises both the Christian commitment and excellence in learning that ought to characterize Erskine College. The faculty need to decide whether they will, in accordance with their own unique perspectives and individuality, adopt the vision of the Christian liberal arts and nurture the minds and hearts of young women and young men, or else not compromise the integrity of this institution any longer. To say so is not to be narrow-minded or bigoted; it is rather to simply point out basic matters of institutional integrity…