Editor’s Note: One persistent concern brought up regarding the material published by SAFE is that the SAFE editors or the petition signatories want Erskine’s enrollment to be closed to non-Christian students. So it is important for us to re-emphasize that not only is support for a closed campus not the official position of any of the SAFE editors or contributors or of the petition effort, but it has never been brought up publicly by any of us. We do not think that Erskine should close itself off from non-Christian students or market itself in such a way as to antagonize them; rather, we simply want to see Erskine act, in Admissions, marketing, and recruiting, in a manner that is consistent with its mission. The comments of the first student interviewed for the SAFE video in particular have been misinterpreted on this issue. Below is a transcript of her comments on the video, with speaking pauses edited out, followed by an explanatory statement by her. See also a helpful discussion of the Christian liberal arts and evangelism by William Hunter, Class of 2008.

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Transcript:

“One recent change that Erskine College has made is the motto,* from “Christian Commitment and Excellence in Learning” to “Forever Connected.” The Administration has said that the reason for this change is to appeal more to high school juniors and seniors, but my question is, “What’s wrong with the motto that we already had for years that appealed to Christian students?” This new motto seems to be more secular, open to a broader pool of students, who may be non-Christians as well, which would completely change the Christian environment on Erskine’s campus if more and more non-Christian students, are interested and accepted to Erskine.

This worries me because I see it as Erskine standing not really on a basis of faith in God and trust that if they remain a Christ-centered institution seeking Christ-centered students that God will provide for them and take care of them. Rather, they are standing on a basis of fear of worldly circumstances that are temporal and, we as students can only do so much, so that’s why we are appealing to you for some help. We hope that you will be willing to step up and help us.”

Clarification by Ashley Waldmeyer:

While it is true that I expressed my concerns for a potential increase in population of non-Christian students on Erskine campus, my intention in doing so was not to call for Erskine to deny all non-Christian students admission to the institution.  And I certainly do not want Erskine to become “Bob Jones II.” That would involve changing the entire Erskine environment–the same one which contributed heavily to my wonderful Erskine experience.  I believe that a Christ-centered Erskine can and should demonstrate the love of Christ and model the Gospel to non-Christian students!

My concern was and is that Erskine seems to be acting in fear by adopting a more secular approach to Admissions in order to simply bring in larger numbers of students in general in order to make it through these difficult financial times, rather than relying on God and giving Him the control by marketing Erskine in accordance with its mission.  If Erskine is truly a Christ-centered institution, it should be demonstrating that by putting its trust in God first.

Ashley Waldmeyer
Erskine College Class of 2009

*Editor’s Note: As noted in a response to an FAQ, the College’s official motto is “Knowledge joined with morals.” (For an FAQ page dealing with the terminology surrounding discussion of “Forever Connected”, see “SAFE’s goals and positions.”) “Christian commitment and Excellence in Learning” is derived from the 1991 Overarching Mission Statement for EC/ETS and has been the advertising slogan used by Admissions most recently until now, as one of the student letters noted. It is important to point out that when the new Admissions slogan was first unveiled it did not occur with the full line – “Forever Connected – Christ, Learning, and Life” – that the Vice-President for Enrollment Management suggested would be used at the Student Forum. That, combined with the generally fuzzy understanding of the Christian liberal arts presented by Admissions, caused the level of concern among some students that came out in certain letters and in Ms. Waldmeyer’s comments.