Campus Reform: Gustavus Adolphus College

Gustavus is not the college it claims to be.

There are a couple of BASIC THINGS that should be expected out of ANY institution that connects itself with the church, and associates with the name of Jesus (and Luther in our case).

The college falls short on all measures of an identity that is Swedish and Lutheran; which puts Christ Chapel at the CENTER of Gustavus life.

The Institution of Gustavus is really a reflection of exactly what we have come to expect out of a state school, but we are an institution that dares associate with the name of Jesus. The problem at hand RUNS DEEP; from what is being taught, to the way we live our lives here.

At the foundation of this problem is our PRIORITIES; that is, what we consider to be important. 

It comes down to a COMPLETE shift in the way our college collectively understands our purpose for existing.

For example, in a planning meeting for faculty and staff, it was said

“In order to DIVERSIFY Gustavus, we need to DECHRISTIANIZE it.”

This empty slogan of diversity has provided validation for actions no right-minded person would otherwise engage in. 

Here are six specific instances of religious bias against students at Gustavus Adolphus College that ought lead somebody to ask the questions about our identity like the Gustavian Weekly writer did: 

• "Where is Faith on our modern college campus?"
• "It’s a fundamental question for Gustavus—the extent to which Faith as a 'pillar' reflects true student life." 

Regarding our  purported Christian, Lutheran heritage, she asked, "Is it just a façade?"

You can decide this for yourself based on the reports from students provided below.

Incident of Religious Bias #1 - Disregard for any Sense of what is Sacred:

The school allowed Bhuddists to use Christ Chapel, the sanctuary, for a religious service ceremony, where a sacrifice to Bhudda was made, and placed on our alter in Christ Chapel.

In a conversation with the chaplain about the incident, the ELCA chaplain said the sacrifice was permissible because CHRIST CHAPEL is not officially a Christian space, even though it is Christ Chapel and has a cross hung on the wall.

Allegedly, our chapel is officially considered a “multi-purpose space” that is open to all.

He said it was like a concert hall, and that Christ Chapel is a space for EVERY BELIEF. Any people can use it if they reserve it.

In response to the question, “So does that mean anything goes in the chapel? What if Satanists wanted to use the chapel?” He responded, “well they haven’t asked yet”.

This means that the name, Christ Chapel, gives the impression that we are a school devoted to Christ; but our official documentation allows the college the fluidity to please everybody by making different claims to different people.

So even though Christ Chapel is used for religious worship, it still officially was a recreational space, as to permit a sacrifice to Buddha be done. 

This is not a part of the Lutheran tradition:  In order to re-center our college, we need leadership like Luther.  He publicly declared his grievances in a bold action to call for accountability. As friends of the college, we too can let them know that we believe wrongs can be made right.

On August 3rd, 2009 a Gustavus Student (Phil Cleary) was featured on "The Heresy Report" which is a radio segment by Pastor Tom Brock broadcast on 980 AM KKMS radio.  Brock asked Cleary if he thought the college would willing to make some of these important changes.  Cleary responded "no," which serves as the basis for incident #2.

Incident of Religious Bias #2 - A Clear Desire to Hide or Destroy the Religious Identity of the College:

A previous dean of students (recently resigned) allegedly placed a request to have the iron cross removed from the chapel, on the grounds that "it might offend a rabbi."

Clearly, we're talking about an institution that is failing in its obligations as a college of the church.

While "change" might be in the air for our college and our country, it doesn't seem like we are on a trajectory towards making the right kind of changes.

The leadership at Gustavus has departed from its responsibilities at the school that merit our attention.

Incident of Religious Bias #3 - Violation of Individual Right to Conscience and Liberty to Pursue or be Referred to the Type and Form of Counseling Desire by Individual:

    (submitted by student requesting anonominity, for privacy reasons)

A Gustavus student sat down to have a personal discussion with a college chaplain. 

Upon requesting materials about "ex-gay" religious counseling, this student was told that he should embrace a homosexual identity, as well as reconsider his understanding of the interpretation and authority of the bible in the process.

Instead of  recieving "ex-gay"  material, which the chaplain did not have, the chaplain handed him a brochure published by the gay-rights lobby HRC whose logo is the “equal sign”.

The HRC brochure she gave was about how to live “out as a homosexual” in your place of worship. It also offered some tips and advice for lobbying your local church to become a gay-embracing congregation.

The religious leadership saw no issue with turning a student away from the advice and admonitions of the scriptures, to those of one of the most influential gay lobbies in America.

The scripture was not even consulted during this meeting.  Instead, he was offered references to some “scholarly summaries” that would explain why homosexual sex is loved by God. Both peculiar and bizarre, since the student claims he was asking to learn more about the complete opposite opinion.

This took place before the ELCA voted to change its church policies in order to depart from scriptural admonitions about homosexual behavior, and in spite of the fact that a simple referral to another individual more qualified to offer guidance could have been made.

There is obviously an issue with the religious leadership of the college, in that they are compromising in serious ways that jeopardizes the mission and integrity of the school. 

This mindset is not isolated within the faculty or religious leadership though as the previous incidents have illustrated; it is trickling down into the student body.

Incident of Religious Bias #4 - Failure to Uphold a Core Value of Justice because of Misplaced Priorities and Allegiances:

It was reported from a recent graduate of Gustavus that as a student he was the target of an incident where used condoms were slid under his door, and the [explicit] was spit on.  The responsible individual was caught.

He admitted that the reason he did this was because my friend believed in waiting to have sex until marriage, and because he was a Christian and frequently was seen with his Bible.

According to the victim, the student was not punished, particularly because 'he was a student who offered diversity to the school.' 

The “diversity rule” here again trumped the need to do the right thing; so this incident paints a clear picture of what an incident with another student might look like. 

While an institution cannot be fully accountable to how individuals within it will behave, this does two things.

First, that even though the school isn’t responsible for the person’s behavior, they have a general obligation to protect the well-being of their students. They failed to do so because of misplaced priorities.

Second, it shows the type of thinking that resonates within the student body that is a product of this attitude of “diversity at all costs”. God is no longer a being, but it is an idea. Diversity is our god.

Unfortunately these situations are more frequent than they are rare.  Many students, included the author of this article, have encountered a series of politically and religiously motivated incidents against them.

I reported one of them, and was basically laughed at.

Thus, they often go unreported because students know they will go without response.

While justice is a core value of the school, it is also another one of those things that often goes ignored.

Incident of Religious Bias #5 - Violating Right to Assembly and Equal Access:

In 2007, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the FCA, started meeting at Gustavus.

They received a charter from the student activities office and were funded by the senate; but this only happened after a long drawn out process where the FCA repeatedly has had to fight to justify its right to exist within the college as a legitimate organization.

The organization has been specifically targeted and demonized by groups within the school because of its beliefs. 

The Student Activities Office and Senate have been very hostile to the presence of this national organization because the student leadership of the FCA is required to sign a biblical sexual purity contract to serve as the head in the organization.

In essence, FCA wanted to set its own standards for leadership within their organization, as per their understanding of standards of the Bible, free from coercion by other non-religious factions within the school.

Since FCA members would not compromise on its position of not allowing practicing homosexuals to lead their Christian organization, there has been a long and continuing battle targeting this group for de recognition and de funding. If the school is successful, FCA would not be allowed to have meeting space on campus.

A second attack against their right to have equal access to student activity fees came in the spring of 2009.

It was not until individuals attended 2 senate meetings and published a nine-page document to justify FCA’s right to exist, on the premise of basic common sense American constitutional principles, that the vote swung in FCA’s favor; on a margin of 7-8 to allow all groups an equal right to have access to student activity fee revenues.

Now the college, as a part of its official Commission Gustavus 150 Project for its 150 Anniversary, is exploring a way to develop a separate process and set of policies for approving religious organizations on campus, for funding them, and even for permitting them to exist.  

That is significant because depending on how these were written, this would potentially remove religious organizations from the traditional process of becoming a recognized student groups in order to impose special standards upon them; which for example might prevent a nationally recognized chapter of a Christian organization from assembling on campus because their constitution includes a bylaw about sexuality or biblical authority.

Other discussions in this area have included whether or not it would be permissible to allow a single sex group to exist on campus; because a group like the Men’s Lacrosse Club Team would be discriminating against females who think they are men, or transgender students who are confused about their gender.

Incident #6 - Violating Freedom of Speech, Religion, and Right to Assembly:

A Christian band was removed from campus property during a concert on school grounds.

On April 22, 2009 a Christian Band the Eddie James Ministry outreach band had permission to play music and evangelize, outside, on Eckman Mall.

During this time frame, one individual in the group shared his testimony of how he came to Christ. He had recently given his life to Jesus after walking out of a long term homosexual relationship and finding freedom.

He was an “ex-gay” essentially, that chose to share, about the love he found in the church and the redemption that he found in Christ.

After he concluded his sincere and heartfelt story with a prayer for others that found themselves in similar circumstances to his own, the result of this testimony was an angry mob uprising of dozens of shouting people protesting “hate speech” against the GLBTQ community.

Moments after this testimony, the chaplains, three of the Dean of students, and several Campus Safety officers arrived on the “scene”.  

They didn’t come to diffuse the disturbance and allow the once peaceful assembly to continue as one would expect in America; rather, the band needed to leave the premises immediately.

The chaplains and an assistant dean of students  were there to offer counseling to students and community members who were hurt by this incident of “hate”.

Only moments after the band departed, we began to see the true colors of the tolerance movement; not tolerance but tyranny. 

Students began to chalk messages accusing the ministry of wanting to crucify certain people, and asserting that “No love is ever a sin”.

Then, the Student Senate filed a resolution disallowing funds for any groups espousing hateful or discrimination messages, and charged that anyone caught hosting such events is not allowed.

In an attempt to reclaim the school’s identity, somebody wrote on the Democracy Wall that “This campus belongs to God.” The next day God had been crossed out and replaced with Satan so it read, “This campus belongs to Satan.”

In the Spring of 2010, a student filed a complaint against an organization that was violating the standards and principles set forth in the Senate Resolution, but one of the senators said, "Your argument assumes that Senate needs to be consistent and principled in regard to the groups it condemns.  We're not."

Conclusion:

These six examples of religious bias against Christians are not lone occurrences at the school, but rather each is merely a small piece of a larger problem at the school:  That which should be of central important to a college like Gustavus is no longer even on our radar.

There are many private liberal arts colleges. There are few that are both distinctively Lutheran and excellent.  Gustavus can be this school once again if as an institution we pledge to stand up against incidences of religious bias and discrimination of Christian students.

It is astounding how simple misplaced priorities can lead to a whole array of significant compromise that either jeopardizes or alters the mission of a school, and leads to the marginalization of a demographic that is supposed lie at the the core of the school's purpose for existence.

If Gustavus no longer honors the tradition of Gustavus Adolphus, who rode into battle without wearing any armor, exclaiming “the LORD is my armor” then we need a new name.

How to take Action:

People who have read these grievances should decide if the claims I hold up against the school are valid.

Then, we need to decide what to do:  We cannot make a decision for the school, but as members of the church and friends of the college, we can remind the school that we still care, and then call them to accountability in this matter.

Near the end of the 2008-2009 academic year, the provost resigned, two academic deans resigned, the dean of students resigned, and the leadership of the college is beneath a new President.

This creates a really unique crossroads for the college.  The decisions made now will have a lasting impact on lives for years.

1. Be sure to ask those entrusted with the leadership of the school to remain accountable to their obligations, and the basic standards we expect out of a college of the church. 
2. Support proposals that students and alumni make which would help Gustavus re-center itself and reassert its mission.
3. Become a member of campusreform.org today.  Campus Reform can help you to create your own independent student group to advocate for the causes important to you, provide you with resources about exposing corruption and bias on campus, and access to the training opportunities you need to be an effective, principled activist.