The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

‘Too Late to Save the University’?

Posted on | December 3, 2018 | Comments Off on ‘Too Late to Save the University’?

 

Azusa Pacific University (APU) began as the Training School for Christian Workers, and in 1939 was renamed Pacific Bible College. It was until recently the largest evangelical Christian university on the West Coast, but it seems the salt has lost its savour, so to speak. One of the few Christians remaining on the APU faculty, Professor Barbara Harrington, has written a letter to the university’s Board of Trustees, explaining that “students are exposed to radical beliefs that deride and malign traditional Biblical Christianity,” with predictable results:

Before long, the students espouse errant ideological trends that leave them isolated from the community, embittered against Christian faith and values, and approaching the world with a raised fist and angry slogans instead of an open heart and saving truth. These students gradually become unteachable, and they leave APU in a much worse state then they were in when they arrived. I have had students confront me in class asserting that, “There is no such thing as masculine or feminine.” I had another lovely young student transform from loving Jesus and her Christian faith when she came to APU, to becoming a sneering, bitter self-declared “queer womynist” who now sees Christianity as the most divisive and pernicious influence in human history.

The crisis at Azusa Pacific keeps getting worse:

Two members of the board of trustees of a major evangelical Christian liberal arts university have resigned, contending the institution has “drifted” from its foundation and mission, and now is at odds with its written policies, statement of faith and the Bible itself.
Raleigh Washington, a prominent pastor known for his leadership of the Promise Keeper’s men’s movement, and Dave Dias, a Sacramento-area business executive, submitted letters of resignation on Wednesday to the board of trustees of Azusa Pacific University in Southern California. . . .
Washington, a trustee for 15 years, wrote that he had constantly confronted the board over the previous six years with abundant evidence that the administration and a substantial portion of the faculty were promoting a progressive ideology that clashed with the institution’s statement of faith and core principles.
He charged that the board has failed in its responsibility to hold leadership accountable and has become “complicit in this disobedient behavior.” . . .
“After fervent prayer and with integrity of heart, I cannot continue to be a part of these violations of God’s word,” he wrote. “I fear the spiritual consequences of this lack of correction and discipline.” . . .
Washington said the bottom line is that the board is overseeing an administration and faculty “who in their practice as well as their teaching blatantly violate Christian biblical precepts.” . . .
Dias, who had served on the board since 2004, said in his letter of resignation he “cannot support the obvious and intentional ‘mission drift’ and departure from the sound, Orthodoxy and Theological foundation for which APU was founded.”
“Although APU policies speak eloquently to remaining steadfast on these issues, actual university practices and an overwhelming amount of evidence dictate otherwise,” he said.
Dias said he’s leaving because the board “has refused to take the immediate, decisive, appropriate and necessary steps to remain fully committed to its founding principles.”
“My solemn fear is that it may be too late to save the university,” he said.

Embracing “social justice” hasn’t helped APU’s bottom line:

In emails to faculty, President Jon Wallace said top university leaders were surprised by the school’s debt, which includes $17 million from the 2017-18 fiscal year, a projected $20-million loss for this fiscal year and an additional $61 million in unpaid bonds. In response to the newly projected $20-million loss, the university has put a freeze on hiring, eliminated retirement plan contributions, canceled a scheduled employee raise and reduced benefits, according to the emails.

“Get woke, go broke.”



 

Category: Education

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