IS THERE HOPE FOR THE CHURCH OF CHRIST COLLEGE?

There is much discussion these days as to whether the small liberal-arts, church-related college can survive. The question is based on economic realities, and some insist that such colleges will not make it unless industry and government come forth with substantial outlay of funds.

While this problem concerns our own Christian colleges, this is not the point of the question we are asking. Even if they do survive financially, and the chances for this is good, there is the question as to whether they will ever become truly liberal institutions of higher learning. A Christian college is first of all to be a college, which means it is to be a community of scholars in the quest for truth. It must be free and liberal, open to new ideas and ready for change. It must be on the growing edge, teaching its students to think and to criticize. Its faculty must be under no pressure to preserve the status quo, to indulge in obscurantism; it must be free to pursue the search for reality wherever it may lead. There can be no “keep off the grass” signs around. If academic freedom means anything, it means that one is at liberty to examine honestly and forthrightly all sides of every important issue.

Is there hope for the Church of Christ college from this standpoint? The question was brought to mind anew by a recent letter from a former professor of Harding College. Here is part of it.

I am enclosing a clipping from the Arkansas Gazette in Little Rock that was sent to me. You have probably already heard about the most recent trouble at Harding College. If not, this will fill you in. When I heard the news (first through telephone conversations with friends there), I was furious, but I was never surprised. I tried desperately all last year to convince Jim Atteberry that Harding is a thoroughly corrupt place, but he never could see it.

I think the affair at Abilene last year with regard to Jim Culp and Robert Johnston (?) and Harding this year indicates once again that there is really no hope for the Church of Christ colleges. The situation would not disturb me so much if I didn’t know what these continual blowups do to the people who are involved. I think Eric Hoffer very clearly describes the situation in his section on “the fanatics” in The True Believers.

I would remind the reader that this evaluation comes from one who was for several years on the faculty at one of these colleges, and those to whom he refers, who now share his disillusionment, have been faculty members for as long as 16 years. Such ones are being fired for not following the party line.

Notice this report from the Arkansas Gazette.

About 100 Harding College students met in a rainstorm Wednesday night to protest the school’s request for the resignation of Dr. James Atteberry, chairman of the school’s English Department.

The popular professor, who received a “Distinguished Teacher” award last year, reportedly was facing dismissal for his liberal bent at this Church of Christ college. The school is regarded generally as a seat of conservatism.

George S. Benson, its founder and president for many years, heads the ultraconservative National Education Program, which has disassociated itself with the school, where it was founded.

The student rally pointed up troubles that are brewing at the school.

The students gathered outside the administration building under a roof of umbrellas for what had been announced variously as a “demonstration” and “a devotional to help alleviate campus tensions.”

They said they were concerned that the loss of Atteberry, who has been with the school for 16 years, was going to cause mass resignations on the faculty.

Atteberry said Thursday, “I was given the choice of resigning or being dismissed and I have not decided which I will take. I think I will probably resign, stating the reasons.”

He said he was summoned before the Board of Trustees Monday and, “I endorsed all the Biblical principles of the New Testament, but refused to take a position on the views of some of the members of the Board involving matters of opinion. There was a feeling that I am somewhat liberal and am appreciated by young teachers.”

The writeup goes on to tell of two other faculty people who have resigned and still two others who have been fired. It was reported among the students that as many as 20-25 professors would resign.

When one realizes that the charges against such men are not immorality, for their lives are exemplary; or atheism, for they are devoted Christians; or insurrection, for they have long loved both the college and the country. The long and short of it is that they are not saying things the way the Church of Christ hierarchy wants them said. When those on the college faculties are themselves referring to the colleges as “thoroughly corrupt” and see no hope for improvement, it is high time that the rest of us open our eyes to what is going on.

It is especially remarkable that those who are fired or leave in disgust are among the very best minds on the faculty. Dr. Atteberry was honored as “Distinguished Teacher” and was “appreciated by the young teachers.” After 16 years of this kind of service he is fired!

As a chapter president of the American Association of University Professors, I have had some experience with colleges that get themselves into trouble with said organization when they treat professors in such a way. But nobody bothers to report our schools to the AAUP for such behavior, partly because, I suppose, they do not rate high enough academically to merit such concern. Professional people simply do not take our schools very seriously. Nothing helps one more in the academic world than to get oneself fired by one of them!

I know it to be a fact that one college took a dim view of even considering one of our English Ph.D.’s for its staff since his record included five years on the faculty of Harding College. When it was pointed out to the administration that the man was fired at Harding, they were more than glad to invite him to join their faculty. What a reputation for a college to have among the top educators of the nation!

So, the question is a live one: Is there hope for the Church of Christ college?

I say yes. I have hope. But my hope is not in what I see in the colleges themselves, but in a changing brotherhood. Riots in colleges across the land are due in part to the fact that they have been about two generations behind the times. Instead of initiating cultural change, whether it be in racial relations or economic reform, they have followed the lead of others. The American university, due to its habit of irrelevance, found itself unprepared for the mid-20th century. The chickens have come home to roost in all these demonstrations.

And our own Christian colleges have been even more irrelevant and behind the times. Our schools were the very last to integrate, and even now it is hardly more than token integration. They are miles and miles behind academically. In areas like sociology and philosophy they are like the measure of oil in my car once was. The man added a quart and then said, “It is now up to low!” The little progress our colleges make brings them only up to a high low.

But I still say yes there is hope. Change will come from the congregations into the colleges. The brethren will gradually begin to demand it. It is likewise with freedom, brotherhood, fellowship, and unity. We will win the battle for these values, but any help from the colleges will be nil. The congregations will win the struggle for freedom for themselves, led by the present generation of young preachers and elders. The colleges will follow afar off. When the smoke of battle has cleared, the colleges will be there, truly free and liberal, with every right to be called real colleges.—the Editor.