Update on SoulForce
I talked to a former PCAer who has had some contact with the people from SoulForce. He said that the main focus of the Equality Riders was not a demonstration, but meeting with students privately to talk over the issues. Covenant said that it would not allow private meetings with students, at least not on campus. This, according to my friend, is why the Equality Ride rejected Covenant’s letter of agreement. None of this surprises me.
My last post on the subject was highly critical of SoulForce. Those objections remain. However, in Covenant’s refusing to allow students to meet with the Equality Riders I see a similar spirit as I saw in the infamous shoe rule and in talking to Dean Voyles about the internet censoring. When I talked to Dean Voyles about these two issues, and I came asking questions, not firing shots, it became clear to me from his responses that he really didn’t trust students in any significant way. With the shoe rule, I asked why the professors so offended by the lack of shoes in their classroom couldn’t individually confront the discalced students instead of a campuswide rule being implemented. He said something about public health. I suspected it had more to do with school image than anything else. When I asked why the internet censoring was so tight (I have no problem with the school’s internet being censored to keep out pornography, but when I can’t read articles on Richard Nixon for too many references to Deep Throat, this gets me peeved), he responded that he really didn’t see the need for students to be reading too much profanity laden text. It was said in such a way that if it were possible for him to clamp down on the music students listened to, the movies they watched and the books they read without causing a riot, he would.
This was quite a blow. I had come to Covenant because it was not your typical Christian school. I could watch South Park without getting disciplined by the residence life staff. My hallmates could listen to hard core rap. We could read Arminian theology, dance in the hallways, talk to girls and watch movies with dirty words, all because Jesus is Lord of All, all truth is God’s truth and the antithesis runs through everything. Much was left up to the individual’s discernment, and whereas that recipe has its drawbacks, it was a recipe for faith and freedom that worked. Covenant had no dress code until the shoe rule was implemented. It didn’t need one. It probably still doesn’t need one. But the new regime has decided that Covenant, rather than stay true to its distinctives, must work to draw in a broader audience, presumably one that wants Covenant to look like every other Christian college in America.
This is where the Equality Riders come in. They will not get much of a hearing at Covenant, for the reasons I outlined in my previous post on the subject. But the people in charge have decided that no one will get to hear them. A sad new sentence in the sad new chapter of Covenant.
That’s the thing about rulings like this - if a student really wants to talk to the Equality Riders, he or she will find a way to do so. People who fundamentally don’t trust those under them with the hearing of new ideas, etc. don’t understand that attempting to keep people away from those new ideas is the best way to make them spread.
It’s a lesson we should all have learned from the first century church.
At any rate, thanks for continuing to wrestle with all of this. Hope to talk to you soon.
First, this is the best looking blog I have ever seen. I want it. Can anyone tell me how to steal it?
I graduated from Covenant in 1996. I do not know how many people remember the internet in ‘96 but we were still on dial-up at Covenant, only a few people had computers in their rooms, and I was typing my papers on a Brother word processor. That said, I was only aware of one situation regarding porno and it had to do with some dude in the IBM lab (remember - IBM lab in the gym, Mac lab in the library). If I had to put myself in the shoes of a current student, I would be pissed about the internet censoring. The fact is, and I do not want to go into this, people can still get their obscene material if they want it. I mean, are torrents, usenet, and IRC all blocked somehow?
As for barefeet in class - I will go on record as saying that anyone who does this is a freak. But let them be freaks. It’s the same as the people who want to go out with no jacket in a rain storm and then sit in class dripping wet. As for public health, I had a friend who ran out of clean underwear and wore a pair of Umbros for about two weeks. He probably took one shower. Can we get a ruling on this?
Internet, personal sanitation, contact with homosexual advocates - it all smacks of paternalism. Maybe this is ok since some see Covenant and an extension of mom and dad’s reach, but I hope that Covenant is still an academic institution where students are finding the truth. I suppose these students can wait until graduation until they are faced with the realities of the secular world, but in my days at Covenant we were challenged to engage the culture. In order to do this, you can’t just ignore the stuff that you do not like.
The theme is called Hemingway. If you google “wordpress” and “hemingway” I think you’ll find it.
The censorship on the internet is pretty sophisticated. Torrents, usenet and IRC are blocked, if I recall correctly. However, if you can read or even decipher a language besides English, you can get to almost anything you want.
Regarding Covenant, as long as the faculty remains in charge of what they teach, and they remain solid, and at last count, they still are, Covenant will still be a solid place.
I know that this totally is not the place to ask this… but what the hack right? You can just delete the comment!
Josiah turned my on to wordpress a few months ago and I decided not to go for it… too much I did not understand I suppose. However, Hemingway re-inspired me to give it a shot.
I have my wordpress loaded up on http://www.bunchafreaks.com - how do I mod it so it is this Hemingay template?
If you do not feel like telling me, or if you are too busy, I understand!
Sorry to waste you time and your comments space. But I figured it out!
Coolest thing ever. Wordpress, who woulda known it was this easy.
Thanks Dirty Calvinst. And Josiah.
i broke the shoes rule. . .many times. even got told i would have difficulties the rest of my life because i had a rebellious nature that discarded rules i thought were stupid. I still don’t wear shoes in class. . .that’s why i teach kindergarten. and when i make rules–i tell my kids EXActly why i make them. besides, too many rules are impossible to enforce.
that’s what i like about this yemeni. she always follows up her points with some really good practical aside that cinches the whole thing for me. so speaking of “impossible to enforce,” wonder how much money we (covenant college) would save if we cut out 50% of the rules?
no, i’m not being snide. it would be a pretty complicated cost-benefit analysis, to tell you the truth. but i think the current set-up doesn’t reflect optimum economic efficiency.