[HeartStrongList] Disturbing News Regarding A Trouble School for GLBT's

[press at heartstrong.org]

Hi Everyone...
Hope everyone is enjoying their introduction to winter.  It's turned quite
cold (cold to us, anyway) here in New Jersey.

I am including an article that was meant to be distributed some time ago
but regardless of that, it is still very disturbing.  It's more evidence
of what we keep saying about these schools.

Thus, we carry on...
Marc


"They Pray as they Go" in "America's Best Colleges 2007", U.S. News &
World Report


They Pray As They Go
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 By Alex Kingsbury
Copyright 2006 U.S. News & World Report, L.P. Reprinted with permission.

The 20 bleary-eyed students in Bruce Bell's 8 a.m. business class could
easily confuse their teacher with Ned Flanders. Bell is clean-cut, soft
spoken, and pious. And, like Homer Simpson's God-fearing neighbor, he
punctuates his speech with wholesome phrases like "all righty-rooney" and
"golly day." But while the character of Ned Flanders can be painted with a
broad brush, it would be a mistake to regard Liberty in the same way. A
visitor to the campus does not encounter a one-dimensional
caricature--even though the campus culture is so unlike the secular
university universe that it seems anachronistic.

What you do find is that Liberty is utterly true to its mission: "training
champions for Christ," in the words of the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who founded
Liberty in 1971, dreaming of an evangelical answer to Notre Dame and
Brigham Young University. Religious colleges often become secular over
time, but Falwell does not intend to see that happen. "Universities are
like cars," he muses. "Take your hands off the steering wheel for just a
minute and they will veer off to the left and crash into a ditch." Faculty
and students are happy to have him in the driver's seat.

Chapter and cover letter. Sit in on a class and you'll see what Falwell
means. Bell's business class starts off with a devotional--a short reading
citing biblical teachings. This morning, it is the need to balance family
and business life. "As it says in Deuteronomy 8-don't always follow the
money," Bell preaches. And then he teaches the proper way to write a cover
letter.

Indeed, the evangelical Word is evident everywhere at Liberty. In the
preinstructional prayers. In the mandatory statement of faith to which all
faculty members subscribe. And in areas of campus life that form a sharp
contrast to the freewheeling atmosphere at so many schools. Until two
years ago, for example, all Liberty males had to wear ties to class. The
dress code has been relaxed (T-shirts are OK, though not if they display
over-the-top advertising or profanity). But guys can't go wild: Their hair
must be short and tight around the ears. More important, all students
agree to live by "The Liberty Way," a code of conduct that assigns fines
for specific infractions: $25 for "attendance at a dance," gambling, or
smoking; $50 for watching or possessing an R-rated movie; $250 for
consorting with consumers of alcohol; and $500 for drinking alcohol or
undergoing an abortion (though the school has never had to levy an
abortion fine). Students and staff downplay these guidelines as more
draconian on paper than in practice. "They are not worried about you being
out of the dorm after curfew," explains senior Chris Graham, leading a
noontime campus tour. "They just want to know where you are at all times."

The ever growing stacks of applications to Liberty and other religious
schools suggest that many students crave a highly regimented college
experience. Liberty has expanded its freshman class size (now around
3,200) significantly every year since 2001. Students considering religious
schools naturally look for a denomination that matches their own beliefs,
but they all share a desire for a college life far different from Animal
House. Stephanie Edwards, 18, from Greenwood, Ind., had already decided to
attend when she took the campus tour with her father. "This was exactly
the type of focused environment I was looking for after a public school,"
she says.
A walk around campus attests to the school's incredible growth. The campus
sits in the shadow of Liberty Mountain, a tree-covered slope that rises to
the east of the campus facing the Blue Ridge mountains to the west and
affording a panoramic view of the valley in between. But there are fewer
trees than there once were. A cluster of new dorms dots the hillside, and
a tunnel allows students to walk under a small highway that separates the
two sides of campus.

Then there's the former cellphone plant--888,000 square feet of it--that
now houses the student activities center, basketball courts, an exercise
facility, and the financial aid office, whose staff jumped from 20 to 50
in four years. Want to take the measure of a religious school? Ask how
teachers are hired. "It's a challenge to fill 50 new full-time teaching
positions every year, but there are many candidates out there who feel
they can't express their faith at other institutions," says Boyd Rist,
vice president for academic affairs. A committee of theologians must
unanimously approve each Liberty candidate to ensure that he or she has
the right Christian worldview for the job.

How does a student determine if a religious school is right for his or her
own worldview? As the Bible says, seek and ye shall find. Both students
and teachers at Liberty will gladly explain how, in their view, religion
is under attack in much of the world. Thus, Liberty needs to train
believers to spread their gospel. But not every student is a ready
warrior. "There is a safety net [at Liberty] that can mean a bubble
mentality for some of the younger students," says Randal Breland, a
resident assistant for the 67 students in his dorm. Sitting in the
school's student ministry office after lunch, he explains that while some
students may seem cloistered, the education is outward-looking. "We try to
stress the value of being prepared for the world," he says. It's a
strategy that has produced results: One of the most prominent alums is
Tony Perkins, president of the conservative lobbying group Family Research
Council.

So Liberty is not the place to go simply to have your beliefs reinforced.
The school is preparing its students for conflict. It is one of the few
places in the United States where students can earn a master of arts in
apologetics, a discipline that examines the facts and proofs of
Christianity. "It's Green Beret training for Christians," says Ergun
Caner, who heads Liberty's seminary. "We are working to change the image
of Christians, who have been anti-intellectual for too long."

Rhetorical question. It's not surprising, then, that one of the most
popular, best funded, and most touted student activities is the debate
squad. While there is no national championship in the debating world,
Liberty is consistently strong. Its program is large and has captured
multiple overall-point titles, although the varsity team still ranks well
behind powerhouses like Harvard, Emory, and Northwestern
universities.Three fourths of the debaters go on to law school, a fact
that has drawn much media attention. "We are not planning some evangelical
overthrow of the American legal system," notes coach Brett O'Donnell,
before debate practice. "Most students just want to see how faith can
influence their own private lives."
In other words, they don't just debate. They pray--a lot. Prayer is one of
the most unifying forces at a religious school like Liberty, evident at
every turn. Students even hold nightly prayer sessions in their dorms just
before 10:30 p.m. curfew. It's an intense and intimate bonding experience
as dormmates share hopes, dreams, and fears. Sitting in a circle after an
evening of Bible study, a group of students talk about plans for summer
jobs and pray for the health and wellbeing of relatives and for success in
their romantic lives. "I couldn't deal with a drunk roommate or something
like that, so it was appealing to come to a place like this where everyone
is focused," says Adam Long, 18, a Baltimorean sporting a bright red
T-shirt with the slogan "Jerry is my homeboy." And that definitely causes
no problems with the dress code.

Questions to Ask:

1. Accreditation

Which accrediting bodies have approved the degree, and will graduate
schools accept it?

2. Course selection

Are there enough courses in areas outside my major to give me a balanced
education?

3. Output measure

How does the school gauge success in developing the spiritual lives of
students?

BY THE NUMBERS: LIBERTY UNIVERSITY

Location: Lynchburg, Va.

Undergraduate enrollment: 9,975; 52% female, 48% male

Tuition, 2006-2007: $15,350

Room and board: $5,400

Combined SAT, 25th-75th percentile: 870-1120

Acceptance rate: 58.3%