Not many of the colleges and universities that originally had a religious orientation have kept it, and those that still do find themselves facing lawsuits and regulations for not accepting all the “woke” agenda.
In today’s Martin Center article, Professor Rob Jenkins examines the situation of religious colleges. They’re on thin ice, but can survive, he argues, if they stick to their tenets and steer clear of government as much as possible.
After recounting cases where religious schools have recently been attacked, Jenkins writes, “How can religious universities survive in such a hostile environment? Will they simply, over time, cease to exist—or cease to be religious? Eventually, many of them may indeed cease to be religious in any meaningful way; I have no doubt that is the Left’s goal. But in the meantime, there are specific steps religious institutions can take to prolong their ministries while remaining true to their founding principles.”
But how? His key point is that government funding means government control. Most college leaders assume that the only way to exist is with federal student aid money flowing through students into their coffers. Yes, that makes financing operations much easier, but it isn’t the only option.
Jenkins concludes:
Now they must ask themselves whether it’s more important to be a highly ranked research university, to play sports in a major Division I conference, and to rake in federal grants—or to remain true to their core beliefs, perhaps at the sacrifice of all those other “honors.”
If they choose the former, as I noted above, they essentially cease to be religious institutions or at best become religious in name only. If they choose the latter, many challenges await. But loss of identity is not one of them, nor is loss of faith.