Christian colleges need to become more racially and religiously diverse, for several reasons. More diversity would help these colleges maintain enrollment, and in some cases even survive, in an era of rising costs and economic pressures. It would improve the quality of education. Finally, for those of us who are Christians, it’s the right thing to do, according to our religious principles.
But the enrollment argument might be the strongest reason these days. A recent study done by the Pew Research Center concluded, “Compared with their elders today, young people are much less likely to affiliate with any religious tradition or to identify themselves as part of a Christian denomination.” One in four adults under age 30 was unaffiliated, describing their religion as “atheist,” “agnostic,” or “nothing in particular,” the study found.
An already tapped-out population of young evangelicals is dwindling, according to various sources, including the University of Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith. And those who would consider going to a faith-based institution must decide whether it is worth the extra cost to attend that institution instead of a public one. Christian colleges must set new standards of inclusion and diversity. We must teach a broader spectrum of views in our curricula and present different perspectives on theology, literature, and history. We must create environments where students feel welcomed and can thrive. We must provide support for first-generation students, international students, and others who need it.
We can no longer assume that the majority of our students grew up with Westernized cultural norms and values, but instead must recalibrate ourselves toward understanding that our students come from various cultures, backgrounds, and ethnicities. Minority students should not be the ones who have to adapt to our system; our system needs to adapt to society’s changing needs. Let us shift our resources and efforts away from the dwindling population of white evangelical churches and start focusing on growing ethnic and multicultural churches in urban areas.
As a director of a scholarship program for urban students at Gordon College, a Christian liberal-arts college in Massachusetts, I see firsthand how difficult and time-consuming it is to build relationships with ethnic churches. African-American, Latino, and Asian churches have their own cultural norms and values. In many cases, the only thing that Christian colleges have in common with ethnic churches is that we believe in the same God. From that common ground, trust needs to be established. After 10 years, my program is just now seeing the fruits of its labor. Our minority enrollment has grown to 20 percent, up from 5 percent a decade ago. We now have built feeder systems and developed trust and a reputation for preparing young adults from ethnic churches for successful careers.
The support that our minority students need is not complicated. I learned this two years ago as I was trying to make deeper connections with my students. I began setting up individual meetings to find out what kind of support they needed to graduate. One student looked me in the eye and said, “I just want you to care.”
From that point on I set aside one hour a week to meet with him. I asked him how his courses were going, how his family was doing back home, and I took him out for the occasional lunch off campus. Over the next four semesters, his GPA rose from 2.18 to 2.77. That that one hour a week might have helped. In any event, simple accountability and his hard work and determination added up to a formula for success.
Another student came to me asking for advice on how to deal with his father, who had left the family when the student was very young and recently tried to rekindle a relationship with him. I simply offered to listen to him and tried to encourage him in whatever he decided to do. Through this simple interaction we established a trust in each other, and I recently had the honor of serving on his thesis committee. This student is now working toward a doctorate in chemistry at the University of Notre Dame.
It is important to check the pulse of our campuses to measure our progress toward greater diversity. Questions that college leaders might ask include: Do we understand the cultural pressure that Asian-American students, for example, may feel from their parents simply by changing majors? A student might have a passion and desire to major in art, for example, but her parents will support her only if she is a pre-med biology major.
For many Asian-American students, the choice to change majors is not as simple as filling out a form. Such a decision could deeply affect their relationship with their parents and reveal issues of perfectionism and insecurity.
Do we understand the disadvantages that a first-generation college student faces? Whom on campus can minority or first-generation students turn to with adjustment or other issues? Can we look at our administration and see faces that mirror a more diverse student body?
According to a study done by the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities, a network of 118 institutions across the United States and Canada, minority students made up nearly 20 percent of enrollment in 2009. That statistic must increase sharply if Christian colleges want to survive over the next decade. The Census Bureau has projected that minority-group members, now roughly one-third of the U.S. population, will become the majority in 2042, with the nation projected to be 54 percent “minority” in 2050. The agency has also projected that by 2023, a majority of children will be from minority groups.
To be sure, shifting our resources and attention to a broader population will present some struggles at the beginning. Hiring more minority faculty members will require effort, and broadening the curriculum will ruffle many feathers. But these efforts must be made now rather than later.
If we reflect on the history of American higher education, Christian colleges always seem to be a step behind. While many of the earliest colleges had Christian roots, secularization became a reality for many in order to keep the doors open. The remaining Christian colleges were the last to accept the sciences into their curricula and were the last to adapt to an elective system in which students could choose a major other than biblical studies or theology. Christian colleges were slow to adapt, and many simply shut down. According to George Marsden’s 1994 book, The Soul of the American University, of more than 500 Christian colleges founded or planned before the Civil War, perhaps only 200 survived the 20th century.
Our religious beliefs require those of us at Christian colleges to reach out to everyone. (Christians can look to Matthew 28:19 for a reference: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”)
But if this mandate alone has not moved us to action, the economic reality certainly should. Christian colleges cannot afford to be the last to diversify their campuses, or we will cease to exist. It is obvious that we believe in Christian education. Now is the time to adjust to a new demographic reality or risk losing Christian education altogether.