Harding in the Balance [Justin]
If you read Greg Kendall-Ball’s blog, you know that Harding has been making some controversial decisions lately, that are conservative even by Church of Christ standards. I’ll try to recap the happenings so far, give some links, then open a discussion on possible action.
1. Bruce McLarty appointed Dean of College of Bible and Religion
Official press release
McLarty is the preacher at the College Church of Christ, whose elders technically hold spiritual oversight of the university. He was appointed Dean to the amazement of Greg and other alumni such as myself, who expected Monte Cox to get the job. McLarty is not qualified to be the dean of a middle school, much less the College of Bible and Religion. According to the press release, the Dean oversees
the undergraduate Bible program, Institute for Church & Family, Center for World Missions, Harding School for Biblical Studies, and the Graduate School of Religion in Memphis, Tenn. He will also be the liaison for spring break and international campaigns.
That’s a lot of oversight for someone without a Ph.D. who has never even worked for the university before. So Monte Cox got all the administrative duties, but McLarty retains oversight of the university (read: he’s been hired as a conservative watchdog). Monte was far more qualified for the job, and is adored by students and alumni, but was seen as too progressive. If you know Monte, you know this is ridiculous.
Greg smelled something fishy when Harding became the only C of C school to have a non-Ph.D. dean, and waxed allegorical about it as well.
2. Ann Coulter invited to speak in American Studies Institute Distinguished Lecture Series
Dr. Burks describes ASI:
Harding University is pleased to present its quality program in American citizenship education. The University’s American Studies Institute stands as a tribute to the heritage that has made America the great nation that it is.A 76-year history of educational excellence at Harding has provided the atmosphere for free enterprise education in a nation that was founded upon Christian principles of faith, liberty and human dignity. Harding University strives to enhance the appreciation of that heritage through the American Studies Institute’s focus on basic principles of free enterprise.
The American Studies Institute encompasses thousands of individuals and corporations who participate in the program each year.
Mouseover the above for running commentary.
3. Scottish Rite Masons donate $15K to HU
Official press release
I’m just kidding about this one. I’m sure the Masons don’t have anything up their sleeves. But if The Da Vinci Code becomes required reading for New Testament Survey, I’m making a phone call.
So What?
Several issues have been raised on other blogs, and argued more eloquently than I can duplicate here. JRB has a post called “Bison(s) for Sale,” which contains the letter he sent to the university, arguing against Coulter’s appearance as an ASI speaker. Greg’s post Alma Mater, Hail! is up over 60 comments now, including some from HU Poli Sci prof Mark Elrod, who, being a democrat, is also not happy about Coulter.
So what are Greg and J.A. Wiser and the rest of us up in arms about? It’s not simply the fact that Harding leans to the right when it comes to economics and politics. Being an evangelical institution, you’d expect this.
What bugs me is the resistance to critique-from-within that Harding’s recent decisions have created. It’s fine to have a conservative lecturer speak on campus, but it’s another thing entirely when the lecturer is so blatently chosen to please fat-wallet donors.
And it’s fine to have a non-Ph.D. dean, if you don’t have someone more qualified already waiting for the job. But HU had many people more qualified than McLarty, as good a person as he may be. The only reason he was appointed is that he’ll do what Dr. Burks wants and reign in an increasingly progressive Bible faculty. I don’t like to see conservatism trump other necessary qualifications, especially when there were qualified conservative faculty who could have done the job. McLarty was brought in not for his qualifications, but for his allegiance, and worthy people were betrayed and disgraced by this appointment.
Am I asking for Harding to become more liberal? In some ways, I wish they would, since some of the ultra-conservative stuff is stupid (like the fact that women have to leave the stage before the devotional portion of chapel starts, even if they were making an announcement ten seconds earlier). But no, that’s not what I’m asking. I just want Harding to be taken seriously, and when the university makes decisions like this, it can’t be taken seriously.
Elrod (speaking with wisdom that implies a penultimate n in his name) says it well:
The biggest losers in this whole ridiculous charade are the students at Harding that are duped into thinking that these speakers are for their benefit. If that were the case, the directors of the ASI would find speakers that generated critical thinking about politics, the economy, or the media and not fascist oratory. I am also convinced that the thought process that goes into making decisions like this completely ignores Harding’s “distinctive character” as a Christian college. It’s all about promoting a conservative political environment and not about integrating faith, living, and that other thing . . .
In other words, Harding’s mission is not served by these decisions. Students are not educated when they are shielded from good professors by conservative watchdogs. Students are not educated when exposed to one-sided, vitriolic rhetoric. Students are not educated, and God is not glorified, when money talks more than academic and spiritual integrity, and that’s why I expect better from Harding.
Action
If you’re interested in an organized statement to Harding (perhaps in the form of a website that allows people to comment), let me know. Otherwise, call the president’s office at 501-279-4274, or the advancement office (money talks!) at 501-279-4312, or the alumni office at 501-279-4276.
Hello All:
I can’t comment about the appoointment, as I know nothing about either Bruce McLarty or Monte Cox. I will say though that it seems rather harsh to state that Bruce McLarty is unqualified to be the dean of a middle school, much less the dean of the school of Biblical Studies.
Deans hold many responsibilites, many of which are administrative in nature. Unless McLarty is a horrible administrator, I would hazard a guess that he probably is qualified. Being a preacher, he should know something about the bible.
Personal attacks of this fashion are often the tools of liberals who can find nothing else to use to fire off a salvo at others.
Second of all, reading section #2, it sounds as if Justin has a problem with free enterprise, and equates it with conservatism. Believing in free enterprise does not a conservative make. Socialism doesn’t work, and its end result is the strangling of freedom. Christ came to liberate us, not remove our free will.
And, what is wrong with recieving donations from conservative businesses and people? Justin, if you have a huge problem with conservaties contributing to the college, why don’t you donate yourself, and encourage your “progressive” liberal friends to do the same.
Harding has the right to keep an eye on the “progressive” faculty it has. The liberal faculty at institutions such as ACU are helping to create even more division in a church that has had too much to begin with. It is noble of Harding to attempt to prevent their faculty from contributing to the same.
-Clarke
Hello All:
I can’t comment about the appoointment, as I know nothing about either Bruce McLarty or Monte Cox. I will say though that it seems rather harsh to state that Bruce McLarty is unqualified to be the dean of a middle school, much less the dean of the school of Biblical Studies.
Deans hold many responsibilites, many of which are administrative in nature. Unless McLarty is a horrible administrator, I would hazard a guess that he probably is qualified. Being a preacher, he should know something about the bible.
Personal attacks of this fashion are often the tools of liberals who can find nothing else to use to fire off a salvo at others.
Second of all, reading section #2, it sounds as if Justin has a problem with free enterprise, and equates it with conservatism. Believing in free enterprise does not a conservative make. Socialism doesn’t work, and its end result is the strangling of freedom. Christ came to liberate us, not remove our free will.
And, what is wrong with recieving donations from conservative businesses and people? Justin, if you have a huge problem with conservaties contributing to the college, why don’t you donate yourself, and encourage your “progressive” liberal friends to do the same.
Harding has the right to keep an eye on the “progressive” faculty it has. The liberal faculty at institutions such as ACU are helping to create even more division in a church that has had too much to begin with. It is noble of Harding to attempt to prevent their faculty from contributing to the same.
-Clarke
Hello All:
What I’m currently reading:
Harding in the Balance – Radical Congruency Blog.
I can’t comment about the appoointment, as I know nothing about either Bruce McLarty or Monte Cox. I will say though that it seems rather harsh to state that Bruce McLarty is unqualified to be the dean of a middle school, much less the dean of the school of Biblical Studies.
Deans hold many responsibilites, many of which are administrative in nature. Unless McLarty is a horrible administrator, I would hazard a guess that he probably is qualified. Being a preacher, he should know something about the bible.
Personal attacks of this fashion are often the tools of liberals who can find nothing else to use to fire off a salvo at others.
Second of all, reading section #2, it sounds as if Justin has a problem with free enterprise, and equates it with conservatism. Believing in free enterprise does not a conservative make. Socialism doesn’t work, and its end result is the strangling of freedom. Christ came to liberate us, not remove our free will.
And, what is wrong with recieving donations from conservative businesses and people? Justin, if you have a huge problem with conservaties contributing to the college, why don’t you donate yourself, and encourage your “progressive” liberal friends to do the same.
Harding has the right to keep an eye on the “progressive” faculty it has. The liberal faculty at institutions such as ACU are helping to create even more division in a church that has had too much to begin with. It is noble of Harding to attempt to prevent their faculty from contributing to the same.
-Clarke
You are cracking me up tonight — with the penultimate “n” etc. Wow — this is an amazing development, isn’t it? I went to David Lipscomb and am not familiar with Harding… but it’s interesting to hear about.
Hello All:
I can’t comment about the appoointment, as I know nothing about either Bruce McLarty or Monte Cox. I will say though that it seems rather harsh to state that Bruce McLarty is unqualified to be the dean of a middle school, much less the dean of the school of Biblical Studies.
Deans hold many responsibilites, many of which are administrative in nature. Unless McLarty is a horrible administrator, I would hazard a guess that he probably is qualified. Being a preacher, he should know something about the bible.
Personal attacks of this fashion are often the tools of liberals who can find nothing else to use to fire off a salvo at others.
Second of all, reading section #2, it sounds as if Justin has a problem with free enterprise, and equates it with conservatism. Believing in free enterprise does not a conservative make. Socialism doesn’t work, and its end result is the strangling of freedom. Christ came to liberate us, not remove our free will.
And, what is wrong with recieving donations from conservative businesses and people? Justin, if you have a huge problem with conservaties contributing to the college, why don’t you donate yourself, and encourage your “progressive” liberal friends to do the same.
Harding has the right to keep an eye on the “progressive” faculty it has. The liberal faculty at institutions such as ACU are helping to create even more division in a church that has had too much to begin with. It is noble of Harding to attempt to prevent their faculty from contributing to the same.
-Clarke
Hello All:
What I’m currently reading:
Harding in the Balance – Radical Congruency Blog.
I can’t comment about the appoointment, as I know nothing about either Bruce McLarty or Monte Cox. I will say though that it seems rather harsh to state that Bruce McLarty is unqualified to be the dean of a middle school, much less the dean of the school of Biblical Studies.
Deans hold many responsibilites, many of which are administrative in nature. Unless McLarty is a horrible administrator, I would hazard a guess that he probably is qualified. Being a preacher, he should know something about the bible.
Personal attacks of this fashion are often the tools of liberals who can find nothing else to use to fire off a salvo at others.
Second of all, reading section #2, it sounds as if Justin has a problem with free enterprise, and equates it with conservatism. Believing in free enterprise does not a conservative make. Socialism doesn’t work, and its end result is the strangling of freedom. Christ came to liberate us, not remove our free will.
And, what is wrong with recieving donations from conservative businesses and people? Justin, if you have a huge problem with conservaties contributing to the college, why don’t you donate yourself, and encourage your “progressive” liberal friends to do the same.
Harding has the right to keep an eye on the “progressive” faculty it has. The liberal faculty at institutions such as ACU are helping to create even more division in a church that has had too much to begin with. It is noble of Harding to attempt to prevent their faculty from contributing to the same.
-Clarke
Hello All:
I can’t comment about the appoointment, as I know nothing about either Bruce McLarty or Monte Cox. I will say though that it seems rather harsh to state that Bruce McLarty is unqualified to be the dean of a middle school, much less the dean of the school of Biblical Studies.
Deans hold many responsibilites, many of which are administrative in nature. Unless McLarty is a horrible administrator, I would hazard a guess that he probably is qualified. Being a preacher, he should know something about the bible.
Personal attacks of this fashion are often the tools of liberals who can find nothing else to use to fire off a salvo at others.
Second of all, reading section #2, it sounds as if Justin has a problem with free enterprise, and equates it with conservatism. Believing in free enterprise does not a conservative make. Socialism doesn’t work, and its end result is the strangling of freedom. Christ came to liberate us, not remove our free will.
And, what is wrong with recieving donations from conservative businesses and people? Justin, if you have a huge problem with conservaties contributing to the college, why don’t you donate yourself, and encourage your “progressive” liberal friends to do the same.
Harding has the right to keep an eye on the “progressive” faculty it has. The liberal faculty at institutions such as ACU are helping to create even more division in a church that has had too much to begin with. It is noble of Harding to attempt to prevent their faculty from contributing to the same.
-Clarke
Second of all, reading section #2, it sounds as if Justin has a problem with free enterprise, and equates it with conservatism. Believing in free enterprise does not a conservative make. Socialism doesn’t work, and its end result is the strangling of freedom. Christ came to liberate us, not remove our free will.
And, what is wrong with recieving donations from conservative businesses and people? Justin, if you have a huge problem with conservaties contributing to the college, why don’t you donate yourself, and encourage your “progressive” liberal friends to do the same.
I’ve tried posting the whole of my comments several times here. Read the rest on my blog.
-Clarke
I guess that does come across as harsh, but my point is that being a dean is a highly specialized field. To be a middle school dean, you need a master’s degree in administration (or an equivalent certificate program). To be the dean of a college, you need a Ph.D. There’s very little disagreement on that point. I’m sure McLarty knows his bible, but that doesn’t qualify him to be the dean of the CBR. The fact that Monte Cox is doing all of the actual dean-duties only reinforces the point.
Clark-
Thanks for the thoughts on your blog. I am a strong supporter of free markets, but I think the proper role of Christianity is to provide a Christ-centered critique of all world systems - including those that we Americans hold dear. For that reason, it troubles me that ASI is encouraging people to swallow, rather than critically consider, the tenets of free market capitalism (which I like, with some caveats) and conservative politics.
I certainly am liberal by most C of C standards, but I hope that will not prevent meaningful dialogue among those of us who share a C of C heritage. The very survival of the movement is at stake.
[...] this moment
Tuesday August 23rd 2005, 1:02 am
Filed under: Daily, Ticked Me Off
Ann Coulter has been PAID to be an ASI speaker at Harding University What’ [...]
Clarke -
you are an asshole. Christ wants free markets because socialism doesn’t work? If you don’t know mcclarty or cox, but want to throw jabs at ‘liberals’ like they’re some homogenous-thinking group (you know, like ‘neo-conservatives’ such as yourself)…anyways, if all you want to do is spout your narrowminded opinion and try to draw attention to your narcissistic blog - maybe you should know some of the details in the post you are commenting upon.
accusing justin of attacking free enterprise - because of coulter???
what a dick.
Anyone who has attended Harding, and knows Bruce McClarty and Monte Cox…
First off, anyone who has taken a Monte Cox class knows that the man is a beacon of light. I had no idea he was up for dean. If you asked me three years ago I’d tell you there’s no way they’d make him dean, he’s the john mccain of the bible department. I think McClarty taught…like one class? Intro to bible?
The perception that conservatives think of themselves first has not been shaken by this exchange.
That cracks me up - a woman must leave the stage before chapel begins.
Heaven forbid - I know that’s exactly the kind of dangerous scenario Paul wrote to Timothy about.
Of course, Paul also told Timothy all people should raise holy hands in prayer. Do they do that at HU chapel?
Dare we suggest — scriptural selection based on cultural familiarity.
Kent F.
Hi Kirsten. I showed your Blogger bio pic to Amy, and she recognized you. Did you have McLarty for an actual HU class, or just at College Church? I wasn’t aware that he had taught at the university, as they made a big deal when College Church hired him that he was independent of the university.
I appriciate your breakdown of these events. Since I graduated from the Searcy campus I haven’t kept up on the politics of the school. What I am reading sounds very disturbing. The election of a non-phd dean is rediculous. I don’t believe that the letters behind someones name are the most important part but as a seminary student who has some knowledge of the field I am greatly distressed. I had heard of the appointment but had no idea he didn’t have a PhD. How is the University supposed to maintain respect among other acedemic institutions?
You were correct Justin, I meant classes where McClarty taught at College Church.
And yes, I remember both you and Amy. I roomed with Dawn, Rachel and Bethany in Pattie Cobb!
Justin,
Apparently McLarty has taught some adjunct classes before…I think he spent a semester in Greece, perhaps preparing for his new role…
I’m a current student at Harding and when it was announced that McLarty was going to be the new dean, I was shocked. But the shock didn’t come only from the fact that he doesn’t have a Ph.D, but from the fact that it gives the appearance that the administration only hired him because he ministers at the church most closely associated with the university (where the majority of the administration attend). It’s odd when you see other CoC universities gradually turning more liberal while Harding keeps pushing further and further to the right.
Harding pushing further to the right - it’s like they saw the other universities going left and said, “not us”.
When the superbowl is on, you’ll find something like ‘you’ve got mail’ on TBS. Knowing that most male TV watchers will be watching the superbowl, TBS banks on a female audience that want to watch something else. (counter programming)
I think this is what Harding is doing. Instead of following the ‘ease up’ trend - they want to be the hard right school that hard right parents (who are fed up with ‘America’s shrinking moral values’) will want to send their kids to.
To me, Harding’s allure and appeal has never been in the actual students’ best interests. Why would you want to go to a school whose main draw was in offering more rules than others? As a student about to go in in ‘97, I figured, yeah you’re right, I don’t need to be out past 11 anyways. I don’t need to be drinking, I need to be in a better environment that’ll be a good influence.
So yeah I was duped. I think people attend Harding out of guilt. “If I go here, I’ve made the decision that baby Jesus will be the most proud of.”
Josh-
Maybe a structured environment isn’t best for everyone, but we’re also looking back from the perspective of adulthood. Most people were pretty stupid at 17 or 18, and really did benefit from being away from alcohol and parties for those formative (and expensive) years.
I don’t know that Harding’s refusal to budge is a marketing decision. I really think a lot of the people behind the University see any leftward shift as unfaithfulness, so maintaining a fairly hard line conservative stance is seen as an act of faithfulness. I can’t fault them for that.
But there are a lot of important things that get ignored when you hold a hard line stance, like justice for people other than white males.
For some reason, I doubt the author of a book entitled How to Talk to a Liberal If You Must would be the best ASI speaker to represent Christian values. The title of that book seems to go against such basic principles as loving your enemy, or treating others as you would want to be treated.[1] If we are to believe that Ann Coulter coming to speak at the ASI program represents Christ, it in a quite practical sense strips Christ of all meaning.
If we admit that Coulter?s language is a bit rude, but it is a necessary vice, since religion is only functional under conservative (or Republican) systems, we miss some facts. Two of the most religious presidents of the 20th Century (Wilson and Carter) were Democrats. Conservative rallying cry Reagan was rarely a church-goer. Should the party that houses Newt Gingrich claim family values as a platform plank?[2] Should a political movement that features Gordon Liddy as a spokesman really claim to have an exclusive hold on morality?[3]
Being a Christian university and a conservative university are not synonymous. Jesus did not come to set up a political kingdom on Earth, so we, His followers, should not tie Christianity exclusively to one political agenda (whether liberal or conservative.)
We have seen and thought in our churches about how, in Christ, people from different racial, social, and economic groups are united; perhaps He also wanted to unite people of different political views? [4] Bringing Ann Coulter would cause division among sincere Christians; we should not have her as an ASI speaker for the same reason we should not have Michael Moore. Let Harding not bring speakers who divide Christians, who by their presence in the ASI series would indicate that the cause of Christ has to be tied to one political party.
-Aaron Giles Brown, Harding Student
——————————————————————————–
[1] (Would we like it if the author of How to Talk to a Conservative If You Must spoke at Harvard, or How to Talk to a Christian If You Must spoke at a Jewish or a Muslim university?)
[2] Gingrich left his wife while she was dying of cancer.
[3] Liddy helped plan and perform the break-in at the Democratic headquarters at Watergate.
[4] Perhaps Jesus picking both a tax collector and a Zealot for His Twelve would indicate this as a goal.
Aaron wrote:
I couldn’t agree more.
Aaron, I pray that there are more students expressing this sentiment on campus and that their voices will be heard, both at Harding and in our wonderful Harding-centric town.
– Jimmy Shaw, HU alum
wow.
[...] Ann Coulter has been un-invited as an ASI speaker at Harding. Greg said it well: For all those who were waiting on the edge of their seats, or with bated breath, or were sitting on the edge of their seats WITH bated breath, you may now exhale. [...]
Purposely, I have tried to distance myself from much of the Harding news since I graduated, and the recent posts only reinforce why that has come to be. The outcome of the Anne Coulter debacle, quite frankly, is astonishing. Rarely, in my experience, has anything like integrity been able to overcome the hubris of the Harding administration, or her puppeteers. Although one could argue that they are just following the example set by the White House.
What I find more appalling is the situation at the College of Bible and Religion. With all the PhD’s, or even the lesser ThD, DMin or EdD degrees on the faculty, why are they appointing someone with insufficient academic credentials? Understand, that I do not know, and have never met Bruce McClarty, so I cannot speak for him as a person, or a minister. What I do know is that Bruce McClarty lacks the necessary academic training to be placed in such a role. I did read many of the posts defending the appointment, and honestly, most of them had a very anti-academic, if not anti-intellectual tone. Unfortunately, this anti-intellectual fervor seems to be practiced by Harding, itself.
While I am saddened and embarrassed by David Burks appointment of an unqualified individual to head the College of Bible and Religion, it really pales in comparison to the nepotistic appointment of his son, Brian, also sans PhD, and with less professional experience than Bruce McClarty, as Dean of the School of Business.
If anyone ever asks me about Harding, my usual reply, in a word is “waste”. They waste good opportunities, and good professors, and good students, and good money. My mother once asked me if I would ever send my baby daughter to college at Harding, and my reply nearly brought her to tears. I said, that while the decision would ultimately be up to my daughter, I really did not want to waste her mind and her time and my money by sending her to Harding, as they would leave her woefully ill-prepared for a life of faith, learning, and living.
I’m so sad about the situation at HU. It’s not just the situation in the College of Business or the College of Religion.
Harding’s recruiters have a terrible reputation for running down other Christian schools, for lying about other schools, and for being pretty unethical in general. Their marketing materials are misleading with regard to costs, loans, etc.. It’s very, very sad, especially since these practices are completely unecessary, as ACU, Lipscomb, FHU, etc.. have shown again and again.
These behaviors speak to a larger problem at the heart of the university. Eventually, these “heart problems” will manifest themselves and there will be a big calamity. I just hope it is sooner rather than later and HU and its mission doesn’t come to too much harm from it.
Wow…am not sure how I even got to this blogger but am glad I did. I graduated from HU in 1983 and spent my HU as a friend/student with Monte and MB Cox. We were a bunch of people who were so uninterested in the “shoulds” of the university then. Many, many of us grew passionate in our desire for authentic faith in those years and all these years later am still benefiting from the practice of sitting at the feet of Jesus.
Very honestly…it is probably a huge gift that Monte is not the “head” at HU…capable? of course. talented?of course. a man of integrity and able to stand on his own? proven. All of the kids who come to Harding need a safe place to think outside of the box….and he is the safe place. He will excel in using his gift as the Dean or not. HU has historically stayed safe in their hiring…don’t want to lose those $$ of old timers who live in fear. Dr. Burks has always been rather uncreative…even as a teacher….I had his class.
Scholars come from every university. I live near a BigTen school and am in graduate school with some very limited thinkers.
God is always good….and he will push through and touch hearts who are open to him with or without the “blessings” of a few mortal men. Mr. McClarty is probably a nice, safe guy who won’t rock ANY boats. That is why he has lasted so long at College church. Jim Woodroof, Mike Cope didn’t last that long at College church because they were being moved along by the Spirit. One of my dear friends (a woman) was a popular chapel speaker at HU for years. She had a well known professor tell her once right before she went on stage to “Be a good girl”….knowing what his REAL message was to her she responded with “Sir, I am not good but God is and that is why I am hear….to testify what God has done in my life.” Those poophead men and women were present among the bystanders who wanted a full description of the healing a man who was blind had received. Rather than celebrate and party, they had their underwear in a bundle about making sure the healing was done correctly. Don’t sweat this HU stuff….the true essence of our faith will always win out over dogma and fear. Thanks for listening…!!