From the Manor • Ask the President

Q: What is the current spiritual climate on campus?

A: Calvin today is far more intentionally spiritual than it was in the 1970s when I was a student. In those days, mandatory chapel was the primary venue for spiritual formation, and the programming was generally like “mini-church.” Faculty, like those today, taught from a strong Reformed Christian perspective, but engagement with students was more of a formal lecture style. Christian convictions were deep but not always lively.

If you have a question for President Byker, e-mail him at fromthemanor@calvin.edu

Today, the spiritual climate is both deep and lively. Chapel is voluntary but is structured with specific themes with a different focus each day of the week: prayer, stories of faith, worship with a brief message, the arts in worship, and hymn singing. The Sunday evening LOFT (Living Our Faith Together) offers a Reformed liturgical structure in a contemporary style. Attendance is excellent at these services. Spiritual formation programming is deeply integrated into classrooms and into residence halls through the Barnabas Teams and is an integral part of off-campus programs. We have many leadership programs for students who desire to live out their Christian lives as leaders and mentors in the campus community. And our faculty is firmly committed to Christian teaching and learning, both inside and outside the classroom.

Q: Why is Calvin listed in annual college rankings like the U.S. News & World Report in a different category than similar colleges and regional schools like Albion, Hope, Kalamazoo and Hillsdale? (Fall 2005)

A: Categories for these rankings are based on national classifications of colleges and universities. U.S. News & World Report adds a geographical overlay of its own. In other words, we have no control over the category, and therefore are listed differently than most of the regional colleges that we compete with in athletics. Calvin is placed in a different category primarily because we graduate more than half of our students with majors in professional programs, while the other colleges graduate students primarily in the liberal arts. We do not offer an array of graduate programs, which would qualify us for the university category. Note that Calvin, in addition to its U.S. News rating of “number two in the Midwest,” also received two mentions in the area of “Programs to Look For.”

Q: Is it possible for education majors to complete Calvin in four years, or is a fifth year generally necessary? (Spring 2005)

A: This question addresses Calvin’s balance between the liberal arts and professional programs. If students in professional programs, such as teaching or social work, are certain of their major in their first year, plan well with their advisors, and work hard to complete core requirements early on, they are generally able to graduate in four years. However, if students choose an education or other professional major later, they may need an extra semester or year. Often this can be avoided by completing some required courses in summer school. Offerings in both core and major requirements are available during Calvin’s summer term.

Q: How does the college maintain its Christian identity while seeking to be an institution that is diverse and globally aware? (Fall 2004)

A: Calvin’s mission statement declares our confessional identity as one that fully embraces the Reformed tradition of Christian faith. The biblically based confessions shape and guide our teaching, learning, research, scholarship and administration. Our mission is to work in community to lead and educate students for lifelong Christian witness and service as agents of renewal in God’s diverse world. We are called to be globally aware and inclusive until the return of Christ, when “the nations will walk by [his] light” (Rev. 21:24).

Q: I understand that Calvin regularly obtains grants from the U.S. federal government and that many Calvin students receive federal need-based financial aid. What regulations have you encountered as a result of accepting federal funds that would compromise Calvin as a Christian college? (Spring 2004)

A: Calvin and its students receive governmental funding from both state and federal sources. The state funding is primarily grant dollars for Michigan students and comes with no restrictions. It has dropped considerably in the past two years primarily due to a crisis in the state budget. The federal funding is primarily for faculty research grants or building construction programs and for Pell grants to needy students. Calvin has encountered no restrictions on its education, scholarship or religious commitments as a condition of accepting these funds. We carefully research all federal funding opportunities to ensure that they do not impede our Christian mission or the integration of faith and learning.

Q: Doesn’t every Christian college try to balance the tensions of being academically excellent while being distinctively Christian? (Fall 2003)

A: It is quite rare for a college to do one without sacrificing the other. For over three centuries, this has been a trend for institutions originally founded on Christian principles . However, at Calvin, a robust Reformed worldview challenges us to “love the Lord our God with our heart, soul, and mind.” In the past 20 years, Calvin has become even more distinctively Christian as well as more academically rigorous. We have an excellent and deeply committed Christian faculty, and the integration of faith and learning they promote in the classroom and the role models of Christian living they provide are at the heart of this balance.

Q: Why do some people view these two aspects of education to be in tension? (Fall 2003)

A: Many Christians believe that faithfulness to Christ includes a “wariness” concerning our engagement with all aspects of God’s world. On the other hand, some people believe that commitment to the truth of the Gospel undermines academic freedom and detracts from academic excellence.

Reformed Christians, like most evangelicals, take seriously the corrupting power of sin and lay heavy emphasis on the need to reform both our lives and our view of life according to the Word of God. But Reformed Christians also take seriously the renewing power of God’s grace, released in human hearts and in communities by his Spirit. They come to see all of life and culture under the influence of Jesus Christ and our faithful obedience to him.

This wide perspective on the world and our call to live in it and engage it are viewed, then, through the lens of God’s Word. This is not wariness; rather, it is a calling to develop and maintain personal and group piety while also working toward renewal through lives of Christian service in all vocations. The Reformed perspective and academically rigorous Christian liberal arts education are very compatible and can mutually reinforce each other.

Q. Since faculty scholarship is so strong at Calvin, what value do you place on classroom teaching? (Spring 2003)

A. Classroom teaching is the most important aspect of faculty life at Calvin. This is not a graduate school where classes are taught by teaching assistants. Our teachers teach! Yes, we value and respect scholarship, but teaching is of utmost importance for a strong liberal arts education. Teaching includes not only lectures, classroom discussions and grading papers, but also the virtues taught through role modeling a Christian life and worldview inside and outside the classroom. That is why we also place a high value on academically based service learning. Our faculty and students learn together about the world outside of our campus, which includes our community and our larger world. We have a stellar faculty of excellent teachers who view classroom teaching as a high Christian calling.

Q. Will Calvin ever add a graduate school? (Fall 2002)

A. Unlikely. We need to continue to do well what we do best—we are a four-year Christian liberal arts undergraduate institution. (We do have a small graduate program for teachers because it is needed in our community, and we have the resources and staff for it in our education faculty.) We want our students taught by professors; we do not want our undergraduate students taught by teaching assistants from graduate programs. In order for a graduate program to be viable, an institution needs to offer teaching assistantships and pay the graduate students to participate in their programs. Moreover, having graduate students tends to divert faculty attention and resources away from our primary mission of educating undergraduates.