There is a tension that you can feel throughout our campus. I walk outside and my heart falls because the atmosphere is heavy, as if the humidity from all the tears and anger from so many people were clogging the air. The end of the semester is near and assignments are due for students… but that has little to do with this air.
I love this school, I’ve been happy with my education, and I love the people here. But I think the way things have been handled and the decisions that have been made are harming all three of those things, and harming us as a community.
I do not want to sound like a whining child, but that is how it feels like the student body, and to a certain extent the Bryan community, have been treated on this matter: like children.
For me personally, I was frustrated by the comment along the lines of, “The ultimate customers of Bryan College are the parents.” I know I am personally not in this boat at all. I take out loans and pay money out of pocket in addition to my scholarships every semester for my schooling here. While I can’t speak for the people whose parents are paying for their education, it is degrading of the students to speak of them as if they have no say in their own education. We could change colleges if we so decide. To say otherwise is treating us like children.
If we can get married and have kids starting now, if we can be drafted and put our lives on the line for this country, if we can have jobs and join the workforce, if we’re taxpaying citizens of America, why on earth can someone say we are this much children?
There are many cheaper places to get a good education, but we like it here. That’s why we’re here. The things that have been covered up need not be covered up from us.
If I am still a whining child, then it is because my bottle is being taken away and I still need its nourishment. So many great professors are leaving over the issues riling at the school right now. For me, Mr. Chris Clark is leaving and takes with him the entire film department, but also a lot of meaning for me because he taught so much more than film. Every lesson about art was imbued with meaning about life, and that meant a lot. It hurts to see so many similar stories leaving with him.
With the clarification, I could not care any less about what the school decides. My problem came with the disregard for the faculty and the students in creating this clarification. It felt underhanded.
In my own opinion, I think living in dialogue with people who disagree with us is incredibly healthy and makes us believe what we believe on a much deeper level because they make us search out our own beliefs. And I think that harmony is possible — especially when they openly and strongly confess the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. These professors are some of my favorites because they care so much about us to ‘learn us good’ or to push us in our beliefs, and they care about us as people.
And I know the leadership wants to as well.
I understand leadership is a hard thing, and these are terribly big decisions. I do not think me, myself, and I could have done better, or even a good job at all. The Board has been chosen for this role, and I respect them very much for their abilities. I respect Dr. Livesay as well. However, with trust being broken, with so many lives being affected by these decisions, and all these voices not being taken into account, I plead with my friends to start healing the brokenness.
There is hurt here that need not be.
Michael Whitlock
