Bryan College Triangle

Dan Jackson
Assistant Online Editor

When students sign the document saying they have read and agree to abide by the Student Handbook, they submit to the college’s rules and direction and give up their legal rights to free speech, peaceful assembly, and the Second Amendment, among others.

That does not mean the college has the legal right to do anything it wills. Students are still protected by the Student Handbook and contract law. In the law’s eyes, the handbook is a contract between the college and the student and both parties must agree with the document. The discipline process at Bryan attempts to provide a fair hearing for students accused of rule breaking.

Read full story »

Bryan alum and teaching assistant Evan Johnson is working to help facilitate the Classical Conversations dual-enrollment program / Triangle photo by Chloe Pool

Clari Stewart
Triangle Reporter

This fall an interesting partnership began between Bryan College and Classical Conversations, a homeschool co-op group based on classical learning methods.

Bryan faculty members are now teaching dual-enrollment courses to Classical Conversations students across the nation.

The idea for this partnership began last spring when the father of now freshman Jessica Stockton approached Dr. Bradford Sample, academic vice president at Bryan, encouraging the school to pursue such a program. Read full story »

As more Rhea County High School graduates attend the college, different influences emerge in our Bryan "culture" that shape the identity of the campus./ Photo courtesy of RheaMarketplace.com

By Alex Green
Triangle Reporter

The griffin is a popular sight on campus this semester.

In ancient folklore the griffin was thought to be a mixture of lion and eagle, a legendary creature responsible for guarding treasures and knowledge. This semester at Bryan, the school is experiencing a large influx of local students from Rhea County, mainly graduates of Rhea County High School, home of the Golden Eagles. Now at Bryan, these students are taking on somewhat of the griffin duality.

This migration is largely the result of Rhea County students having a chance financially that they have never had before. With the school now offering any Rhea County graduate $12,000 in annual scholarship funds simply for living in Rhea County and graduating high school with a 3.0 GPA in addition to having a 21 ACT score, Bryan is more accessible now than it has ever been for locals. Or, some would say, Bryan is now accessible for the first time period.

Those are not the words of lower to middle-income local students; they are the words of Dr. Stephen Livesay, president of Bryan College. Livesay said that the college took a look at local students and asked why Bryan wasn’t pulling more students from its own backyard. The answer, he said, was money.

“We saw that there were many quality students that couldn’t financially make it,” he said. Read full story »

by Lana Douglas
Photo Editor

The functions of the church for the believer are to provide worship, to equip him and to fulfill the great commission. While we may want to chafe against someone requiring us to go to church, this desire to get more deeply involved in a church should already be on our hearts.

While we recognize that it is good for Christians to become involved with a church, what about the non-believers at Bryan?  Should we be holding them to the same rules as believers?  Do the Christian-oriented rules do more harm than good when they are applied to nonbelievers?  If we change the policy to accommodate nonbelievers is that fair to the rest of the student body?

Forty-five percent of students said that they felt that nonbelievers at Bryan should go to church because they knew that it was required when they decided to attend the college.// Chart courtesy of Survey Monkey

Non-Christian’s and the issue of attendance

Regardless of if you are a Christian or non-Christian at Bryan, we are all required to adhere to Bryan’s policies including its church attendance policy.  However if the goal of this policy is to promote spiritual growth as it is stated in the student handbook, how is it beneficial for non-Christian students?

Scott Jones, associate professor of Christian ministry, believes that Christians should not be forced to go to church, but rather they should have a desire to go on their own.  But when it comes to non-Christians, they shouldn’t be expected to be a part of what he refers to as a “covenant community” because it is not intended for them.

One of the concerns of requiring non-Christian students to attend church is that it could give them a negative, legalistic view of the gospel.

“There is concern of how we come across,” said Bruce Morgan, dean of community life.  “I can appreciate the concern that there is overexposure or [church attendance] is just something else on top of another requirement or we are using a church worship service as an attempt at evangelism.”

However, even with the concern that this policy could cause evangelism overload on the non-Christian students, Morgan poses this question: How do you maintain a standard for church attendance for some students and not for others?

This is an issue I feel we need to seriously consider.  I, as a Christian, don’t think it is right to force non-Christians to practice a religion or become a part of a community of believers unwillingly.  However, students who apply to Bryan are told specifically in the application that they will be required to attend church and chapel services on a regular basis.

“It’s not like it’s not disclosed up front, so [that] they come with an understanding and an openness [toward the policy],” said Mike Sapienza, vice president for enrollment management.

In addition to bullet points in the application which inform potential students of some of the main policies that they will be expected to follow, each applicant must submit an essay on what it means to be a Christian.

Read full story »

by Billy Findley
Online Editor

Making enrollment predictions for a semester three-and-half months away is tricky business and is something Mike Sapienza, vice-president for enrollment management, said he tries to avoid. At this point, the enrollment numbers look positive for this coming fall semester. The current number of acceptances is two percent higher than it was at this time last year.

A look back at Bryan's freshman class enrollment numbers over the past five years./Statistics courtesy of Matthew Johnson, director of institutional effectiveness.

However, in making projections, the Admissions Department must not only track the number of applications but also the number of acceptances and deposits, according to Sapienza. These three factors must be taken into consideration before the department can accurately project the number of incoming freshmen. In addition to this, there are a variety of factors that can alter a prospective student’s decision about attending the school.

“Over the last few years, what we’ve seen in higher education in general is that application and acceptance numbers have gone up, and it hasn’t necessarily translated into more students,” Sapienza said.

He attributes this mostly to the fact that prospective students are applying to more colleges than they were six to seven years ago. In an economic time when students and parents are extremely conscientious about finding the best financial aid available, the competition to win them over heats up dramatically. Read full story »