By Maddie Doucet
Class of 2012
To the trustees and those this letter concerns,
I am a proud graduate of Bryan College’s Class of 2012. My time at Bryan was both formative and transformative. When I am asked about my time in college and my experience at Bryan, my answer always uses the same words: community, compassion, kindness.
After growing up surrounded by fundamentalist spirituality where I was pushed away from God and community, I found Bryan to be one of the most inclusive and diverse Christian communities I had ever experienced. Please note, I do mean a truly Christian community – one that held strong to basic tenets of Christianity (found in the Nicene Creed), and didn’t deviate from established theology on primary issues, but that did allow (in grace and with charity) its students, faculty, and staff room to question, inquire and doubt on all secondary issues faced by the modern church and world at large.
I knew this in part about Bryan when I chose to enroll as a freshman in 2009. I wanted to attend a non-Christian school, because I didn’t want my higher education experience to be clouded by closed-mindedness, irrational tradition or bigotry. When I attended Summit as a high school student, and heard lectures from the likes of Dr. Ken Turner, Dr. Paul Boling, and Mr. John Stonestreet, I realized that I could attend a Christian school that had a solid foundation and didn’t compromise its academic integrity.
Now, as a graduate and a proud alumna, I know even more fully the power of a strong Christian foundation and a tolerance for disagreement when it comes to education. Without this combination, my undergraduate experience could have been disastrous – pushing me further from faith, or further from learning. Instead, Bryan pushed me towards both. Esteemed professors taught me (both inside and outside of the classroom) not just skills, but compassion; not just how to communicate, but how to be kind.
Their investment in me is one I can never repay – Dr. Hollingsworth’s priceless advice, Mr. Palmer’s personal greetings, Dr. Eisenback’s selfless overseeing of our SGA group, Col. Petitte’s open dialogues, Dr. Musumeci’s honest discussions with the student body. These faculty, and the many others I had the pleasure of interacting with (Carpenter, Ricketts, Turner, Boling, Held, Clark, Clausen), didn’t just contribute to my time at Bryan – they made it. Without them, I may have left Bryan when I was outraged over the school’s strict campus life policies, the attitude toward our LGBTQ brothers and sisters, the mistreatment of the student newspaper by the administration or the inexcusable way the ordeal with Dr. Morgan was handled.
What kept me coming back, and what made these issues all secondary, was the faculty — the atmosphere and the actions that said, loud and clear, “Christ Above All.” Not “homosexuality is a sin above all”; not “divorce is intolerable among the faculty above all”; not even “creationism above all,” but Christ’s legacy of love and life above all.
I urge the Board to consider, with compassion and kindness, the letters written by current senior Will Jones and alumnus Paul Gutacker (’08), both of which were published in the Bryan Triangle. I wholeheartedly agree with their sentiments, and they have taken the time to delve deeply into the content of what is at stake with our Statement of Belief. I also fully agree with another alumnus, Luke Lillard (’12), who said, “It is the height of arrogance to suppose that we, 1700 or so years further removed from the time of Jesus, are better equipped to determine what does and does not qualify an individual for membership in the Church universal.”
Does Bryan College truly seek to become a more exclusive body than the Church? Do you need to root out faithful members of the faculty and staff who serve God and believe in Christ with their entire being, based on stances on issues that are secondary to the resurrection and atonement? Should you preclude future students, staff members, and potential faculty by making our beloved alma mater another fundamentalist Christian college with big backers but an abandoned legacy?
If this “clarification” to the Statement of Belief had occurred in 2007-2008, I can say with full certainty that I would not be a graduate of Bryan College. If the changed statement stands, I can say with full certainty that I will not be able to support Bryan College in the future, or recommend it to others.
I urge you, for the sake of the Lions who have gone before us, those this move threatens to expel, and those who are yet to come, to rescind this “clarification” to our Statement of Belief; to allow for a healthy academic diversity of opinion on secondary issues; and ultimately, to hold true to Bryan’s legacy of “Christ Above All,” faithfully, charitably, and with integrity.
With much love and sincerity,
Maddie K. Doucet
Class of 2012