This post is a follow up to one I posted yesterday Will Harding University Face Up to it’s True Sexual Dysfunction?
If Dr. Burks gave me an audience to discuss how to change Harding University, here are the suggestions I’d make.
1. Admit that Harding University Has Bought Into the Lies of the Culture. Harding’s mission statement say that it is committed to integration of faith, learning and living. However I experienced other commitments. Primarily, to a self preservation of a model of Christianity rooted in the Bible Belt of the 1950s. Students were expected to fit into cookie cutter molds, get married and climb the ladder, and make enough money to give back to Harding. Harding seemed more concerned with being a successful university that helping people become more like Christ.
2. Focus less on maintaining Church of Christ traditions, and more on helping people live like Jesus. So much energy was spent on having proper a cappella worship and keeping women off the stage. What if that energy was redirected into innovative ways of teaching students how to actually do the stuff Jesus said to do?
3. Create Opportunities for Students to Be Heard. The HU Queer press is the result of ignoring the sexual realities of Harding for decades. If Harding is going to continue to succeed as an institution, especially one in an era when a homemade blog can make national headlines, Harding must create public space for students voices to be heard.
Although my life and faith has changed drastically since I went to Harding, I know I would not be the person I am today had I not had those experiences. My prayer is that the school will realize the dangerous culture they have, repent, and learn a new way of being a Christian Institution.
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