Enrollment numbers

[valpo95]

Running some quick numbers, by my count it looks like 118 of the class of 2021 Concordia Fort Wayne https://hubs.li/H0N595c0 are going to four-year college / universities. 39 of the 118 are going to private schools.

Of those 118, 33 are going to religiously-affiliated schools. Valpo is getting none of those students, with 15 selecting one of the Concordia system programs and 11 selecting the University of St. Francis (Fort Wayne).

35 students are going what I'll term nationally regarded universities, with 15 headed to IU-Bloomington and 14 to Purdue (Main Campus).

So, Valpo is getting neither the students who want a private, religiously-affiliated school, nor those who are looking for one of the top-quality nationally regarded schools. To my mind, I would find out how many of those 118 actually applied to Valpo.

[Pgmado]

Someone asked me when Valpo was searching for a President, what I wanted to see. I said three things.

1) Someone who understood that athletics was a front door to the school. Invest in Athletics and that will breed success in other areas.

2) Someone who understood that the Town and Gown relations need some work. Get out there and shake hands in the community.

3) Someone who understood the Lutheran/religious connection and how fertile a breeding ground that could be for enrollment.

[Just Sayin]

Valparaiso University Names Next ELCA University Pastor

https://www.valpo.edu/news/2020/11/17/valparaiso-university-names-next-elca-university-pastor/

I thought this new hire sounded pretty impressive. It also left me with a positive feeling about the ELCA, about which I know very little. So, I decided to do a little research on the ELCA and came across the following article. I should have left well enough alone.

Liberal Lutherans Doubling Down

https://juicyecumenism.com/2018/07/29/liberal-lutherans-doubling-down/

ELCA, of the world and lukewarm.

[vu84v2]

Characteristics that should never and very likely will never be associated with Valparaiso University:

-A place where other denominations within the christian faith are derided as lukewarm.
-Faculty, students and others with the university referring to people whose religious convictions differ from their own as "postchristian".
-An environment only acceptable to those who demand a more conservative, faith-based experience and do not want those whose views differ from their own included in that environment.

[wh]

Characteristics that should never and very likely will never be associated with Valparaiso University:

-A place where other denominations within the christian faith are derided as lukewarm.
-Faculty, students and others with the university referring to people whose religious convictions differ from their own as "postchristian".
-An environment only acceptable to those who demand a more conservative, faith-based experience and do not want those whose views differ from their own included in that environment.

I'm trying to recall something you may or may not have mentioned a long time ago. Did you say you grew up in Ft. Wayne? Did you say you were raised Lutheran, maybe even attended a Lutheran school? And, did you also say you're now an Athiest?

[vu84v2]

-I did not grow up in Ft. Wayne.
-I was raised Lutheran.
-I never attended a Lutheran school prior to attending Valpo.
-I am christian (but am no longer Lutheran).

[NotBryceDrew]

Has anyone spoke with anyone from admissions within the university to see if recruitment practice have really changed and if so why respective to Lutheran schools/ FW? I just can't imagine without very logical and or statistical reasoning we move away from or recruiting an area that seems to have been such a solid pipeline in the past.  I vaguely remember a statement from Ray Brown about recruiting Lutheran high schools harder with an expanded foot print in states and areas that have larger Lutheran populations.

I really don't think we are losing cross admits to Concordia.  Valpo and the Concordias are so different I think students choosing Concordia are looking for that kind of environment.   

[vu72]

Has anyone spoke with anyone from admissions within the university to see if recruitment practice have really changed and if so why respective to Lutheran schools/ FW? I just can't imagine without very logical and or statistical reasoning we move away from or recruiting an area that seems to have been such a solid pipeline in the past.  I vaguely remember a statement from Ray Brown about recruiting Lutheran high schools harder with an expanded foot print in states and areas that have larger Lutheran populations.

I really don't think we are losing cross admits to Concordia.  Valpo and the Concordias are so different I think students choosing Concordia are looking for that kind of environment.   

As I've mentioned before, I would encourage all interested alumni to write to President Padilla and express your concern regarding recruiting Lutherans or otherwise.  I have.

His email is:  jose.padilla@valpo.edu     He will respond.

[wh]

2019
In a Diverse Society, Why Should Lutheran College/Universities Claim their Theological Roots?
Darrell Jodock
Gustavus Adolphus College

https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1458&context=intersections

Darrell Jodock bio

https://wp.stolaf.edu/lutherancenter/meet-the-council/darrell-jodock/

PhD from Yale.

[crusadermoe]

Truly inspirting.  It will be a blessing if VU can take on this third path with success. 

The polarization of our politics and religion will be hard forces to combat.  But it is a noble and worthwhile task. OP Kretzmann said we (VU) must be Athens and Jerusalem and that was always the vision for Valpo at least in his long and spirited era. Naturally the faculty will have to accept the courage to go down this 3rd path in the face of national peers who nearly all want the non-sectarian version.

[vu72]

It appears that Valpo is continuing to attract top notch students, at least from Fremont High in Indiana.  This article indicates Valpo go the Valedictorian and two Salutatorians from their graduating class!  Great news!

https://www.kpcnews.com/heraldrepublican/article_f593ef13-f3f6-5107-a573-1a5a8bbd68b3.html

[David81]

Characteristics that should never and very likely will never be associated with Valparaiso University:

-A place where other denominations within the christian faith are derided as lukewarm.
-Faculty, students and others with the university referring to people whose religious convictions differ from their own as "postchristian".
-An environment only acceptable to those who demand a more conservative, faith-based experience and do not want those whose views differ from their own included in that environment.

Indeed, if VU goes down a narrower route, then it will lose a sizable chunk of its alumni/ae support and become a much less interesting and inclusive place to be. It will also be less appealing to a generation of young folks who embrace everyday inclusion as a no-biggie value, without the ideological hangups or debates framed by their elder generations.

For better or worse (and I think the former), Valpo has to strike a challenging balance in serving all of its major constituencies, which includes both a significant, conservative leaning Lutheran core and folks from all different backgrounds and beliefs who somehow find their way to this modestly sized university on the outskirts of Chicagoland and come out of it with a meaningful and important experience.

If it fails to strike that balance, especially if it goes too far in either extreme, then its survival will be questionable. In some ways, VU's future reflects in smaller scale the future facing America, i.e., can our institutions define themselves in a certain distinctive voice, without excluding or bashing others?

[bbtds]

It appears that Valpo is continuing to attract top notch students, at least from Fremont High in Indiana.  This article indicates Valpo go the Valedictorian and two Salutatorians from their graduating class!  Great news!

https://www.kpcnews.com/heraldrepublican/article_f593ef13-f3f6-5107-a573-1a5a8bbd68b3.html

That's interesting since Fremont HS has an enrollment of 298.

The three students going to Valpo are the three on the right.




I also noticed that Lucas Lennen, the Valedictorian from Fremont who picked Valpo, was also named on the Northeast Corner Conference all academic team. It doesn't mention what sport Lucas was involved in. 

https://www.goshennews.com/sports/prep-athletics-necc-releases-all-academic-team/article_a066a126-971b-11eb-9eff-ff262f73ec0d.html


On a sad note in January of 2020 Lucas Lennen lost his older brother, Lance Lennen, in an ice fishing accident on Snow Lake.

https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/fremont-in/lance-lennen-9009331

[valpo95]

Indeed, if VU goes down a narrower route, then it will lose a sizable chunk of its alumni/ae support and become a much less interesting and inclusive place to be. It will also be less appealing to a generation of young folks who embrace everyday inclusion as a no-biggie value, without the ideological hangups or debates framed by their elder generations.

For better or worse (and I think the former), Valpo has to strike a challenging balance in serving all of its major constituencies, which includes both a significant, conservative leaning Lutheran core and folks from all different backgrounds and beliefs who somehow find their way to this modestly sized university on the outskirts of Chicagoland and come out of it with a meaningful and important experience.

If it fails to strike that balance, especially if it goes too far in either extreme, then its survival will be questionable. In some ways, VU's future reflects in smaller scale the future facing America, i.e., can our institutions define themselves in a certain distinctive voice, without excluding or bashing others?

David81 brings up a number of good points. Clearly VU faces a number of challenges. These include shrinking demographics of college-age students, a problem in the Midwest in particular. In addition, many private universities face substantial financial challenges. Just looking at the endowments, VU is better than some and worse than others: Just looking at private schools in Indiana, VU's endowment of $252M is much less than DePauw ($693M), similar to Butler ($212M) and way better than Evansville ($93M).  Beyond this, I fully agree that VU must strike a balance in reaching out to a broad constituency while also providing an excellent educational experience: There has to be a clear value proposition such that students (and their families, and their future employers) would choose VU. As a College of Engineering alum, I can say with certainty that I got an outstanding education, and specifics of faith (or atheism for that matter) did not come up in engineering classes. I'd also maintain that someone who is an atheist should be able come to Valpo and get an excellent educational experience.   

Clearly considerations on diversity and inclusion are important, yet a private university should be able also maintain its identity. For example, from a distance, it looks like Notre Dame and Baylor have become more diverse and inclusive, yet each of those has a also maintained their identity as flagship Catholic and Baptist universities. Places like Duke or Butler have disassociated themselves from their historic denominational identity. All of these are fine universities, and someone who choses one over the other may have any number of reasons for doing so, yet they all provide a value proposition to the student who study there.

To get more specific, look at Notre Dame's class of 2023, which  showed substantial diversity (https://ndsmcobserver.com/2019/08/class-of-2023-increases-retention/, with 28.9% US students of color and elsewhere it was reported that it is about 50/50 split on gender. Notre Dame is also 81.5% Catholic. (BTW, the state of Indiana is about 85% white). Though not perfect, it seems that Notre Dame has both upped their game on diversity and inclusion while maintaining and embracing their commitment to being a flagship Catholic university.

On VU, the last numbers I have (from 2019) show that VU's student body is about 68.9% white, which suggests it is at least somewhat similar to what Notre Dame is doing on that dimension.

It looks to me like rather than "going down a narrower route", VU has ran as far as possible away from its Lutheran identity. Students (and families) are voting with their feet. This is the percentage of Lutheran undergrads by decade:
1969 73%
1979 51%
1989 52%
1999 37%
2009 (31.5%)
2019 (17.2%)

(After 2004 VU's reporting methodology changed, and the Lutheran% excludes those who did not indicate a preference. These were re-calculated to make an apples to apples comparison). BTW, in 2019, approximately 7.4% of the students were LCMS, down from 16.1% in 2009.

[wh]

2019
In a Diverse Society, Why Should Lutheran College/Universities Claim their Theological Roots?
Darrell Jodock
Gustavus Adolphus College

https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1458&context=intersections

Darrell Jodock bio

https://wp.stolaf.edu/lutherancenter/meet-the-council/darrell-jodock/

PhD from Yale.

I was hoping to get more feedback than just crusadermoe about Dr. Jodock's recommendations for Lutheran universities trying to balance inclusiveness and denominational identity. It takes a little while to scan through it, but well worth the investment of time IMO. I can tell this is someone with a lot of knowledge and wisdom under the hood.

[vu72]

As a College of Engineering alum, I can say with certainty that I got an outstanding education,

I think all of the professional schools have an outstanding reputation.  As an aside, the Engineering College is a major selling point for the football team.  The pitch goes like this--"So do you want to play D1 football and studying at one of the top 13 non-doctorate undergrad engineering schools in the country? If so, your choices are Bucknell, San Diego, Lafayette and Valpo--unless you want to commit to six years in one of the military branches."  We have a lot of engineering students playing football.

[mj]

It looks to me like rather than "going down a narrower route", VU has ran as far as possible away from its Lutheran identity. Students (and families) are voting with their feet. This is the percentage of Lutheran undergrads by decade:
1969 73%
1979 51%
1989 52%
1999 37%
2009 (31.5%)
2019 (17.2%)

(After 2004 VU's reporting methodology changed, and the Lutheran% excludes those who did not indicate a preference. These were re-calculated to make an apples to apples comparison). BTW, in 2019, approximately 7.4% of the students were LCMS, down from 16.1% in 2009.

I think there are a couple of things that have contributed to the declining number of Lutherans at Valpo. You have the fact that since about 2010 the LCMS has shifted noticeably to the right (starting with the election of Matthew Harrison as President).

At the same time Valpo shifted its recruiting to focus on the Midwest. I've mentioned it before but my wife and I used to volunteer at college fairs in the DC area. Sometimes they would be at Lutheran churches, other times at schools. It was about 2015 or so when Valpo suddenly stopped going to them. It was a low cost way to get Valpo's name out there and to keep the alumni involved but I guess the powers that be thought otherwise.

[78crusader]

We're gonna lose some kids in the fall due to the university's unnecessary and hasty decision to require COVID vaccinations. Most universities aren't requiring vaccinations since they are aware that cases are dropping precipitously nationwide, and even if an 18-22 year gets the virus, the risk of serious illness is extraordinarily low.

VU could have waited on this. If there had been a rise in cases during the summer, then the vaccination requirement issue could revisited. It's not like you have to wait anymore to get a shot.

Can someone tell the university to quit posting Instagram photos of students wearing masks on campus while doing stuff outside? It makes them look like a bunch of dorks.

Paul

[vu84v2]

We're gonna lose some kids in the fall due to the university's unnecessary and hasty decision to require COVID vaccinations. Most universities aren't requiring vaccinations since they are aware that cases are dropping precipitously nationwide, and even if an 18-22 year gets the virus, the risk of serious illness is extraordinarily low.

VU could have waited on this. If there had been a rise in cases during the summer, then the vaccination requirement issue could revisited. It's not like you have to wait anymore to get a shot.

Can someone tell the university to quit posting Instagram photos of students wearing masks on campus while doing stuff outside? It makes them look like a bunch of dorks.

Paul

Or, on the other hand, posting the vaccination requirement allowed students and their families to make their choice whether to attend Valpo with the knowledge that there was a higher probability that the campus environment would be as close as possible to normal.

Agree about posting pictures of students wearing masks. Wherever one stands on masks, this fosters an image of a time we all want to move past.

[bbtds]

We're gonna lose some kids in the fall due to the university's unnecessary and hasty decision to require COVID vaccinations. Most universities aren't requiring vaccinations since they are aware that cases are dropping precipitously nationwide, and even if an 18-22 year gets the virus, the risk of serious illness is extraordinarily low.

VU could have waited on this. If there had been a rise in cases during the summer, then the vaccination requirement issue could revisited. It's not like you have to wait anymore to get a shot.

Can someone tell the university to quit posting Instagram photos of students wearing masks on campus while doing stuff outside? It makes them look like a bunch of dorks.

Paul

Variants are still out there, Paul. This could be a very serious mistake by those schools that don't require the vaccination(s). In my view there is no good reason not to get your vaccination(s) at this point and it's a political statement and not a practical decision.

[FWalum]

I guess you guys are not keeping up with the data.  Everyone in my family is vacinated so I have not been an Anti-Vaxer, but knowing what I know now there is no way I would let my child get the vaccine. Young men getting myocarditis at 25X baseline and the propensity for the spike protein to go to the ovaries, heart muscle and brain.  The Government's own VAERS data from June 11th shows that at least 5888 People have died in the US from an adverse reaction associated with the vaccine.  The well known bias of this database is for things to be under reported.

Here are articles about the June 4th data from both sides of the argument, you tell me which one appears more credible. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/may/26/instagram-posts/theres-no-proof-covid-19-vaccine-has-injured-or-ki/ https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/vaers-data-deaths-reported-following-covid-vaccines/

Watch this video of Dr. Malone, who is the discoverer of in-vitro and in-vivo RNA transfection and the inventor of mRNA vaccines, while he was at the Salk Institute in 1988. His research was continued at Vical in 1989, where the first in-vivo mammalian experiments were designed by him. The mRNA, constructs, reagents were developed at the Salk institute and Vical by Dr. Malone. Mr. Steve Kirsch is a serial tech entrepreneur with multiple degrees from MIT and is the founder of the Covid-19 Early Treatment Fund, which is an international fund for scientists looking at repurposed drugs for Covid-19 trials. He has also done extensive meta analysis of COVID-19 data and has been researching adverse reactions to COVID vaccines. In 2003, Hillary Clinton presented him with a National Caring Award.
Dr. Bret Weinstein is a theoretical evolutionary biologist focused on adaptive patterns within complex, dynamic systems. He is the moderator of this discussion
This video is very long and also very technical. You will get the point if you only watch the first 25 minutes.

This is the biodistribution graph created from the Pfizer data obtained via Byram Bridle FOIA request to help you visualize where the vaccine is going in your child's body. This shows you the the sites where it cranks out the toxic spike protein; the higher the line, the greater the production of spike protein that can cause damage to blood vessels and cause inflammation.


Biodistribution of lipid nanoparticles which carry the mRNA show that the ovaries get the highest concentration. This turns the ovaries into a very large manufacturing plant to turn out toxic spike protein and may have effects on fertility. There is much more to see in the video and also in the article referenced in the description.

[David81]

We're gonna lose some kids in the fall due to the university's unnecessary and hasty decision to require COVID vaccinations. Most universities aren't requiring vaccinations since they are aware that cases are dropping precipitously nationwide, and even if an 18-22 year gets the virus, the risk of serious illness is extraordinarily low.

VU could have waited on this. If there had been a rise in cases during the summer, then the vaccination requirement issue could revisited. It's not like you have to wait anymore to get a shot.

Can someone tell the university to quit posting Instagram photos of students wearing masks on campus while doing stuff outside? It makes them look like a bunch of dorks.

Paul

Or, on the other hand, posting the vaccination requirement allowed students and their families to make their choice whether to attend Valpo with the knowledge that there was a higher probability that the campus environment would be as close as possible to normal.

Agree about posting pictures of students wearing masks. Wherever one stands on masks, this fosters an image of a time we all want to move past.

My university in downtown Boston also announced a vaccination requirement for all students and employees. I don't hear any loud pushback from students, their parents, or employees. In Massachusetts our infection rates have dropped precipitously since the vaccine rollouts began, and we are beginning to re-open after a difficult year.

While marketing with mask photographs may not be the most canny recruitment strategy, where I live there's a "no biggie" attitude evolving toward mask wearing, now that official mandates have been lifted and private businesses have the right to decide for themselves whether customers and employees are required to wear them. On the streets of downtown Boston, some are wearing masks, some aren't. Most of us at least carry a mask in case we enter a place where they're required. It's less something to be "forgotten" (truly, who will ever forget this time, and there's no guarantee that we won't have to use them regularly again), and more a transition into a semblance of normalcy.

[valpo64]

The sky is falling!  The sky is falling!

[David81]

We're gonna lose some kids in the fall due to the university's unnecessary and hasty decision to require COVID vaccinations. Most universities aren't requiring vaccinations since they are aware that cases are dropping precipitously nationwide, and even if an 18-22 year gets the virus, the risk of serious illness is extraordinarily low.

VU could have waited on this. If there had been a rise in cases during the summer, then the vaccination requirement issue could revisited. It's not like you have to wait anymore to get a shot.

Can someone tell the university to quit posting Instagram photos of students wearing masks on campus while doing stuff outside? It makes them look like a bunch of dorks.

Paul

Or, on the other hand, posting the vaccination requirement allowed students and their families to make their choice whether to attend Valpo with the knowledge that there was a higher probability that the campus environment would be as close as possible to normal.

Agree about posting pictures of students wearing masks. Wherever one stands on masks, this fosters an image of a time we all want to move past.

My university in downtown Boston also announced a vaccination requirement for all students and employees. I don't hear any loud pushback from students, their parents, or employees. In Massachusetts our infection rates have dropped precipitously since the vaccine rollouts began, and we are beginning to re-open after a difficult year.

While marketing with mask photographs may not be the most canny recruitment strategy, where I live there's a "no biggie" attitude evolving toward mask wearing, now that official mandates have been lifted and private businesses have the right to decide for themselves whether customers and employees are required to wear them. On the streets of downtown Boston, some are wearing masks, some aren't. Most of us at least carry a mask in case we enter a place where they're required. It's less something to be "forgotten" (truly, who will ever forget this time, and there's no guarantee that we won't have to use them regularly again), and more a transition into a semblance of normalcy.

HOWEVER, at another nearby law school here in Boston, a litigation-minded law student is suing his school for requiring vaccinations on grounds that it violates the terms of the generous scholarship he received.

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2021/06/rising-2l-sues-law-school-says-required-covid-19-vaccination-violates-his-full-ride-unconditional-scho.html

Let the games begin....

[78crusader]

On June 11 a 19-year old college student in the midwest died after receiving a heart transplant, following a diagnosis of myocarditis, which is an inflammation of the heart.  Her college has required all students to get vaccinated before reporting back to campus this fall.  This student received her first shot and was scheduled to receive the second shot within days of becoming ill.

Myocarditis has been linked to COVID vaccinations, especially in young men.  The risk may be quite small, but it is still much, much greater for college age students than actually contracting COVID.

I maintain that the decision of our new President to require all students to be vaccinated before reporting back this fall was hasty, unnecessary, and unwise.  It has subjected our students to unnecessary and avoidable risk.

Paul