Valpo in the south

[historyman]

Quote from: chef on: August 27, 2012: 10:53:55 PM

US Cellular Field. I usually make it in exactly an hour, and that's with a bit of traffic.



Thanks, chef, maybe I should have figured it out but I'm not sure everyone on this board knew what it meant especially those outside of the Chicago area.


Quote from: crusaderjoe on: Today 06:15:27 AM

Wow, 1.5 hours to Sox park?  That seems long. Back in the day when I used to live in NWI I found that taking the Cline Ave. extension to the Toll Road was the quickest way to get to Chicago if taking 80-94 west. Maybe that's no longer the case. By the way, I always enjoyed taking Cline Ave. and running right through all of the mills and oil refineries.  Yeah, the scenery is dirty and industrial, but you get to see a piece of Indiana that is unorthodox to the rest of the state as a whole and is very nostalgic in many ways.



One thing I do know is the Cline Ave Bridge was torn down for safety reasons and Cline Ave is no longer an option for getting to Chicago.


Also agree that if it's taking more than an hour to get to US Cellular Field (without a major accident or other delay) you are going the wrong way. 

[StlVUFan]

I'm going the way I know, and I usually leave early enough to be seated for the Thunderstruck, which is all I care about.

Now, what I absolutely need to start doing is go find the shuttle parking, which is cheaper, plus they drop you off at the gate which helps my Dad.

At any rate, the original point here was that it shouldn't take one 2 hours or more to get from Valpo to Chicago or vice versa.

[historyman]

Someone gave you some bad advice, StlVUFan. It's easiest to stay on either I-80/94 to I-94 (Borman to Bishop Ford to the Dan Ryan--when I was a kid we jokingly called it the "Damn Ruined Excessway") or take I-65 or Hwy 130 to the Indiana Toll Road to the Dan Ryan. Get off at the 35th Street exit and go west and you are there. That will cut your 1.5 hour trip to an hour.

[StlVUFan]

Someone gave you some bad advice, StlVUFan. It's easiest to stay on either I-80/94 to I-94 (Borman to Bishop Ford to the Dan Ryan--when I was a kid we jokingly called it the "Damn Ruined Excessway") or take I-65 or Hwy 130 to the Indiana Toll Road to the Dan Ryan. Get off at the 35th Street exit and go west and you are there. That will cut your 1.5 hour trip to an hour.

I'm fine, thanks.

[78crusader]

Earlier in this thread there was some discussion about the percentage of Lutherans in the VU population.  I mentioned that I felt the 36% figure put out on the VU website was way overstated.  Last night my wife and I manned the VU booth at a college fair in Des Moines.  The materials we were given included a "VU fact sheet" that says that VU has 25% Lutheran students.  21% Catholic, too, by the way.

The Torch reported in September this year's freshman class actually had more Catholics than Lutherans. 

My question is: at what point does the percentage of Lutheran students get so low that VU can no longer claim to be a Lutheran institution?  20%? 10%?  We are heading in that direction, I think.

Paul

[VULB#62]

25 + 21 = 46.  Who are those other 54 percenters?

[78crusader]

Fact sheet says: 19% non responders; 27% other Christian faiths; 8% other faiths.

Paul

[vu72]

Earlier in this thread there was some discussion about the percentage of Lutherans in the VU population.  I mentioned that I felt the 36% figure put out on the VU website was way overstated.  Last night my wife and I manned the VU booth at a college fair in Des Moines.  The materials we were given included a "VU fact sheet" that says that VU has 25% Lutheran students.  21% Catholic, too, by the way.

The Torch reported in September this year's freshman class actually had more Catholics than Lutherans. 

My question is: at what point does the percentage of Lutheran students get so low that VU can no longer claim to be a Lutheran institution?  20%? 10%?  We are heading in that direction, I think.

Paul

The percentages will vary from year to year, but the fact is that the total number of college age Lutherans is in constant decline.  I, for one, have encouraged the admissions staff, to target areas where Lutherans reside--like Minnesota!  Yet, there are more kids in this freshman class from Texas than from Minnesota.(no further comment from me on that one!)
There are 40 Lutheran colleges across the country with a total enrollment of about 100,000.  There are few with a higher Lutheran enrollment than Valpo--next time you do a college fair, ask the competition.

Now, as to Valpo's Lutheran identity, that should never change anymore than Notre Dame's or other schools should change theirs.  There is no Lutheran requirement in enrollment.  There isn't even a class in Lutheranism offered.  The Chapel is Lutheran and available to all who seek more knowledge concerning Lutheran beliefs.  Still, if we seek high level students we will never have the luxury of confining our search to just one denomination, even if some believe we should have never accepted anyone who wasn't LCMS.

[vu72]

I would add that the 46 plus 27 plus a high percentage of non-responders equals probably 90 plus percent Christian.  This won't make LCMS folks happy but some Lutheran bodies (ELCA) have full communion with churches like Episcopal and United Methodists among others.  This makes Valpo a place they may seek although the reality is very few kids start out seeking a "Lutheran", "Catholic" or "Methodist" school.

[FWalum]

Earlier in this thread there was some discussion about the percentage of Lutherans in the VU population.  I mentioned that I felt the 36% figure put out on the VU website was way overstated.  Last night my wife and I manned the VU booth at a college fair in Des Moines.  The materials we were given included a "VU fact sheet" that says that VU has 25% Lutheran students.  21% Catholic, too, by the way.

The Torch reported in September this year's freshman class actually had more Catholics than Lutherans. 

My question is: at what point does the percentage of Lutheran students get so low that VU can no longer claim to be a Lutheran institution?  20%? 10%?  We are heading in that direction, I think.

Paul

A very sad fact in IMHO, accelerated by the university's embrace of a much more liberal lutheran stance. 

[milanmiracle]

Earlier in this thread there was some discussion about the percentage of Lutherans in the VU population.  I mentioned that I felt the 36% figure put out on the VU website was way overstated.  Last night my wife and I manned the VU booth at a college fair in Des Moines.  The materials we were given included a "VU fact sheet" that says that VU has 25% Lutheran students.  21% Catholic, too, by the way.

The Torch reported in September this year's freshman class actually had more Catholics than Lutherans. 

My question is: at what point does the percentage of Lutheran students get so low that VU can no longer claim to be a Lutheran institution?  20%? 10%?  We are heading in that direction, I think.

Paul

A very sad fact in IMHO, accelerated by the university's embrace of a much more liberal lutheran stance. 

That is the direction the university is headed...told to me by my wife who worked for Valpo. They'll still be a Lutheran school, but it won't be a feature of the school.

[vu72]

Earlier in this thread there was some discussion about the percentage of Lutherans in the VU population.  I mentioned that I felt the 36% figure put out on the VU website was way overstated.  Last night my wife and I manned the VU booth at a college fair in Des Moines.  The materials we were given included a "VU fact sheet" that says that VU has 25% Lutheran students.  21% Catholic, too, by the way.

The Torch reported in September this year's freshman class actually had more Catholics than Lutherans. 

My question is: at what point does the percentage of Lutheran students get so low that VU can no longer claim to be a Lutheran institution?  20%? 10%?  We are heading in that direction, I think.

Paul

A very sad fact in IMHO, accelerated by the university's embrace of a much more liberal lutheran stance. 

That is the direction the university is headed...told to me by my wife who worked for Valpo. They'll still be a Lutheran school, but it won't be a feature of the school.

If that occurs it will be a major change, as the Lutheran nature of the University is prominently displayed at present.  Other "Lutheran" schools, like Gettysburg or Wagner, require indepth research to find any acknowledgemnt of the faith connection.

[78crusader]

What I have never, ever understood is what I perceive as VU's reluctance to emphasize its Christian heritage as a way to attract more students.  Forget about our Lutheran heritage -- I get the fact that there are fewer Lutheran kids now than there were 30 years ago -- but why not emphasize the Christian heritage?  Are we a Christian school, or not?  There are Christian schools out there that are thriving.  Wheaton and Belmont come to mind.  Instead, VU chooses to focus on other ways of growing enrollment, like recruiting international students.  By doing this we become less of a Christian institution.  We will wind up too secular for the Christian kids and not secular enough for those who are not Christians.  I've said this before on this board -- if you try to please everyone, you wind up pleasing no one. 

Paul

[valpotx]

To be honest, I had no clue what a Lutheran was until I went to Valpo  .  SMU has similar problems I believe, in that they truly don't attract mainly Methodist students.

[vu72]

What I have never, ever understood is what I perceive as VU's reluctance to emphasize its Christian heritage as a way to attract more students.  Forget about our Lutheran heritage -- I get the fact that there are fewer Lutheran kids now than there were 30 years ago -- but why not emphasize the Christian heritage?  Are we a Christian school, or not?  There are Christian schools out there that are thriving.  Wheaton and Belmont come to mind.  Instead, VU chooses to focus on other ways of growing enrollment, like recruiting international students.  By doing this we become less of a Christian institution.  We will wind up too secular for the Christian kids and not secular enough for those who are not Christians.  I've said this before on this board -- if you try to please everyone, you wind up pleasing no one. 

Paul

The answer, as Alan Harre has said, (hardly a liberal guy) is that the word "Christian" has been hijacked by the Liberty Universites of the world.  Then we are in a position of not being "Christian enough" or being "too Christian" which scares off those who may percieve it as being a requirement to go preach on a corner or some such thing.  Trying to water down your position (going from Lutheran to Christian) won't work.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Are we a Christian school, or not?

My mother also had high school students, and she would encourage the more gifted to join her at VU.  One girl looked at her and said, "oh, no, I'm going to a Christian school!"


Emphasizing you're a "Christian" school to those who don't think anything other than like Cedarville College in Ohio, or Grace in Winona Lake, IN, is pretty much a non-starter.  People looking for "Christian schools" are usually the kind of people likely to think Lutherans not Christian.


HOWEVA, Bryce has, like his father, built quite a niche as a "Christian program", if not a Lutheran one.


As for "Lutheran Identity", it is similar to what Catholic schools are, and have been, undergoing.  Or other mainlines, to be honest.  My alma mater, Ohio Wesleyan, is as Methodist as PNC, whereas Indiana Wesleyan is more like Calvin College.

[milanmiracle]

Earlier in this thread there was some discussion about the percentage of Lutherans in the VU population.  I mentioned that I felt the 36% figure put out on the VU website was way overstated.  Last night my wife and I manned the VU booth at a college fair in Des Moines.  The materials we were given included a "VU fact sheet" that says that VU has 25% Lutheran students.  21% Catholic, too, by the way.

The Torch reported in September this year's freshman class actually had more Catholics than Lutherans. 

My question is: at what point does the percentage of Lutheran students get so low that VU can no longer claim to be a Lutheran institution?  20%? 10%?  We are heading in that direction, I think.

Paul

A very sad fact in IMHO, accelerated by the university's embrace of a much more liberal lutheran stance. 

That is the direction the university is headed...told to me by my wife who worked for Valpo. They'll still be a Lutheran school, but it won't be a feature of the school.

If that occurs it will be a major change, as the Lutheran nature of the University is prominently displayed at present.  Other "Lutheran" schools, like Gettysburg or Wagner, require indepth research to find any acknowledgemnt of the faith connection.

To be VERY clear, my last statement might have been a bit misleading. This isn't a university policy, but more in line with how the university intends to grow given their stated enrollment goals.

[crusaderjoe]

Earlier in this thread there was some discussion about the percentage of Lutherans in the VU population.  I mentioned that I felt the 36% figure put out on the VU website was way overstated.  Last night my wife and I manned the VU booth at a college fair in Des Moines.  The materials we were given included a "VU fact sheet" that says that VU has 25% Lutheran students.  21% Catholic, too, by the way.

The Torch reported in September this year's freshman class actually had more Catholics than Lutherans. 

My question is: at what point does the percentage of Lutheran students get so low that VU can no longer claim to be a Lutheran institution?  20%? 10%?  We are heading in that direction, I think.

Paul

I'm sure you didn't mean anything by it, and even if you did I still got a huge chuckle out of its reading, but I found that little subtle comment hysterical...as if the Catholics are spreading like the plague at VU which is a major cause for alarm. 21% too?  Lock the doors boys, don't let any more of them in!

Better watch out for da Cat-o-lics VU...more Cat-o-lic students means more Cat-o-lic alumni.  Here we come baby, here we come!

LULZ.