This is nothing more than window dressing. Valpo’s future is in serious jeopardy. Where do the critical building projects stand that might actually save the university, like new nursing facilities, dorm modernization, etc. This is analogous to finishing the landscaping before the house is built. Im starting to wonder if Heckler is back in charge.
This is nothing more than window dressing. Valpo’s future is in serious jeopardy. Where do the critical building projects stand that might actually save the university, like new nursing facilities, dorm modernization, etc. This is analogous to finishing the landscaping before the house is built. Im starting to wonder if Heckler is back in charge.
No money is being spent from the University, Calm down.
According to the Tribune article, the building includes a 75 foot tall call to prayer tower. Which is half the height of the Brandt Campanile.
Not a good weekend for public relations.
https://twitter.com/glc_clarksville/status/1827678499592716292
Incredibly biased articles pal which will have minimal impact. An elder LCMS pastor and someone associated with Brauer and the art stakeholders are pissed that traditional values and actions are diminishing. Valpo needs to move to the 21st century and try to use their resources effectively.
@usc4valpo I agree that the articles are biased. That is the case in all editorials. Whether the impact is "minimal" or not, I am unsure if that is definitively true or even matters, since one appeared online from the Chicago Tribune and, more locally, the Post Tribune, and the other is available online to all Lutherans interested in Valparaiso University.
As a non-Lutheran, I cannot speak or take a stance. Maybe recent directions by the administration are the way to go. But the three Lutheran alums I spoke with at breakfast this morning wondered aloud if the announcement of the Rifai Institute on campus "to promote cultural understanding" inadvertently gives an appearance of promoting religions with tenets that contradict traditional Lutheran beliefs, perhaps contributing to the LCMS pastor's argument declaring VU "is diluting its identity slowly."
In any case, my focus is on the public relations image of the university, which is not in a position to have such negative perceptions circulated, no matter how "minimal."
Yeah, I agree that it seems like that Pastor is just bitter at Valpo for prior moves away from the Lutheran organizations and large focus on Lutheranism. Plenty of previously "churchy" (as he words it) universities are doing very well for themselves, in spite of no longer having religion as a central point to their education. TCU (my graduate school alma mater) moved away from that approach a few decades back, and seems to be doing very well for itself with continuous enrollment growth. One of my Uncles is a long-time Lutheran Pastor in Sioux Falls, SD, and he doesn't hold anything negative against Valpo, so not sure why this other Pastor is so passionate about decrying all things Valpo.
On the other point with the Rifai Institute, I am all for connecting folks of different faiths, but wonder how folks are going to view a 75 foot call to prayer tower. As long as it is not extremely loud and more localized, I have to believe it will cause minimal issue. There is a good-sized mosque in my highly Christian/Jewish-focused city in TX, that is just about 2 miles away from me, and I never hear that call to prayer tower.
I really doubt there's some deep substantive Lutheran/Muslim identity controversy here, or any particularly deep meaning missional or educational shift indicated in this.
You know how these things go...
On Monday, Padilla and his C-suite got shown a presentation by some developer about Strongbow Inn, and the guy gave out some nice swag to everybody in the president's office.
On Tuesday, the C-suite hosted the rpk group who recommended slashing academics, and the dude's slide presentation was pretty baller since there were even fancy line graphs and the word 'marketing' in green a lot.
On Wednesday, there was an MBA business guy pitching a new online learning platform (for only the minor cost of cutting a few faculty and raising tuition 2%) GUARANTEED to make us more revenue (big revenue) AND the basketball national champions for two years in a row (used the word "legacy" a lot)
On Thursday, the Pres Office met with somebody who wants to build a Muslim cultural/worship center; there were black dollar signs, so the Pres said 'sure' - before heading into some other meeting about the admissions marketing 'funnel' (funnel as in the wide-to-narrow shape, not like funnel cake - though maybe this is an unexplored marketing strategy.... if we give prospectives funnel cakes, they will enroll?)
On Friday, the C-suite considered proposals from some other re-branding marketing firms about new color schemes, and the CFO proposed hiring them at the mere cost of canning the math department (no worries, nobody is in the old fashioned majors anymore, and every organization must prune to thrive!)
Obviously, I'm mostly joking.... but I just really doubt anybody in the Pres office/cabinet is thinking much about deep school identity issues. It's all business at this point.
As a non-Lutheran, I strongly believe that maintaining VU's Lutheran heritage is an important part of its continued viability, in ways that benefit Lutherans and non-Lutherans alike. That heritage, especially when tied back to the legacy of O.P. Kretzmann, is part of the traditions and mythologies (using the term in a positive connotation) of the university and, very practically speaking, is a source of much alumni financial support.
So yes, I think that the Pastor's blog post is a big negative. It's a sign that a key constituency has been following the goings on at VU and is not happy. Note that it's not expressly about politics or social values, factors that some here believe have driven VU to become an overly woke institution. (I would vigorously contest that assertion, in any event. Come visit me on the East Coast if you need explanatory examples.) Perhaps that's part of the subtext, but the plain theme of this blog post is VU's diminishing Lutheran heritage. This is coming at a time when the University claims to be stepping up its outreach to Lutheran schools.
So, not good.
The LCMS's pastor's gripe is nothing new. They put Alan Harre on trial for praying with non-Lutherans. The LCMS has long believed Valpo was preaching heresy.
The LCMS's pastor's gripe is nothing new. They put Alan Harre on trial for praying with non-Lutherans. The LCMS has long believed Valpo was preaching heresy.
Maybe so, but it's different when this stuff appears on social media that can be easily accessed. And the optics of eliminating the theology majors and minors -- however modest the impact on the number of students actually enrolled in them -- aren't very good for a school whose Lutheran/Christian identity has been central to its mission.
The LCMS's pastor's gripe is nothing new. They put Alan Harre on trial for praying with non-Lutherans. The LCMS has long believed Valpo was preaching heresy.
Maybe so, but it's different when this stuff appears on social media that can be easily accessed. And the optics of eliminating the theology majors and minors -- however modest the impact on the number of students actually enrolled in them -- aren't very good for a school whose Lutheran/Christian identity has been central to its mission.
Agree on the optics of eliminating theology related programs but the fact that obviously is posting to those who already agree that Valpo had gone to the dark side is less of a concern as those folks were already gone.
Jesus regularly communed with the Canaanites, Romans, and the Syrians to openly discuss religion and faith and even heal their peoples. This center aims to be a modern example of that practice. I find it sad that some like the disgruntled pastor would seek to discredit this center when it is an example of Jesus's teachings and actions. Jesus did not rebuke or condemn, he healed and accepted all who were willing to listen to his teachings. Why can we not do the same with a center focused around the discussion and understanding of faith. To me this center seems like a fulfilment of not just a Lutheran belief, but a core Christian belief. It is also worth mentioning that Jesus himself was a breaker of tradition openly going against the traditions of the Jewish faith in his era.
Another perspective from a Lutheran pastor and VU theology professor for the past 20 years:
Although Valpo's administration recently announced that the theology major and minor will be spared discontinuation, those programs are nevertheless slated to undergo what will likely be a radical process of "reimagining." What will come from that process of revision is unclear to me, but it does seem to indicate that the institution will no longer favor the kind of Lutheran theology that once was crucial toward helping to make Valpo "Valpo."
After the administration announced in late March the possible discontinuation of our theology programs, I was told that if that discontinuation took place, I would lose tenure, I would no longer receive support for my research, I would have a larger teaching load, and I could be laid off "at any time." That announcement led me into a period of careful, intentional vocational discernment.
While Valpo's theology programs will not be discontinued, I have concluded that there doesn't seem to be much of a future at Valpo for the kind of theology I have enjoyed teaching and supporting for the past several decades....
Continued at the following: https://matthewlbecker.blogspot.com/2024/08/an-ending-and-beginning.html
