@valpopal Your own articles posted here from LCMS leaders seem to suggest differently.
@valpopal Your own articles posted here from LCMS leaders seem to suggest differently.
What articles have I posted from LCMS leaders? As I said, I am not Lutheran. If you asked me to name an LCMS leader, I would have no answer. In addition, about your suggestion that my recommendation for better recruitment of Lutheran students "poses a dark form of thinking" that would "alienate the population of NWI and Chicagoland" Catholics, as well as your detailed history of Roman Catholics: I am Roman Catholic.
@vuindiana, thanks for your long and articulate post. I could not have said it better myself.
I want to pickup on one point:
...the intra-Lutheran cultural/ideological divisions are extremely palpable and predictable (basically reproducing the secular US politics). So I suspect that structural internal division and distrust does complicate efforts to recruit from Lutherans since whatever prospective families who would factor in Lutheranism at all to the decision will then, on some level, be questioning what Valpo's Lutheranism is and whether it's to be trusted. (And so Valpo's effort to straddle the two and be independent may work for some, but may just end up as a no man's zone in terms of drawing enrollment).
It is probably safe to assume that 95% of all LCMS pastors knew who Alan Harre was, and many personally knew him. President Harre hired Bill Karpenko as Director of Church Relations (not exactly sure of the precise titles over time) and he was in that role for VU for perhaps two decades before he retired in 2005. Dr. Karpenko was a VU alum, and had been at Concordia Seward in charge of the Director of Christian Education programs. Probably 90% or more of all LCMS pastors knew Bill Karpenko, and probably close to 100% of all DCEs knew him. Although the theologically conservative pastors might have had their disagreements with VU, they still knew that Harre and Karpenko were confessional Lutherans - there was a level of trust developed over decades.
In contrast, President Heckler did not have that level of trust. Although the number of Lutheran students was in long-term decline, President Heckler's status as the first non-LCMS president corresponded with a steep drop in the level of Lutheran students at VU, especially as the recruitment and enrollment decisions take years to work through the system. Perhaps neither the Board nor President Heckler fully appreciated that aspect of his hiring.
VUIndiana offered some very insightful comments and he sort of touched on this, but let me ask the question directly. Do prospective Lutheran students and their parents prioritize having many others around them who share their ideological beliefs to the point that they are effectively seeking a homogenous community? I am not Lutheran (nor Catholic), but I have always advocated that Valpo should have robust high quality religious programs linked to its Lutheran identity. I think Valpo does this and has for many years. But it seems that some of the points made here (outside of those regarding Pres. Heckler failing to build and sustain relationships with the Lutheran community) argue that having robust high quality programs is not enough...that Valpo would need to adhere to religious doctrine associated with LCMS or other Lutheran synods to attract a greater percentage of Lutherans.
VUIndiana offered some very insightful comments and he sort of touched on this, but let me ask the question directly. Do prospective Lutheran students and their parents prioritize having many others around them who share their ideological beliefs to the point that they are effectively seeking a homogenous community? I am not Lutheran (nor Catholic), but I have always advocated that Valpo should have robust high quality religious programs linked to its Lutheran identity. I think Valpo does this and has for many years. But it seems that some of the points made here (outside of those regarding Pres. Heckler failing to build and sustain relationships with the Lutheran community) argue that having robust high quality programs is not enough...that Valpo would need to adhere to religious doctrine associated with LCMS or other Lutheran synods to attract a greater percentage of Lutherans.
This, this, this,. My initial argument was surrounded around these suggestions made by some. And as such I proctored my statements around this question. My wording may have been black and white, but I only intended to base my words off of the suggestions being made around a more fundamentalist style of enrollment. That being said, VUIndiana once again proves to be a very inciteful individual.
ValpoPal, thank you for pointing out the BYI-ish "caricature" being used by "Rezynezy" as a straw man argument. He clearly does not know that Lutheran High School populations are usually less than 60% Lutheran. As such, they are ideal Valpo prospects in that all of those students are now made familiar with a Lutheran/Christian context.
So the church body member declines are not relevant to Valpo's poor recruitment of Lutheran High School graduates. Many Lutheran Schools are growing. CLEARLY those high school students are choosing against Valpo. Check mate on recruiting failures and on opting out of strategic plans to target them.
Realist: I agree with you that Valpo should target students at Lutheran high schools and re-establish relationships with influential people in those high schools. But to my prior question (to which VUIndiana articulated some very interesting points), would those students come to Valpo as it is today or are you arguing that Valpo as a university would need to change (and,, if so, how)?
As someone who knows a tad about k12 education, I believe that is mostly due to the inherrant value some perceive comes from a private education as opposed to a public education. The stereotype of the "rich kids going to the private school" while horribly exaggerated by media, is a very real concept that does exist. Along with perceptions that public schools do not offer as quality of an education that one can receive from privatized systems. However, if populations within Lutheran High Schools are less than 60% Lutheran, then what incentive does that population and their families get out of sending their child to a Lutheran institution, an organization in which they have no religious ties to in the first place? If these were Catholics attending a Lutheran institution than I would be more understanding and concerned given VUs history with the catholic church. I would also like to piggyback on 84 here and ask the same question. The arguments given by some here seem to suggest that VU needs a more fundamentalist approach, which I am not in agreement with.
Again, I don't see people on this board pushing for a fundamentalist identity like BYU or even Wheaton. It seems you are making ideology a pivotal factor than it is and forcing a dichotomy.
Even if a large majority of families in the Lutheran high schools were pretty agnostic or at least apathetic toward their churches, I think that these schools has several pragmatic benefits.
PRACTICAL REASONS TO COMB LUTHERAN HIGH SCHOOLS
1) It provides a defined target (ideal or not.) Thus your staff can focus on be efficient in travel and prospecting. Sure you should recruit in the public schools nearby too. But at least you start with the advantages below and your batting average would intuitively be higher in the prime target school.
2) Identifying legacy families, even extended ones. It's pretty easy to find extended family of alumni in these schools. All you need are surnames and maiden names. Is this fully pursued?
3) Social fabrics in the high schools between parents and between students. The parents as well as students form bonds regardless of Lutheran church membership. They pay attention to "popular" college choices by kids their age. If you have zero going to Valpo it sends a message. One or two is better, but in past days, you might have one or two bellcow kids and 3-5 would folllow them to Valpo.
Realist...I agree with your points. I have just gotten confused about some comments over the years regarding whether Valpo should change it environment or has changed it in some way.
Why Valpo wouldn’t be recruiting these two high schools is beyond me. Plus they have great football programs as well.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_Lutheran_Middle_School_%26_High_School
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutheran_High_School_of_Orange_County
Do we have information that they aren't recruiting all Lutheran schools across the country? There is a Lutheran school near me in DFW, and anytime I run into someone that has ties to it, they all know Valpo. Again, as I have stated many times over the years on this board, I wholeheartedly agree with Rez that Gen Z and Gen Alpha are nowhere near as religious as generations above mine (Xennial, border of X and Millenial). You should definitely recruit those that have attended Lutheran schools, but a school like Valpo should never just pin its hopes that a religious identity will help them survive the upcoming university closures that will happen, as these Z/A generations also don't think that a university path is the only one available to them.
