{"id":613,"date":"2006-04-21T08:32:28","date_gmt":"2006-04-21T16:32:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/archives\/2006\/04\/21\/the-assemblies-of-god-and-campus-freedom\/"},"modified":"2009-06-25T23:44:01","modified_gmt":"2009-06-26T07:44:01","slug":"the-assemblies-of-god-and-campus-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2006\/04\/21\/the-assemblies-of-god-and-campus-freedom","title":{"rendered":"The Assemblies of God and Campus Freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"

A thought\u00adful friend drew my atten\u00adtion to this sto\u00adry about North Cen\u00adtral Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty and the Equal\u00adi\u00adty Rid\u00aders<\/a>. To sum\u00adma\u00adrize: gay activists are barred from hold\u00ading events at an Assem\u00adblies of God uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty.<\/p>\n

I find sto\u00adries like this very inter\u00adest\u00ading, because I find myself in the same sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion as the Equal\u00adi\u00adty Rid\u00aders. I am on a pri\u00advate uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty not exact\u00adly enthu\u00adsi\u00adas\u00adtic about my views and have to labor under cer\u00adtain restric\u00adtions as a result. Hav\u00ading said that, Stan\u00adford is much more gra\u00adcious to me than North Cen\u00adtral has been to the Equal\u00adi\u00adty Rid\u00aders (even if the rid\u00aders\u2019 ver\u00adsion of events proves to be exag\u00adger\u00adat\u00aded). I am allowed to be on cam\u00adpus, to hold meet\u00adings with oth\u00ader inter\u00adest\u00aded stu\u00addents on cam\u00adpus, and
\nto uti\u00adlize cam\u00adpus resources.<\/p>\n

At first blush, it seems that the Assem\u00adblies of God (who spon\u00adsors both my min\u00adistry and that of North Cen\u00adtral Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty) wants to have it both ways: they want to be allowed to express their views via peo\u00adple like me at pri\u00advate uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adties while simul\u00adta\u00adne\u00adous\u00adly deny\u00ading oth\u00ader groups that right at their own schools (such as NCU). <\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s a com\u00adplete\u00adly fair assess\u00adment, since there\u2019s a cat\u00ade\u00adgo\u00adry dif\u00adfer\u00adence between denom\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal schools and some\u00adplace like Stan\u00adford or Yale. These lat\u00adter schools, although pri\u00advate, like to think of them\u00adselves as self-con\u00adscious\u00adly neu\u00adtral on reli\u00adgious and moral mat\u00adters, where\u00adas denom\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal schools have reli\u00adgious and moral
\nposi\u00adtions to which all stu\u00addents are required to con\u00adform. The upshot is that NCU can rep\u00adre\u00adsent the stu\u00addent body in a way that Stan\u00adford can\u00adnot.<\/p>\n

Still, it does seem a lit\u00adtle hyp\u00ado\u00adcrit\u00adi\u00adcal (the gold\u00aden rule seems rel\u00ade\u00advant in this con\u00adtext) and unwise. As a pro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adal who works with col\u00adlege stu\u00addents, I assure you that NCU did every\u00adthing they could to intrigue stu\u00addents with the Equal\u00adi\u00adty Rid\u00aders\u2019 mes\u00adsage. If they tru\u00adly want\u00aded to side\u00adline the rid\u00aders, the admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtion should have invit\u00aded them onto cam\u00adpus, giv\u00aden them a pub\u00adlic forum, and then offered a calm and
\nthor\u00adough rebut\u00adtal. As it is, they\u2019ve like\u00adly fanned a spark into flame.<\/p>\n

And fir\u00ading reporters for report\u00ading is always a short\u00adsight\u00aded move (although legal). Fir\u00ading reporters always leaves peo\u00adple feel\u00ading suspicious\u2013what is being hid\u00adden? Again, the way to derail any sto\u00adry is by being calm and rea\u00adson\u00adable in your response (sup\u00adpos\u00ading that you have a bet\u00adter case, that is). If the reporters write sto\u00adries that the admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtors find trou\u00adbling, let\u00adters to the edi\u00adtor (or even an edi\u00adto\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal col\u00adumn, depend\u00ading on the paper\u2019s gov\u00ader\u00adnance) are supreme\u00adly appro\u00adpri\u00adate. <\/p>\n

Still, I would be very inter\u00adest\u00aded to hear NCU\u2019s offi\u00adcial per\u00adspec\u00adtive on the events described by the Equal\u00adi\u00adty Rid\u00aders. It does\u00adn\u2019t take much read\u00ading between the lines to notice that the Equal\u00adi\u00adty Rid\u00aders were hyp\u00ading the lev\u00adel of force used by the uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty, so per\u00adhaps oth\u00ader details are also mis\u00adlead\u00ading.<\/p>\n

[UPDATE: this is pre\u00adcise\u00adly the uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty\u2019s asser\u00adtion. They claim that the Equal\u00adi\u00adty Rid\u00aders have mis\u00adrep\u00adre\u00adsent\u00aded the events. Read the uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty\u2019s response at http:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/news\/soulforce.php<\/a> <\/p>\n