Core values under scrutiny
Christian value believed to be exclusive, restrictive

By Lindsey Isaacson

Mirror Guest Writer
March 13, 2008

The core values of Augustana College are as follows: Christian – by being a college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America; Liberal Arts - by providing an education of enduring worth; Excellence - by committing to high standards and integrity; Community - by caring for one another and our environments and Service - by affirming that wholeness includes reaching out to others.

All but one of these are inclusive to all members of society. If there is exclusion by the very first of these values, where is the integrity and excellence, the sense of community and the wholeness of service?

It is no lie that many students choose Augustana because it offers the small, Christian environment they seek. However, before Augustana is a Christian college, it is a place of higher learning, of outstanding professors and of a committed and striven student body. If the school did not provide the quality of academics the students who come here need and deserve, the student population would be very small, regardless of the Christian activities offered.

I came to Augustana because of the emphasis that professors, administration and former students placed on the outstanding academics Augustana provides. Promoting academics separate from religious influence does not hinder a student’s ability to pursue religious endeavors.

The trouble lies in that the endorsement of specifically Christian values alongside academics substantially confines the real-world application of the education I receive, as well as my growth as a citizen. The standard is far too limiting.

Under the tenet of Liberal Arts, the mission statement outlines that students should learn to “develop broad knowledge and skills crucial in a changing world, create awareness of one’s own religious and ethical beliefs and those of others,” as well as to “enrich lives by exposure to enduring forms of aesthetic and creative expressions.”

For many members of our society (two-thirds, and the ratio is increasing), Christianity does not play a role in their aesthetic and creative expressions.

The core value of Excellence calls upon students to act ethically. In a changing world faced with ever-increasing means of communication and integration, perhaps it is time for Augustana to reevaluate what it upholds as its core values before the awkwardness of the contemporary juxtaposition of ethics and integrity with Christianity becomes a downright contradiction.

After reading the follow-up article regarding the UBG Big Event and Augustana’s partnership with Lifelight, I began to see the grounds for discussion being laid. Perhaps a dialogue between the student body, alumni, faculty and administration should take place.

I hate to make the argument about money or whether there is or isn’t a god. Those are the wrong issues on which to focus. They should be left out of the discussion completely. As much of a concern as it could become in regards to alumni funding, the inherent question lies deeper.

Should it not be within our mission statement to promote citizenship to all branches of believers and non-believers? Would it not be a progressive change to open the forum for discussion on how Augustana should adapt to a rapidly changing society? Shouldn’t alumni be in support of change brought about through community engagement and educated considerations toward other people with varying ideologies?

Does a person need religious doctrine in order to bestow good and honest deeds upon other people and our planet? My dilemma begins when I begin to feel ostracized by the people that teach others to “love thy neighbor.” I love my neighbor because I wish to and because I think it is right, not because a venerated text lays it down as a moral imperative to do so. Many religious people would concur with that.

Augustana can easily promote those ethics without claiming Christianity as a tenet. It already does so through its other four core values. It may be an awkward notion to some for me to advocate that religion should be pushed into the private realm and limited to student organizations. But it is not about you. It is about us.