Yesterday afternoon/evening I took the 3+ hours necessary to watch the Youtube video of the Vanderbilt Town Meeting (1/31/2012)*. I cried, laughed, yelled, verbally processed, emailed, posted on G+, tried to explain some of the material to one of my daughters, called out to the Lord for discernment for those called to be part of the Vanderbilt community & others called to be on campuses across our nation.
Honestly I’m still churning over the material and not prepared to write a response. But this is a blog and we’re part of an on-line learning community of followers of Christ seeking to find our way in higher education. Right?
As such I’ll share a few thoughts before I have to head to class (timer ticking). I hope a few of you ‘take a bite’ and provide responses/material to sharpen my thoughts. I’ll ‘check back in’ after class and the celebration my twin girls birthday 🙂
- Vanderbilt University personifies a campus which has chosen its own way, bringing to mind George Marsden’s The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief and my current studies of the book of Judges (OT532 Historical and Poetic Books. Professor David A. Dorsey, Evangelical, Myerstown, PA). For Vanderbilt’s’ description of “their story,” click here.
- As Carol Swain, Vanderbilt University law professor, writes,
- “What would you think of a Town Hall meeting held in a room too small to accommodate the town, ground rules that don’t allow the opposition 5-10 minutes to present their side, and lastly rigid control over who had access to the microphones? Welcome to deliberative democracy at Vanderbilt University” (Religious Freedom and the Vanderbilt Town Hall Meeting 1/31/2012). [Read more…] about Prayerful consideration & Discussion: Vanderbilt Town Mtg.