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Christianity Today, November (Web-only), 2008 |

Northwestern Tempest

St. Paul college seeks reconciliation amid ongoing identity conflict.

Jeremy Weber | posted 11/11/2008 04:39PM

Northwestern College held a day of prayer and fasting today to seek reconciliation after a two-year debate over theological identity and management practices went public in October.

Last month, a group ...

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Christianprof3

Posted: November 25, 2008 5:00 AM

Must one be Dr. Cureton to point out unpleasant facts? We're both anonymous without last names, Jeff. 1) TBI may not have looked like a rival for NWC in the past, but BC&S certainly will be. That's the whole point. 2) The curriculum for INSIGHT was developed at William Carey (review TBI's own statement); you may want to investigate why BC&S isn't continuing an NWC collaboration. 3) When a college mandates an interview with the chair of the Bible department for any faculty hire, it says "veto." 4) I'm pointing to facts, not doctrine: NWC last year had 7% non-white full-time faculty, half the MN average; of 21 private colleges in MN, NWC ranks 16th, despite doubling its non-white faculty since 2003. Again, NWC is 18th of 21 MN colleges in hiring full-time women (35.7%; MN avg is 46%). None are in BTS at NWC. Is it possible to believe that only white men are qualified to work full-time on the main campus in the Bible department at NWC? Remember: BTS itself is the gatekeeper.

Jeff	Posted: November 24, 2008 5:05 PM

Christianprof - I'm convinced you're from the Cureton camp, if not Alan himself. Again, anonymous untruths are not helpful. I'm a member of BBC - TBI is a strong biblical program developed in collaboration with NWC. Not a rival. Another correction: INSIGHT is also offered at William Carey in Pasedena(nwc.edu) and receives $ for each student attending. It directs prospective students to NWC - not away. Your "veto" assertion is a complete fallacy. The Bible dept has no such power. Finally, the comment "moving toward an attitude of welcome toward people of color" is shocking. Such a statement is void of biblical wisdom. "Lots of white guys" What about hiring profs by the standard of BIBLICAL DOCTRINE? Black or white, TRUTH is paramount. UNITY is the face of relativism. The men in the Bible dept are God-fearing professors(who have published on the subject). To ANONYMOUSLY label them as closed-minded racists is unfair and unjust. A good example of biblical diversity? BBC on Sunday morning

Bob	Posted: November 23, 2008 3:57 PM

What are the issues of contention this time? Incidentally, as an alumnus, I was greatly concerned when I learned (while deployed to Iraq) that the President agreed to host a visit in 2006 from a pro-homosexual activist group called Soulforce to the campus to discuss NWC's position on homosexuality. I'm quite sure Dr. Riley would have told them to pound sand, and moved on to the important business of the day of educating tomorrow's leaders in church, industry, government, military, and education.

Christianprof

Posted: November 23, 2008 5:50 AM

Jeff, student perspectives _are_ limited. Piper's Bethlehem Institute is now Bethlehem College and Seminary, offering a BA in Biblical Studies (not accredited), and Tim Tomlinson is the Executive Director. INSIGHT, although a distance ed option at NWC, is a "packaged" curriculum taught at BBC only. It's graduate to be a rival operation. The Bible department has opposed critical change at NWC. Want a clue? Look at http://www.nwc.edu/display/113. Lots of white guys; one white administrative assistant. The only full-time faculty member not North European teaches at the "Bible Institute," away from the main campus. Movement toward an attitude of "welcome" toward people of color was strongly opposed in the REDOC controversy, led by Bible department faculty who saw it as "multiculturalism." One of the responsibilities of the Bible department chair has been to interview all faculty candidates (see the Paul Sentman letter). This effectively gives him veto power, no matter what department.

jeff	Posted: November 22, 2008 10:11 PM


"Tyrannical hold"? "Rival Operation"? This sounds like it's straight out of the Cureton camp. I attended 5 years at NWC, from 98 - 2003. The description of a "Tyrannical hold" couldn't be farther from the truth. And wasn't the INSIGHT program installed under Cureton's watch? Is that a rival operation too? Not buying that. Also, accusations like that shouldn't be made anonymously.

Christianprof

Posted: November 22, 2008 9:50 AM

Posting 2: what's also important to realize is that a number of those involved in criticizing Dr. Cureton and Dr. Ottley are dealing with conflicts of interest. Tim Tomlinson, who'd headed the NWC distance education division, is now heading a rival operation working for John Piper's Bethlehem Baptist Church. BBC had arranged with NWC to have students at its "Bethlehem Institute" get NWC academic credits; the Cureton administration has ended this practice. Paul Helseth, a Bible faculty member opposing the Cureton administration, has written and published with Piper and others. The Cureton administration also was responsible for shifting from every student having a "Bible major" to completing a 32 credit "Biblical worldview" requirement, still one of the strongest among liberal arts colleges, and almost half of all the core curriculum.

Christianprof

Posted: November 21, 2008 12:20 PM

Mr. Weber's artlcle makes a persistent error in referring to someone being removed from a department chair position as being "demoted." The department chairs don't change in rank, it's simply that their responsibilities include more teaching than administration by the change. A department chair has two primary responsibilties: work with the administration to foster effective teaching in the department's programs, and work with the department to represent its concerns and help faculty move forward. Speaking as an administrator at another Christian college, provosts and presidents have the absolute right to make changes in department chairs. Depending on the institutution, more or less collaboration might be involved. What is not evident from this article is the fact that the administration has broken the tyrannical hold the Bible department has held on the institution's curriculum and policies--including a rejection of even biblical approaches to diversity.

Supportive alum

Posted: November 20, 2008 9:09 PM

To another NWC alum, I welcome your comments but must take issue with your description of the situation and my sense of it. I'm quite aware of what's happening. I, too, have read every document on both sides of this issue, and I know many of the involved individuals as well. I have confidence in the current trustees, but I'm disappointed in the former trustees and alumni who are utilizing political strategies to push their agenda because they didn't get their way. What some people don't want to accept is that if you just cannot agree with the direction things are going, the best thing to do is move on. That's how it works in the real world. Sure, mistakes have been made, but you can't put all the blame on one person. This situation is less about theology and more about personality and styles of management. I am eager for resolution and hope it comes quickly.

Faculty Elsewhere

Posted: November 17, 2008 9:55 AM

As a faculty member of another institution, when the college President is appointing the members of an "independent" faculty committee, it speaks volumes about his/her mode of management. It appears that "shared governance" has no place at NWC. Cureton seems to be running the show with grave consequences for those that get in his way. I have to question why the Board hired someone to be President when he was reluctant to sign the doctrinal statement.

Another NWC alum

Posted: November 17, 2008 3:37 AM

To the supportive alum: though you are supportive of the school- you may be a bit out of touch with all that is currently happening at NWC. I can assure you that the trustees are following Biblical standards in resolving this situation. The people that are speaking out are doing so to help preserve the college- and I, for one, am glad that there are a few brave enough to do it. I know a number of the trustees well- and they are Godly men. If you read the many articles on their site, as well as the most recent addition of the Column, I think it will be apparent that there are definitely things that needed to be addressed at NWC in regards to the current administration. I am thankful that Christianity Today did this article. The more that people hear about it- the less likely it will be that the school attempts to brush these issues aside. I know students interested in NWC that aren't so sure now based on the current direction of the school. I hope these issues are resolved soon.

Bob m

Posted: November 17, 2008 12:24 AM


I read every article I could get my hands on, and the people associated with this controversy who I know to be trustworthy, Tim Tomlinson and Paul Helseth, both take the same position. Dr Cureton is not taking the college in the direction that it has historcally been going and he uses heavy handed intimidation. These will be the destruction of the college.

Supportive alum

Posted: November 16, 2008 10:28 PM

As an NWC alum who has worked in higher education for a long time now, my sense is that there is plenty of blame to go around here, both with the administration and certain faculty. But the rogue group of former trustees and busybody alumni in particular are causing far more damage than good. Nearly every college and university has some tension between administration and faculty. It's too bad that personnel challenges that are difficult but not unusual to anyone who has managed institutions and people have spilled beyond the campus (and boardroom) and become quite public. The malcontents need to move on for everyone's sake. They are not presenting any concrete solutions. I don't believe there is drift, just styles of management that are different than in the past at NWC. Overall, there needs to be reconciliation and closure so the college can move beyond this unfortunate episode.

Steve

Posted: November 15, 2008 10:35 PM

I am a student at Northwestern. I have been following these and related NWC issues for the past several years. I need to say that it is no longer an in-house issue. The issues are not being resolved, and it must be remembered that no one is saying that NWC is not a strong bible college. It IS a strong biblical missional liberal arts college, which God has used and is using to spread the Good News. The concerns are about the future, and the direction that the school is headed in the future. These concerns have been elevated by observation of series of actions that the adminsitration has taken over the past several years. These concerns have been an in house issue for some time and the administration has failed to respond to repeated attempts of confrontation. If you will read the issues raised by "Friends of NWC" and see the concerns actually raised, you will see that still has not been a satisfactory response to the actual concerns raised.

Art Kalafut

Posted: November 14, 2008 9:04 AM


I am not sure you have done a service by this article. Let the college handle it in house. When I look at the 2006 Alumni Directory and see how many alums are world wide in missions, ministery, and business it is amazing from so small comes to much. The message is forever, but the methods need to change from time to time. Believers can no longer live in a vacumn.

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