America’s colleges forgot the Christian roots that nurtured the pursuit of truth
by Everett Piper · The Washington TimesOPINION:
Last week, Steven Crowder hosted the first edition of his new series, “Change My Mind: Professor Debates.”
His guest was Harvard Law professor Randall Kennedy. Mr. Kennedy served as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and is the author of “Interracial Intimacies: Sex, Marriage, Identity, and Adoption.” The topic of the debate between Messrs. Crowder and Kennedy was “Is free speech dead on college campuses?”
The professor argued that it is not.
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During the standard Q&A time, a young woman approached the microphone. She said: “I [recently graduated] from the University of Southern California, [which is] very similar to Harvard in a lot of ways. I had to lie on papers to graduate because professors would grade me lower because of my opinions. With all of that, [how can] you stand on the stage and still tell us that you think that [conservatives] don’t get discriminated against?”
The problem this young lady cites — and the professor’s denial that it exists — is rife across the academic landscape. American higher education, from its inception, was established and operated within a Christian ethos for a reason.
Harvard’s initial motto, for example, was Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae, “Truth for Christ and the Church.” Its corresponding mission was to “let every Student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life (John 17:3) and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.”
Yale’s charge was “to know God in Jesus Christ and … to lead a godly, sober life.” All matriculants were required to live “blameless lives according to the rules of God’s Word, diligently reading the Holy Scriptures, the fountain of light and truth; and constantly attend upon all the duties of religion, both in public and secret.”
Princeton’s original motto was Vitam Mortuis Reddo, “I restore life to the dead,” and its purpose could not have been clearer: “Cursed is all learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ.”
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Seven of the eight Ivy League schools were founded in like manner to train up and educate a moral citizenry — and thus, lay the foundation for academic and intellectual freedom.
Dartmouth was founded to “Christianize” the American Indian tribes, and its motto even to this day is Vox Clamantis in Deserto: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness.”
The University of Pennsylvania’s motto is Leges Sine Moribus Vanae: “Laws without morals [are] useless.”
Brown University was founded under the banner of In Deo Speramus, which means “In God We Hope.” Columbia University’s motto is taken directly from Psalm 36:9 — In Lumine Tuo Videbimus Lumen: “In Thy light shall we see light.”
The list could go on from coast to coast.
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Amherst College: Terra Irradiata (“Let them enlighten the lands.”)
Wellesley College: Non Ministrari Sed Ministrare (“Not to be served, but to serve / Not to be ministered unto, but to minister.”)
Northwestern University: Quaecumque Sunt Vera (“Whatsoever things are true.”)
Kenyon College: Magnanimiter Crucem Sustine (“Valiantly bear the cross!”)
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Ohio University: Religio Doctrina Civilitas, Prae Omnibus Virtus (“Religion, Learning, Civility; Above All, Virtue.”)
The University of California: Fiat Lux (“Let there be light.”)
The University of Southern California: Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat: (“Let whoever earns the palm bear it.”)
The evidence is overwhelming. America’s ivory tower was built on the eternal principles and precepts of the Bible, which served as the foundation for an open and robust pursuit of truth. It is precisely because of Christianity, not despite it, that the liberal arts philosophy and academic freedom thrived.
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G.K. Chesterton once said that when you get rid of “the big laws, you do not get liberty. … You get [thousands of] small laws.” In other words, the Prince of Paradox was warning us that when you stop teaching the 10 simple laws of God, you lose your freedom to the endless little laws made up by man.
Mr. Kennedy’s ignorance of this simple truth (and the history of his own profession) is the poster child for all that is wrong with our nation’s campuses. He fails to see that when you abandon your founding ideals, you will always be controlled by someone else’s.
When conservative students (or any students, for that matter) say they must lie about their political and religious convictions to graduate, it is no longer education that you are providing, but pure propaganda.
In the words of the late Anglo-French writer and historian Hilaire Belloc, “Those who forget their faith, who scoff at their history and who welcome the enemies of Christ with open arms … are the ones who will bring down Christendom, brick by brick.”
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• Everett Piper (dreverettpiper.com, @dreverettpiper), a columnist for The Washington Times, is a former university president and radio host. He is the author of “Not a Day Care: The Devastating Consequences of Abandoning Truth” (Regnery). He can be reached at epiper@dreverettpiper.com.
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