The following article is in correspondence with a series of interviews taken place between me, Felix, and Gina Vance, Ph.D. (Head of Westminster College Campus Life). This is the second portion of an interview targeting politics:
Moving on from the topics of Covid, political pressures, and internalized qualms across campus are pressing matters. We all have our assumptions and impressions; conversing about politics amongst the student body can be a challenge. Troubles are brought to the forefront. In rather generalized terms, Vance wants you to uphold all that is true of the liberal arts—constructing fortitude. Mental triumph and personal solidification are amongst Vance’s most favored expectations. One thing’s for sure, Vance doesn’t want heavy topics viewed as an opaque area where people tend to look the other way, almost like rubber-neckers on the highway.
4. Do you think the student body at large still holds this place as a religious institution?
“I can’t answer that question without acknowledging that our current generation of students across the nation are statistically in surveys within the last ten years are less church going and less likely to identify with any particular denomination than ever before. So, I think that our students are a microcosm of that foundation.”
5. Recollecting on past events and political climates, do you think the campus or faculty seized opportunities? Do you think there were any opportunities?
“There were definitely opportunities…a little over a year ago the bord of trustees approved a DENI action plan. Lots of energy and momentum came out of conversations around equity and who’s being served and who’s not being served in the world, and that came very much out of the BLM movement…the action plan looks at how do we know who we are serving and not serving and how are we using data to help us really know that. Also looking and pedagogy and curriculum and how do we really reflect on what our curriculum is, is it as inclusive and wholistic as it can possibly be…”
6. Do you think certain majors or professions at this school, or schools in general, perpetuate or espouse certain views?
“I think there may be assumptions that particular majors may align with, but at the end of the day when education is done well, its really not about a political view…I’m going back to the [school’s] mission, analysis, synthesis, problem solving, critical thinking, we should know what the political ideologies are, we should know how they interact, and then students within a particular major are going to align themselves with a particular political view or ideology…”
Read Westminster College’s Mission statement here.
7. Do you think some students have been alienated because of their political views?
“I don’t, the hard part about that is if they were, once you feel alienated, you don’t tend to tell people…We also live in a world where people feel alienated in the political spectrum all the time…”
8. Do you think there is a bubble formed in this environment we have heard of?
“Not politically, but absolutely…there is this fictitious [bubble] around the campus community that doesn’t actually exist, but shows up when students come here. I think this a very long standing thing about college, is they tend to get so immersed in learning and what is in your world…And I think that’s an educational moment.”
9. Do you think there is any correlation between a students politics and their covid beliefs?
“If I were to say that, it would be an assumption at best…”
10. Do you have any insights that you wish the student body to know of regarding politics?
“…I think that it’s almost the same closing message as last time… and that is that how we develop our political ideologies often comes from our connection to family…college education should be challenging our identity, should be challenging our values…”
11. Do you have any final messages regarding campus life and politics?
“Use the time to engage peers, faculty, and mentors…if students are really interested in developing themselves as political beings, really spend the time developing that by engaging…”
As Gina states, the purpose of a college education, specifically a liberal arts education, is to have you question yourself and come out the other end stronger and more equipped. Vance cannot understate it; critical thinking is essential to the cultivation of the human person. To view the counterpart to this interview, check out the HOLCAD for the article titled Strife with Condolence, Politics in Westminster and Higher Education.
