If EMU Had Chosen A Different Path In 2000

When the Eastern Mennonite's University Commons was built in the year 2000 it was one of the more costly construction projects undertaken by any Mennonite institution to date.

I served as a part time counselor to students at EMU (then EMC) from 1988-2004 through a contract the school had with my place of work, the Family Life Resource Center. Today EMU, my alma mater, like so many liberal arts institutions of its kind, is facing declining enrollments and grave fiscal challenges. The following is something I had published in EMU's student newspaper, the Weathervane, sometime around 24 years ago, when the University Commons was being built.

First Class or Tourist Class?  (written in the year 2000)

Original EMC motto: “Thy Word is Truth.” Evolving buzz words: “towel and basin,” “global village,” “premier Christian university.”  

These are some of the themes and symbols associated with EMU’s nearly 80-year history.

Enter our latest dream--the University Commons. An unprecedented investment for EMU (well over twice the cost of any previous project ever undertaken by the institution), the “Commons” symbolizes our ongoing attempts to shed any images of ourselves as a second-rate college.  

We’ve clearly decided to go first-class.  

I’m not arguing here that we don’t need more space for athletic and physical education programs. Given our current assumptions about what EMU is about, we probably do. But could this be a good time to at least examine other options, even explore other directions?

For example, what if the University were to consider going “tourist class” into the next century, intentionally scaling back its development plans to something more in line with the “global village” of which we profess to be a part?

If our starting point is Jesus, the world’s most influential teacher/educator, we would certainly find ourselves in good company. A truly world-class, global-oriented, Christ-based institution of higher learning might logically resemble a no-frills boot camp more than another haven of middle-class privilege.  

Following our dreams in this “more-with-less” direction rather than toward one of “more and more” might result in the following:

1. EMU could begin by modestly reducing, or simply freezing, present tuition and salary rates, annually adjusting them to the rate of inflation (It should be noted that current salaries, while modest by some U.S. standards, still allow our staff to enjoy a standard of living that puts them/us in the top 3-5% of the world’s wealthiest people).

2. We could put a moratorium on most building programs, investing instead in more scholarships for deserving students and in recruiting additional top notch, kingdom-minded faculty persons from around the world who share the school’s unique values.

3. Instead of competing with Goshen, Messiah, Wheaton, Hesston, Bluffton and literally dozens of similar schools for the same students, we would focus on a new “niche market.” That is, our primary appeal would be to an idealistic, internationally-minded, service-oriented young adult who isn’t at all interested in a school with all of the amenities, just a good, affordable, academically challenging training camp for Christian peacemakers and difference-makers.

4. Instead of relying heavily on glossy brochures, hard sell videos, and a professional public relations staff to get the word out about this new kind of school, we might find ourselves promoted more by word of mouth, to say nothing of getting the attention of the press--all because our approach is so different, so revolutionary, so upside-down from that of most Christian institutions.

In expressing this kind of personal dream, I’m not overly optimistic that EMU’s current board of trustees or its present constituency would warm up to the idea of any major changes of direction for the institution. I can hear it now, “It would never sell, would never work, would never attract quality students or staff.”

Maybe not. But one great teacher once made a statement about individuals that could also apply to universities: “Those who seek to save their lives will lose it, and those who are willing to lose their lives will save it.”

“First class” or “two-thirds world class?”  That may just be a question worth asking.