Talk:Messiah College
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BTW, the College's motto is NOT "Higher Education, Higher Calling," but "Christ Preeminent." Insiders know that several years ago talk swirled around campus concerning modifying the historic motto, but nothing was ever done to that effect, and the official college seal still proclaims Christ's preeminence.
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[edit] Layout
Adding the infobox seems to have thrown some of the layout off. Lesliestng 05:12, 16 February 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Hegemo-what?
I just removed a sizable section filled with tons of anti-Sawatsky POV. I'll paste it in here:
- Rodney J. Sawatsky became president of Messiah College in 1994. His draconian-style leadership and liberal-leaning theology led some professors to resign. After a few years Sawatsky began to lose the confidence of his own staff. In 1999 he saw a way to rally support again by spearheading a kind of "inquisition" against a character that he popularized as "The Mad Quaker."
- This "Mad Quaker" had written a letter to the school newspaper, the Swinging Bridge, questioning the paper's staff's decisions to publish some seemingly anti-Christian articles. Apparently the editor-in-chief of the Bridge was alarmed by the vague "these articles will be stopped" language used by the "Mad Quaker" and brought the letter to Sawatsky's attention. Sawatsky asked the staff of the College to stand with him against the "terrorist" who had written the "threatening letter". Professors, already alarmed by the number of their collegues that had already quit because of their differences with Sawatsky, were made to feel that they were either with Sawatsky or against him. Many prominent professors signed a statement written by Sawatsky denouncing the "Mad Quaker" and this was published in the Bridge. In the statement published in the Bridge, Sawatsky asked that the "Mad Quaker" turn himself in.
- The "Mad Quaker," merely a freshman student unaware of the power struggle in the upper echelons of the Messiah College hegemony, "turned himself in" as Sawatsky asked. The student was subsequently verbally berated by Campus Security and later "subpeonaed" to the so-called "Judicial Council" AKA J-Council. There the normal standards for J-Council preceedings were suspended while the student was accused of crimes against the Bridge and Bridge's Editor that he did not commit. J-Council concluded that the student should undergo Messiah College's version of a restraining order to prevent him from getting near the Editor of the Bridge, "community service" at the College campus, and regularly meet with the campus counselor. The students appeals were denied.
- Later Sawatsky met with the student whereapon Sawatsky denied the more damning parts of the above described events. In a telephone with the student's parents, however, the faculty advisor of the Bridge called the student Sawatsky's "scapegoat".
- Rodney J. Sawatsky was replaced in 2004 by Kim S. Phipps.
The event, as a part of recent college history, might be notable enough to warrant inclusion in the article (though I'm not too sure). But the view above is decidedly POV against Sawatsky. For those who may be reading this who don't know the College well, Sawatsky's leadership was a source of much academic politics typical of the sort you'd find at any college or university. They are complicated at Messiah by the religiously charged nature of all college decisions, which makes people feel very strongly about their views. Thus POV on this issue is very sensitive on campus, and the above isn't nearly objective enough. If this is to stay in the article, it also needs sources, which can be obtained from the Bridge, I assume. Staecker 11:05, 9 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] History Section
This 'Mad Quaker Incident' highlights the conspicious lack of a history section in this article. I have added the section and included a very brief history from Messiah's website, but the section still needs a lot of work.
[edit] David Steinberg?
Someone inserted "David Steinberg" into the alumni section, with a wikilink to David Steinberg (indicating this guy). But then the description seemed to be talking about this other David Steinberg (Meegosh). Can somebody who knows better replace the info? Staecker 19:52, 4 April 2007 (UTC)
