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faith and education

Ivy League Campuses Experience Spiritual Awakening

By Laura Robertson
CBN News Assoc. Producer

CBN.com – (CBN News) - Ivy League universities have long represented academic excellence and prestige. But have today's Ivy League schools abandoned their Christian roots, or are they the next center of spiritual awakening?

When Student Body President Noah Riner addressed the new freshman class at Dartmouth College, his words were simple, direct, and provocative.

“Intelligence plus character - that's the goal of education. Jesus is a good example of character, but He's also much more than that. He is the solution to flawed people…Jesus' message of redemption is simple. People are imperfect, and there are consequences for our actions. He gave His life for our sin, so that we wouldn't have to bear the penalty of the law; so we could see love.” Riner declared.

Although Riner's words would have resonated with Dartmouth's great awakening founders, student reaction to his speech ranged from shock and anger to curiosity.

But if you think Riner is the only Christian at Dartmouth or at other Ivy League schools, you' would be wrong. While Christians certainly are still a minority, today there are signs that a spiritual renewal may be dawning in these elite schools.

Michael Lindsay is a Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University. He says more evangelicals are coming to these select institutions.

D. Michael Lindsay, a Harold W. Dodds Fellow at Princeton University, remarked, “This is the unintended consequence of having a more diverse student body. As these elite institutions have recruited geographically…they've also produced religious diversity, so there are more evangelicals going to places like Harvard, Dartmouth, Princeton, Yale, than there were in the past.”

And that diversity is fueling participation in campus fellowship groups.

Over the last 20 years, the number of students involved with Campus Crusade for Christ has increased 163 percent at Brown, more than 500 percent at Harvard, and more than 700 percent at Yale. Other groups like the Navigators and InterVarsity have experienced similar growth.

Nicole Leonard, a 1988 Dartmouth graduate, has witnessed this growth - especially in the decade she's served as a Dartmouth campus minister.

”The amount of Christian groups has totally proliferated. There were only a couple to choose from when I was a student, and now there's four to six evangelical groups…it's just grown so much, that you can't deny our presence, and it's really been a positive presence,” Leonard stated.

But it is more than just greater campus diversity driving the spread of these groups.

Craig Parker of The Navigators, an international Christian outreach ministry to college campuses, said, “People are more hungry than I've ever seen; people want to know if it's true or not. I've seen a growing spiritual interest.”

But despite the emphasis on diversity, anti-Christian prejudices still persist.

Dr. Richard Denton is a Dartmouth physics professor.

Denton commented, “The greatest challenge is being a witness and sharing my faith, and letting people know that I'm a Christian.”

“Among the faculty there can be a perception that you really can't be an intellectual and have faith,” Leonard said.

University of Pennsylvania graduate Liz Nicolas declared, “It was hostile towards Christianity in a way that I didn't notice it would be hostile to any other faith.”

John Stern says that his Dartmouth religion professor refused to grade his final paper.

“He said I breached the main goal of the course,” Stern recalled, “which said that you're not allowed to talk about Jesus, you're not allowed to talk about faith in any of your papers, and the Bible needs to be talked about critically from a nonreligious and seemingly unbiased perspective.”

While students acknowledge these types of anti-Christian encounters, others say they generally have positive reactions from professors and peers.

Brittany Pheiffer, a Dartmouth senior, observed that, “In general, professors are surprised, but interested if they find out that I'm a believer.”

“Sometimes they're not very open to hearing you out, but generally there are those open doors to share,” said University of Pennsylvania student Melissa Cheung.

Another University of Pennsylvania student, Tim Fryett, mentioned that “lots of conversations come up,” and Fryett tries to let it naturally come out into the conversation, yet, he said, “a couple of times it's been very shocking for people.”

Riner says his controversial speech has sparked many spiritual conversations on campus.

“It's really been an incredible opportunity to talk to people about Jesus. Never before on campus have so many people been talking about God…I've met with dozens and dozens of students about my speech, everyone who's e-mailed me and said I disagree with what you said, or some other remark along those lines, I've said ‘hey, let's get together and let's meet, let's talk about this. I'll understand you, you can understand me and those have been great opportunities to talk to people about what's important,’” Riner said.

Other Ivy League Christians also integrate their faith into their athletic, academic, and social lives. Meg Pittman is captain of the varsity soccer team at the University of Pennsylvania.

Pittman said, “I love my team, and that's been my main outreach here on campus is the soccer team, and it's an awesome opportunity that God's given me…Soccer isn't separate. It is part of who I am and what the Lord's given me.”

Michael Lindsay asserted, “For me as a follower of Christ, I'd say that the excellence of my work is motivated by my Christian convictions.”

“It's the only part of me that trickles into everything else,” Pheiffer said. “It's something that I want to be able to be express in my academics, be it just that I want to work hard, knowing that I represent Christ.”

A social conscience and a desire to serve others drive many of these young Christians.

Since graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Nicolas has worked at the Whosoever Gospel Mission in Philadelphia. There she has organized a service project for Penn students.

Nicolas affirmed, “I just want to join in with what Jesus is doing. I think that’s part of it. Also is realizing what we're doing here has a lot of significance.”

Cornell graduate Matt Bennett founded Christian Union, a ministry designed to promote Christianity and support other Christian ministries at Ivy League schools.

“Sometimes in Christianity,” said Bennett, “the view has been -- let's just pull back, and it doesn't matter, these people are elite institutions, no need to engage -- and that sort of thing, but we need to engage all segments of society, and these universities are one part of it.”

Business executives, Supreme Court justices, and even presidents have come from these elite schools. As they leave the ivy-clad walls to touch their world, the potential impact of these Ivy League Christians is limitless.

Dartmouth’s Dr. Richard Denton summed it up, saying, “Ivy leagues are really influential. People from all over the world come here, and leaders in society are influential in that. If we can have revival in these schools, it's going to have an impact not only on our society, but the world as a whole.”

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