Freed-Hardeman president says college recruiting challenge is one for all of higher education, not only Churches of Christ

In a column published by The Christian Chronicle, Freed-Hardeman University President David Shannon wrote that the Henderson, Tenn., school’s recruiting of students who are members of the Lord’s church reflects its concern for the church and for young people’s growth into faithful Christian adults. He said the university also welcomes students who are not members of the Church of Christ, and he described a recent week in which one person was baptized on Thursday and another on Friday.

Shannon argued that a campus where most students and all faculty and staff are church members shapes the environment of the school, because members’ values become the campus culture. He said that, in his view, the churches of Christ lose most of their young people between ages 18 and 22 if those young people do not attend a Christian college. He added that he was not proud of that outcome and did not suggest it should be so, but said that it is.

On cost, Shannon wrote that when parents weigh expenses they should also weigh value. He said the university offers what the state will not fund, which he described as Christ and an environment shaped by the church’s calling, and he said Christians give toward that work and pay the additional expense each year. He also stated that he measures success by growth in the whole person more than by enrollment, asking whether graduates will earn academic success, provide for their families, give to those in need (Hebrews 13:16), show social maturity and love the Lord and his church.

Shannon said students contribute to the campus through dormitories, classrooms, social clubs, intramural and athletic programs and honors activities, and he wrote that Christian faculty and staff remain important. He said he was explaining why the university places strong emphasis on maintaining a student body of church members when it recruits.

Addressing the question of whether recruiting is difficult, Shannon wrote that anyone attending a higher education conference would find agreement that it is. He said he had not spoken with anyone in Christian or non-Christian higher education who disagreed. He concluded that the challenge is not specific to the churches of Christ but is “the challenge of higher education,” and that the central question is what the university’s mission is and whether its recruiting honors that mission.

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