Imagine Dayton, Tenn., without Bryan College, without its students, without its faculty and staff. The small town 38 miles north of Chattanooga would be smaller and poorer.
No one is talking about the demise of the college. Yet.
But it’s not a stretch to see the Christian college become so exclusive – appeal to such a narrow group of students – that it has a difficult time remaining viable if professors and students cannot at least debate theories on subjects on which there is disagreement.
For the school to have a biblically inerrant view of, for example, Creation is fine. For a conservative professor to have a differently nuanced view than the college should be fine. But it’s important to restore a manner of academic freedom that allows the theories to be debated even if the college view is unchanging.
There are already signs of growing financial austerity at Bryan. Staff members have had employer contributions to their retirement accounts suspended for May and June, a policy that an email from a school vice president said would likely continue “into the 2014-2015 fiscal year”; budgeted professor discretionary spending has been halted; and a dormitory will be closed in the fall.