Folks called to what I'm called to sadly have some job security. I've been following this Duke Lacrosse fiasco (if you need a current report, go here), and I think it illustrates a few realities about the (post)modern campus situation. Keep your support for campus ministry coming! Here are a few of my takes: 1. The party culture is alive and well. I forget this sometimes, but this is certainly true here in Fresno as well. This year in fact we had a fraternity party go awry and a student was found dead in the morning. How truly tragic is it that students have to endure the constant temptations of drugs, binge drinking and all the other things that come along with party culture?!? Join me in mourning the heinous choices students are presented with each and every weekend!
2. On campus sport is king. Certainly this is true in ACC country where Duke is. But isn't it true here in Fresno as well? On campus athletes get the glory and the breaks/free passes. Good for the Duke administration to (finally?) take steps to make this situation right. By the way, for a close up description of the kingship of athletics on campus, wade through "I Am Charlotte Simmons" by Tom Wolfe (book review here).
3. Even among students there are class issues. You have a house full of the priveleged (Duke students pay good coin to go there, and even if they don't, someone does in the form of scholarships, grants, etc.). Then you have these strippers. A horrific detail to this story is that evidently at least one of them is also a student, from some nearby college. Now I don't have a clue what exactly motivates her to work as a stripper, but is it possible (likely?) that she's trying to make ends meet and stay in school? Look at the juxtaposition in terms of issues of class (I'm not even at the race stuff yet, and don't get me started talking about the gender issues involved!): upper class men, the elite, our future congressmen and business leaders, sitting around, getting drunk and feasting on the poor female stripper from down the hill. How we need Jesus and his liberating power on campus!
4. It's a problem when the University becomes a bubble. There's a reason we Staff work hard to help our students integrate faith and society. In Fresno, we are always taking/sending students downtown. At Cal Poly, it was all about missions trips in the summer. Why? Because it's hazardous when students stay in their on-campus bubble, particularly at a place like Duke. I've actually been on campus there before. Picture beautiful, stately buildings (picture above), trees everywhere, the reek of "proper academia." Durham, the city surrounding Duke, is not like that. For one thing, the city is 45% African American (in fact, according to its wikipedia article, Durham's African American population has a strong and vibrant history--the city hosted MLK on multiple occasions). Apparently, one of the things this scandal has done has been to expose a disconnect between the campus and the city, including and especially latent (or not so latent) racial and ethnic tensions. Bottom line: a University education should never be a 4 (or more) year vacation from "life." Instead, it should be an education presented firmly in the context of "life," ideally of course "life" interpreted through the eyes of Jesus.
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