Wheaton College (Illinois)
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| Motto | Christo et Regno Ejus (For Christ and His Kingdom) |
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| Established | 1860 |
| Type | Private Evangelical Protestant |
| Endowment | $304 million |
| President | Duane Litfin |
| Faculty | 191 full time 81 part time |
| Students | 2,890 |
| Undergraduates | 2,440 |
| Postgraduates | 450 |
| Location | Wheaton, Illinois, USA |
| Campus | Suburban, 80 acres |
| Colors | Blue, Orange |
| Nickname | Thunder |
| Affiliations | Council for Christian Colleges and Universities |
| Website | www.wheaton.edu |
Wheaton College is a private Evangelical Protestant, coeducational, liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb 25 miles west of Chicago in the United States.
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[edit] History
Wheaton College was founded in 1860. Its predecessor, the Illinois Institute, had been founded in late 1853 by Wesleyan Methodists as a college and preparatory school. Wheaton's first president, Jonathan Blanchard was a former president of Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois and a staunch abolitionist with ties to Oberlin College. Blanchard separated the college from any denominational support and was responsible for its new name, given in honor of trustee and benefactor Warren L. Wheaton.
At this time, Wheaton was the only school in Illinois with a college-level women's program. Blanchard used the school as a platform for abolitionism, anti-Masonic advocacy, and his national presidential campaign on the anti-Masonic American Party ticket in 1884.
In 1882, Charles A. Blanchard succeeded his father as president of the college.
In the fall of 1925, J. Oliver Buswell, an outspoken Presbyterian, delivered a series of lectures at Wheaton College. Shortly thereafter, President Charles Blanchard died and Buswell was called to be the third president of Wheaton. Upon his installation in April 1926, he became the nation's youngest college president. Buswell's tenure was characterized by expanding enrollment (from approximately 400 in 1925 to 1,100 in 1940), a building program, strong academic development, and a boom in the institution's reputation, but also a divisiveness over faculty scholarship and personalities. In 1940 this tension led to the sacking of Buswell for being, as two historians of the college put it, "too argumentative in temperament and too intellectual in his approach to Christianity."[1] By the late 1940s, Wheaton was emerging as a fortress of neo-evangelicalism.
By 1950, enrollment at the college surpassed 1,600, and in the second half of the twentieth century enrollment growth and more selective admissions accompanied athletic success, additional and improved facilities, and expanded programs.
In 1951, Honey Rock, a camp in northern Wisconsin, was purchased by the college.
Wheaton College made national headlines on February 20, 2003 when it lifted its then 143 year-old ban on student dancing. In addition to allowing undergraduate students to dance, Wheaton granted "adult faculty members and grad students ... the freedom to choose whether they want to smoke or drink alcohol, at least while off-campus."
Wheaton again appeared in the news when Joshua Hochschild, assistant professor of philosophy, was dismissed in 2004 for becoming Roman Catholic.[2]
[edit] Criticism and controversy
Wheaton College has received criticism in recent years from both conservative and liberal alumni. Areas of controversy have included evolutionary biology being taught in at least one anthropology course (by a professor who has since left the college) and generally accepted in the science departments. Activist groups both liberal and conservative have campaigned for change at the school. In 2003, at least one conservative Christian group was asked to leave campus by security personnel for displaying signs condemning the school's theology. In 2006 Soulforce Equality Ride visited the campus campaigning for a change in the college acceptance of homosexual students. Progressive alumni have expressed concern about a move away from an open and inclusive community to a more restrictive and fundamentalist one, similar to the modus operandi of the college during the modernist debate of the early twentieth century—a conflict resulting in the dismissal of President Buswell. Some critics have expressed concern that it is becoming increasingly difficult for the college to retain its conservative values while still others have campaigned for a greater departure from the school's historical conservatism.
The college's apparent inability to satisfy either conservative or liberal critics was exemplified in reactions to the Community Covenant. Enacted February 20, 2003, the Covenant allowed undergraduate students to dance at college-sponsored events and gave "adult faculty members and grad students ... the freedom to choose whether they want to smoke or drink alcohol, at least while off-campus." Soon after it was enacted, many alumni denounced the Covenant as giving students and faculty members too much freedom, while others stated that the new Covenant failed to sufficiently loosen restrictions on members of the campus community.
The selection and early presidency of Duane Litfin (1993— ) was controversial as Litfin was previously a pastor in an evangelical church and had no experience in higher education administration, which differentiated him from other candidates. Throughout the search for a new president for Wheaton, the students, alumni, and faculty expressed concern that the Board of Trustees was not involving them enough in the selection process.
Issues generating controversy since 1993 have often centered on academic freedom and religious conscience. The role of the college's president in relation to academic departments (especially in the natural sciences and religious studies) has resulted in conflict over curriculum and new faculty hires and in the resignation/departure of several professors. For example, the teaching of modern evolutionary biology was threatened by presidential pressure, and the hiring of at least one faculty candidate by the religion department was prevented solely upon direction by the college's president. The long-standing, explicit ban on Roman Catholic speakers in the college's chapel services has recently been extended to teaching faculty. This was not the case when Thomas Howard, '57 (Professor of English [Emeritus] at St. John's Seminary, Boston) taught English Literature at Wheaton. Known for talking his way around controversy, Litfin has remained popular among the students, being the subject of shirts with his picture and the phrase "DL Smooth."
[edit] Academics
Students may choose from about 40 majors in many liberal arts disciplines and in the sciences. The most popular in recent years have been Business, Communications, English, and Psychology.
Wheaton maintains a strong academic record with an average of 37 National Merit Finalists. U.S. News & World Report has noted that Wheaton is often called the "Harvard of evangelical colleges."[3]
In 2007, U.S. News & World Report ranked Wheaton College 61 out of 212 Best National Liberal Arts Colleges. Wheaton continued to achieve exceptional rankings in several areas of the report:
- #18 in freshmen retention (94%)
- #21 in six-year graduation rate (86%)
- #25 in SAT/ACT scores (1250–1440)
- #39 in percentage of freshmen graduating in the top 10 percent of their high-school classes (54%)
In recent years, Wheaton's overall ranking has been as high as 44; despite the demonstrated academic merit of Wheaton's students, the college's academic ranking has fallen due to its poor class size and alumni giving rankings.
Wheaton College ranked 9th in the nation in the total number of graduates (all fields) who went on to earn doctorates according to Franklin and Marshall University's latest survey, which included more than 900 private colleges and universities.
[edit] Conservatory of Music
Wheaton College is home to an internationally-recognized Conservatory of Music, fully accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music. The Conservatory offers two professional music degrees: the Bachelor of Music (with emphases in performance, suzuki pedagogy, composition, history and literature, or elective studies) and the Bachelor of Music Education. 100% of the teaching faculty in the Conservatory hold doctorates. There are approximately 220 music majors in the Conservatory, with a student:faculty ratio of 7:1. Music majors and liberal arts majors alike perform in the Conservatory's six large ensembles: Concert Choir, Jazz Ensemble, Men's Glee Club, Symphonic Band, Symphony Orchestra, and Women's Chorale.
[edit] Graduate School
The Wheaton College Graduate School was founded in 1937, with the intent to provide further theological and ministerial training. Graduate students come from all over the world to attend, and may study for an M.A., M.A.T., or Ph.D. in Biblical and Theological Studies, or a Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology. The once widely respected Department of Communications of the Graduate School has been closed. Approximately 500 graduate students are enrolled.
[edit] Off-campus study
Wheaton's many opportunities for off-campus study comprise some of the college's finest academic offerings.
The college sponsors study-abroad programs in Asia, England, France, Germany, the Holy Lands, Latin America, and Spain, as well as a summer program in Washington, D.C. Participants in Wheaton-in-England, one of the most popular annual programs, take 2–3 courses in literature while studying in London and St. Anne's College, Oxford.
Many students also participate in the Human Needs and Global Resources program. The HNGR program matches select students with six-month internships in the Third World, including opportunities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
In 1935, The Wheaton College Science Station was established in the Black Hills of South Dakota for field instruction in the natural sciences.
Due to Wheaton's membership in the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities, Wheaton students may also study at the University of Oxford, the Los Angeles Film Studies Center, Wesley Institute in Australia, and Xi'an Foreign Language University in China. The CCCU also sponsors programs in American studies, Latin American studies, Middle Eastern studies, Russian studies, and journalism.
[edit] Grade inflation
Although the average GPA at Wheaton had inflated from 2.7 to 2.8 in the 1950s to 3.41 in the 2003–2004 school year, the faculty successfully reduced this figure to 3.36 in 2004–2005, according to the student newspaper. According to the article, several departments such as English, biology, chemistry, and physics have been most successful in resisting grade inflation, each maintaining average GPAs of 2.9 to 3.1.
[edit] Degrees offered
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[edit] Campus
Wheaton's most recognizable and oldest building is Blanchard Hall, a limestone tower built as the main College building in 1853. At the time, the College building was one of only two on campus, the other (called the "boarding hall") being a frame building at the foot of the hill crowned by the tower. Jonathan Blanchard had a vision for the expansion of this tower structure: its castle-like architecture is, supposedly, patterned after buildings at the University of Oxford which Blanchard admired on a trip to England in 1843. After four additions (1871, 1873, 1890, 1927) the Main Building was completed in 1927. In this year, under college president J. Oliver Buswell, Jr., the Main Building was renamed Blanchard Hall, to honor Wheaton's first two presidents, Jonathan Blanchard and his son Charles Blanchard.
[edit] Academic
In 1900 the brick "Industrial Building" was built. From 1917–45 it housed the Wheaton Academy, and from 1945–60 the Graduate School. In 1960 it was renamed Buswell Hall, and in 1980 renamed Schell Hall in honor of Edward R. Schell.
The science departments are housed in Breyer (Chemistry) and Armerding (Biology, Geology, Math, and Physics) halls. Armerding Hall is also the home to the Wheaton College Observatory (a feature of the college since the presidency of Charles Blanchard in the late-nineteenth century). In 1935, The Wheaton College Science Station was established in the Black Hills of South Dakota for field instruction in the natural sciences.
[edit] Athletic
The Gymnasium, later renamed Adams Hall, was built in 1898. Today it is home to the Art Department.
Alumni Gymnasium (renamed the Edward A. Coray Alumni Gymnasium in 1968, in honor of Coach Ed Coray's long service), was built during the Edman presidency and paid for by alumni. The cornerstone was laid at homecoming on October 11, 1941. A copper box placed in the cornerstone contained a copy of the Wheaton Record, the Wheaton Daily Journal, a college catalog, a student directory, and a copy of the Homecoming program.
Wyngarten Health Center was built in 1958, followed by Centennial Gymnasium in 1959-60, which was extensively renovated and expanded in 2000. It is now known as King Arena and is part of the Sports and Recreation Complex (SRC).
[edit] Library and collections
The Library, named after college trustee Robert E. Nicholas, opened in January 1952. In 1975 Buswell Memorial Library, named for the college's third president J. Oliver Buswell, Jr., was built adjacent to the Nicholas Library and an interior corridor linked the two, creating the college's main library.
The Marion E. Wade Center, formerly housed in Buswell Library, moved to its new purpose-built home in September 2001. The Marion E. Wade Center, established in 1965 by professor of English Clyde S. Kilby, is an extensive research library and museum of the books and papers of seven British writers: C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, J.R.R. Tolkien, Owen Barfield, Dorothy L. Sayers, George MacDonald, and Charles Williams. The Wade Center also owns several pieces of furniture previously used by some of these authors. The collection boasts the wardrobe made by C.S. Lewis' grandfather, and widely thought to have inspired C.S. Lewis' seven volume Chronicles of Narnia series. Another noteworthy article is J.R.R. Tolkien's writing desk, where he wrote the entirety of The Hobbit, and worked on The Lord of the Rings.
Buswell Library's special collections also include the archived correspondence, manuscripts, articles, photos, and other papers of Madeleine L'Engle, the Newberry Medal-winning author of A Wrinkle in Time. With items dating as early as 1919, the collection is comprised largely of material sent to the college by L'Engle and has been supplemented by the college with books and other supporting materials. The collection is the most comprehensive research center for L'Engle's work.[4]
[edit] Student life
The Memorial Student Center (MSC) was dedicated on June 11, 1951. It was built in memory of over 1600 former students and graduates who served in World War II and in honor of those 39 who gave their lives. It housed the Student Union café, nicknamed "the Stupe" (which has since been moved to the recently constructed Beamer Center). An early pamphlet described the new building and listed some of the rules for its use, such as No Rook Playing and No Playing of Boogie-Woogie, Jazz, or Otherwise Abusing the Piano.
The Dining Hall (now the "Old Dining Hall" ODH) opened January 4, 1953. Today it houses Student Services.
Jenks Hall is home to the Arena Theater, which was established in the Fall of 1974 and has staged over 100 full length productions.
In the fall of 2004, the Todd M. Beamer Student Center was completed. Beamer was a Wheaton alumnus, part of a small group of passengers who stormed the hijackers thus bringing down United Flight 93 in rural Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001 and preventing it from reaching its target. The $20+ million dollar project was commissioned in order to meet the needs of the growing college community. Along with its spacious and sleek, modern design, the Beamer Center features a convenience store, the new "Stupe", a bakery café, several reading rooms and lounges, a recreation/game room, a prayer chapel, an expanded college post office, the offices for several organizations and departments, and several other events rooms. In the fall of 2006, strong rain storms created a flood that destroyed the lower level of the Beamer Center. Wheaton College is currently restoring the flood damaged building.
[edit] Spirituality
The Chapel, on the corner of Washington and Franklin streets, was dedicated on November 15, 1925. This building was also used by the college for commencements and other important assemblies. In 1936–37, it was renamed the Orlinda Childs Pierce Memorial Chapel. Neighboring McAlister Hall is home to the Conservatory of Music.
The college's regular chapel services are held in Edman Memorial Chapel, which seats 2,400. It is named for V. Raymond Edman, fourth president of the college. Edman died in 1967 while speaking in chapel. Campus tradition holds that he was preaching on being in the presence of the King. This chapel/auditorium is also used for many events of Wheaton's performing arts programs. In 2000, an entirely handcrafted organ made by Casavant Frères of Canada was installed.
[edit] Other
The building housing the Billy Graham Center (BGC), named after one of the college's most well-known graduates, the evangelist Billy Graham, opened in September 1980. The Billy Graham Center itself, as the repository of the evangelist's corporate records, had existed since 1974. The BGC houses several evangelism institutes, a museum of the history of evangelism, the college's Archives and Special Collections, as well as the Wheaton College Graduate School and the school radio station, WETN 88.1 FM.
The Womens' Building, renamed Williston Hall in 1930–31 (in honor of longtime Blanchard friend and donor J. P. Williston), was built in 1895. Its construction required the college to borrow $6,000.
The President's House, or Westgate, formerly owned by college trustee John M. Oury, was presented to President Buswell on the tenth anniversary of his inauguration, April 23, 1936. This served as the home of three of Wheaton's subsequent presidents. It now houses the Office of Alumni Relations.
[edit] Athletics
Wheaton College competes in many NCAA Division III sports in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin. Wheaton athletics captured the 1984 and 1997 NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship and the 2004 NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship and competed in basketball at the 1904 Summer Olympics.
The school's athletic mascot was changed from the Crusaders to the Thunder in 2000.
[edit] Notable alumni
[edit] Religion
- Curtis Gustav Almquist (superior of the North American congregation of the Society of St. John the Evangelist)
- David E. Aune (New Testament scholar, University of Notre Dame)
- Rob Bell
- Philip W. Butin (president, San Francisco Theological Seminary)
- William Lane Craig
- Peter Crossman (scholar of African religion, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven)
- Bart Ehrman
- Jim Elliot
- Eldon J. Epp (New Testament scholar)
- Bob Evans, founder of Greater Europe Mission
- David Otis Fuller
- Billy Graham
- John L. Gresham (theologian, Paul VI Pontifical Institute and Kenrick-Glennon Seminary)
- Fred Hartley, pastor and author
- Gerald F. Hawthorne (New Testament scholar)
- Carl F. H. Henry
- Arthur F. Holmes (philosopher)
- Daniel Juster (leader in the "Messianic Judaism" movement)
- Walter Kaiser, Jr.
- Robert A. Kraft (historian of early Judaism and Christianity, University of Pennsylvania)
- Josh McDowell, Christian apologist
- Mark Noll
- John Piper
- Nate Saint
- Philip Yancey, Christian author and editor
[edit] Entertainment
- Jake Armerding (singer-songwriter)
- Bryce Bell
- Susan Bergman (author)
- Brian Funck (singer-songwriter, Harrod and Funck)
- Wes Craven
- The Detholz! (band)
- Mary Lou Leonard Engle (musician/missionary)
- Ian Eskelin (singer-songwriter, All Star United)
- Cathleen Falsani (journalist)
- Elizabeth A.H. Green (musician)
- Jason Harrod (singer-songwriter)
- Claire Holley (singer-songwriter)
- Thomas Howard
- Margaret Landon
- Luci Shaw (poet)
- Robert H. Siegel (poet)
- Wesley G. Pippert (journalist)
[edit] Education
- C. Stephen Evans (philosopher, Baylor University)
- Nathan O. Hatch, president of Wake Forest University
- Jasper Hopkins (philosopher, University of Minnesota)
- David Lyle Jeffrey (provost and professor of literature, Baylor University)
- Jay Johnson (executive director, Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry, Pacific School of Religion)
- John Snarey (professor of human development and ethics, Emory University)
- David Steinmetz (church historian, Duke University)
- Ronald R. Thomas (president, University of Puget Sound)
- Daniel M. Varisco (anthropologist, Hofstra University)
- Merold Westphal (philosopher, Fordham University)
- Linda H. Peterson (professor of English, Yale University)
- Eric Potter (professor of English Grove City College)
[edit] Politics
- Dan Coats, former U.S. Senator (R-IN)
- Richard A. Connerney (pundit)
- Michael Gerson, senior advisor to President George W. Bush
- Dennis Hastert, U.S. Representative (R-IL), Speaker of the House
- David Iglesias (U.S. Attorney, District of New Mexico)
- Gretchen Klotz (de) (leader among the Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund (de))
- Jim McDermott, U.S. Representative (D-WA)
[edit] Other
- Todd Beamer
- William J. Danker (missiologist)
- Paul Gast
- Jonathan McPeters
- John Wesley Powell (famed 19th-century geologist and explorer of the American West)
- Violet Bergquist Redding (linguist)
- Don Nelson
[edit] Presidents
- Jonathan Blanchard (1860–1882)
- Charles Albert Blanchard (1882–1925)
- Rev. J. Oliver Buswell (1926–1940)
- V. Raymond Edman (1941–1965)
- Hudson T. Armerding (1965–1982)
- J. Richard Chase (1982–1993)
- Duane Litfin (1993— )
[edit] Trivia
- When applying to the college, prospective undergraduate students are required to sign a "Community Covenant" prohibiting the use of alcohol and tobacco, as well as extra-marital sexual activity, during the semesters. Graduate students may partake of alcohol and tobacco, but neither on campus nor in the presence of undergraduate students.
- Students who become engaged or celebrate an anniversary may ring the bell in Blanchard Tower to celebrate momentous occasions.
- Wheaton College was one of the first colleges in Illinois to graduate African-American students. Not long after its founding, students of color began attending the college, then known as the Illinois Institute.
- The Marion E. Wade Center in Wheaton College has memorabilia of the Inklings, including C.S. Lewis' wardrobe and writing desk (a feat Westmont College also claims), Charles Williams's bookcases, J.R.R. Tolkien's desk, and Pauline Baynes's original map of Narnia.[1]
- The official student newspaper at Wheaton College is the Wheaton Record, a weekly publication in existence since 1876. The Record is produced by students and published by the college and distributed each Friday after chapel free of charge. The Record was the recipient of the 2006 John David Reed General Excellence Award and 13 other awards from the Illinois College Press Association, of which it is a member. The Record is also a member of the Associated Collegiate Press. The college does not currently permit the Record to be published online.
- A long line of pranks have been played during chapel services including replacing the school hymn with a parody.
[edit] References
- ^ The Opening of the Evangelical Mind
- ^ "No Catholics at Wheaton?", Daniel Golden, Wall Street Journal, January 7, 2006
- ^ Tolson, Jay. "The new school spirit". U.S. News & World Report, 14 February 2005.
- ^ Abou the Collection — Madeleine L'Engle
- T. A. Askew, "The Liberal Arts College Encounters Intellectual Change: A Comparative Study of Education at Knox and Wheaton Colleges, 1837-1925" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University, 1969).
- P. M. Bechtel, Wheaton College: A Heritage Remembered, 1860–1984 (Wheaton: Shaw, 1984).
- E. E. Cairns, V. Raymond Edman: In the Presence of the King (Chicago: Moody, 1972).
- E. A. Coray, The Wheaton I Remember: Memoirs (Chicago: Books for Living, 1974).
- M. S. Hamilton, "The Fundamentalist Harvard: Wheaton College and the Continuing Vitality of American Evangelicalism, 1919-1965" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Notre Dame, 1995), advisor, Nathan O. Hatch.
- M. S. Hamilton, The Fundamentalist Harvard: Wheaton College, Evangelicalism, and American Higher Education (Oxford University Press or Columbia University Press, forthcoming).
- J. D. Lower, "An Evaluation of the Marion E. Wade Collection, Wheaton College, as a Research Collection" (unpublished A.M. thesis, University of Chicago, 1978).
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Campus map
- Wheaton College Conservatory of Music
- Wheaton College Graduate School
- WETN 88.1 FM
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