Give Me Liberty or I Quit (precious!)

[ProSense]

From the issue dated May 19, 2006

Give Me Liberty or I Quit

The departures of five professors raise doubts about the college's mission

By THOMAS BARTLETT

Purcellville, Va.

Snip...

Not bad for a college that opened its doors in 2000 and has around 300 students. The news media see Patrick Henry as the Christian college with a right-wing political agenda — and for good reason. Its stated mission is to prepare undergraduates, most of whom were home schooled, to "lead our nation and shape our culture with timeless biblical values."

Snip...

It also boasts of its classical liberal-arts curriculum. The vision was that Patrick Henry would become as rigorous and prestigious as an Ivy League institution, but with a firm religious grounding — a faith-based Harvard.

But a core group of Patrick Henry professors now question that much-publicized commitment to the liberal arts. Five of its 16 full-time professors, two of whom have been there from the beginning, are leaving after a bitter battle over academic freedom. Their departures have shaken the campus and created doubts about the college's future.

Snip...

The controversy has pitted the college's president and founder, Michael P. Farris, against many of its professors. He has challenged their fidelity to a biblical worldview, and they have challenged his commitment to the liberal arts. "When he accuses us of not buying into the vision of the college, we have to scratch our heads," says M. Todd Bates, an assistant professor of rhetoric, who is leaving after this semester. "We came here because of the vision. The question is: What has happened to that vision?"

more...

http://chronicle.com/free/v52/i37/37a01001.htm

[coffeenap]

1. Can't resist: "Assistant professor of rhetoric" hahaha!

Guess he could transfer to Liberty.

[acmejack]

2. Farris sounds to be a real charmer.

I pity the poor students, first they are raised, taught by their parents in a fundamentalist household, locked away from their peers and denied normal socialization and then they are sent to be "educated" at a place like good old PHU. argghh...

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. The very foundation of liberal arts is critical thinking

And nothing disrupts a "biblical worldview" faster or more thoroughly than critical thinking. Farris created an educational program with no choice but failure.

[Generic Other]

4. That idiot Farris used to be head of the Moral Majority

in Washington state. He was driven out of the state by godless liberals years ago.

Among the more extreme ideas he supports:

<snip>
When it comes to politics, the principles are simple: "The long-term goal of Christians in politics should be to gain exclusive control over the franchise. Those who refuse to submit publicly to the eternal sanctions of God by submitting to His Church's public marks of the covenant--baptism and holy communion--must be denied citizenship, just as they were in ancient Israel."
<snip>

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Atlantis/8616/reconstructionists.html

[hootinholler]

6. That's funny!

"Those who refuse to submit publicly to the eternal sanctions of God by submitting to His Church's public marks of the covenant--baptism and holy communion--must be denied citizenship, just as they were in ancient Israel."

Yep! Iffin yoo twernt baptized, them jews would throw you out of the country.

:rofl:

-Hoot

[Squeech]

5. Reminds me

I remember when this venture got started, and I think I remember that they borrowed the name "Patrick Henry" from Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged.

Obviously they missed the part where Rand famously despised organized religion.

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. If I were a praying man

I would pray that this would mark the beginning of the end for this institution, whose ultimate goal is to train future leaders of America's theocracy.