Reclaiming Higher Ed From the Left: College Presidents Highlight 4 Approaches

Backpacking for three weeks in the wilderness before starting college or working 15 hours per week in lieu of tuition could be some of the keys to promoting more traditional values again and reclaiming the culture of higher education, according to a panel of four college presidents Tuesday.  

The U.S. Department of Education can aid in this effort to reclaim higher education from the Left by protecting students from discrimination and harassment from other students, faculty, and the administration; reorienting federal investments away from woke ideology; and keeping universities accountable, according to Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Programs at the Department of Education Jonathan Pidluzny.  

Pidluzny was speaking at “Reclaiming the Culture of American Higher Education,” hosted by The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy. 

The panel included college presidents Brad Johnson of College of the Ozarks, Brian Mueller of Grand Canyon University, George Harne of Christendom College, and Kyle Washut of Wyoming Catholic College.  

Universities must both shape the culture within their institutions and take a stand in the broader culture, according to Johnson. This is why College of the Ozarks hires professors who integrate Christianity in their work and maintains things like single-sex dorms on campus, he said. 

“It’s a ‘both-and,’” Johnson said. “It’s safeguarding your culture from within … but then coming back and standing strong in the broader culture as well.” 

The vision for Grand Canyon University, according to Mueller, is to provide an affordable education based in a biblical worldview.  

“If you come to the university, if you don’t believe those things, you understand that we’re going to teach from that perspective,” Mueller said.  

According to Harne, Christendom College advances an education with three strands: liberal arts, mentorship, and spiritual core. It is public about its commitments, he said, and faculty at the school take an oath of fidelity to the teaching authority of the Catholic Church. 

“I think most universities and colleges have fundamental commitments, but they’re afraid to state them publicly, and parents and their kids are not knowing what they’re sending them into,” Harne said. “But we’re very direct. We’re forming students spiritually, forming students in terms of personal maturity, but then also intellectually. And I think the liberal arts cut across all of those.” 

Wyoming Catholic College, Washut said, aims to form students through Catholicism and the natural world. In the outdoors program at the college, students spend 21 days backpacking together before beginning their freshman year. They then commit to an additional minimum of seven weeks of outdoor trips throughout their college career. 

“Going out into the wilderness, going out into the frontier, is a place of renewal and rejuvenation for our republic and our faith,” he said. 

According to Washut, the school looks to Plato’s “Republic” as its model, encouraging students to step back from distractions to cultivate the imagination and the body. The college does not allow students to have cellphones and does not allow Wi-Fi in the dorms. 

All four presidents emphasized the need to make high-quality college education affordable for students from all backgrounds. Christendom College and Wyoming Catholic College do not accept federal money but rely on donations from supporters for funding. Meanwhile, students at College of the Ozarks graduate debt-free because they work 15 hours per week during their studies rather than paying tuition. This work requirement earned the college the nickname “Hard Work U” from The Wall Street Journal.