Learning from TWU
December 9, 2005
James Frank
The first thing that I noticed about Trinity Western University was the fog. I’m a sophomore at Wheaton College, near Chicago, Illinois, and we may reach negative twenty with the wind-chill, but we don’t live in a cloud. I’ve been told that the sun does actually shine at TWU, but I’ll just have to have faith that it is true. Besides this difference, I saw many things at TWU that Wheaton could benefit from, as well as many ways in which the two colleges are very similar.
I’ll begin with chapel. From what I saw, the students at TWU have proven that a voluntary chapel system can work. Here at Wheaton, chapel is three times a week and attendance is required. I don’t know that it really matters whether or not chapel is mandatory, but I was impressed by the number of people and the amount of participation at TWU chapels.
Another difference relating to the student body is the success TWU has had, compared to Wheaton, in attracting international students. This may just be a difference in the focus of each college, but one of the recurring issues at Wheaton is a lack of diversity. During my visit, I stayed with Kyle Leaders, who has been involved with the international program at TWU, and I was able to meet some of the students. It seems to me that TWU has a good grasp on the international student body and the diversity issue, something that Wheaton is searching to find.
In a similar vein, during a conversation with students and staff over dinner, the subject of Redeemer Pacific College was brought up. There is no program like that at Wheaton. While there are no rules prohibiting Catholics, to my knowledge Wheaton has not gone to any great efforts to develop a significant partnership with a Catholic institution. From everyone I talked to, the relationship between Redeemer Pacific and TWU has been very beneficial to both institutions, and I feel that it is something Wheaton lacks.
However, not all of my experiences revealed differences. As I planned to write this article, my first thought was that the community standards seem very similar to the Wheaton’s Community Covenant, from the content to the discussion surrounding both of them. The students at TWU and those here aren’t really different in their reactions toward these regulations: the rules are questioned by many and disregarded by some.
As far as academics go, classes also seemed similar. I enjoyed the discussion in Peg Peter’s Christianity and Culture class that I sat in on. It showed me that Christians, no matter where, face many of the same issues, and good professors will encourage discussion of these issues at any college.
In the end, it seems that students at TWU and Wheaton, and probably any small Christian college, are not that different. We have the same concerns, enjoy the same entertainment, and are all looking for a quality education. There are, as I expected, many differences between the institutions, but both are focused on providing a Christ-centered education for students. And, considering the differences that do exist between us, the best strategy is to try to learn from each other.
Now you go...
One Response to “Learning from TWU”
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I can’t wait for the comparison/contrast letter coming from SFU and UBC!
I’ll betcha TWU’s hockey teams are better. And that TWUSA serves students better!!! :) And that our ELCE is tougher than their’s, thereby making us better english’ers. And that the weather here is nicer. And that we have more donors! (that’s definitely a given because we have a huge endowment here) And that our diversity is because of our proportionally skewed promotional literature! ;) And that our Canadian guys could beat their American guys in a football game just like this year’s Greyer Cup. And that the Mars Hill is WAY better than the Wheaton Correspondence Post, which got it’s name as the student newspaper because the Wheaton mascot was/is a hitching post used by Wyatt Earp once and the word Correspondence is actually latin for “he who eats much and has much money”.
I mean no disrespect. Only jest.