We’ve come a long way, baby
March 23, 2006
From the Editor: Matthew Jenkins
A collective sigh of relief was breathed by members of this community last week when the presidential candidate was finally revealed. The lengthy standing ovation that Dr. Jonathan Raymond and his wife Irene received is testament to the fact that the TWU community is more than ready to take the next step of the journey.
This year has been full of uncertainties: the harassment case and the resulting appearances in local and national media have left students, staff, and faculty feeling vulnerable. And yet, among all the confusion, we have begun to make a name for our university outside our borders.
This semester, Trinity has been behaving like a senior, full of hope and uncertainty at the prospect of entering the “real world.” But, as Dr. Raymond pointed out in his meeting with staff and students, TWU is an amazing university and it’s time that we let everyone know it.
The vision of Dr. Raymond is a paradigm shift away from the current garrison mentality and points to a wholly new style of leadership, one that is necessary to bring TWU out of its adolescence and into its own as a mature institution of faith.
The growth of TWU can be seen through the metaphor of human development. Our infancy was spent under the direction of Dr. Calvin Hanson, and we depended heavily on the few men and women of faith who built this institution on hard work and prayer. Dr. Snider brought us into our adolescence, during which we had to prove (to ourselves and others) that we were an institution capable of holding tightly onto both faith and critical academic enquiry. The battles were not always easy, and at times we had to be guarded about what we did or said lest it be misinterpreted and used against us.
Those times are now past, and TWU has now been accepted as the very strange place that it is, a full-fledged Canadian university where faith and education openly cohabitate. This had not happened before, but it’s beginning to happen all over the country. University Colleges such as Tyndale and Redeemer made their bid for full academic status because of the example that TWU set. If there is one way in which Dr. Snider will be remembered, it will be as the pioneer for private Christian universities in Canada.
As we mature and others begin to follow in our footsteps, we no longer have to prove ourselves in the same way. Of course, it is essential that we maintain the same high standards that have made us great. But if we are going to share that greatness with others, we’ve got to take a few risks and actually reach outside the bubble. So what if Maclean’s writes an article about us, comparing us to that hick town in Footloose? At least they pointed to the facts that we don’t have to deal with drunken riots in the streets, and that an openly gay, non-Christian student chose us over Queen’s. That has got to say something positive about our community.
Growing up can be a difficult process: being an adult means you have to account for the fact that there are other people in the world. You have to learn how to act your age and play by the rules, and diapers and cowboy boots just look creepy on a twenty-three year old.
Sometimes those other people hate you, and you can’t control that. Sometimes they love you, and you don’t know why. The truth is, most of the time they’re just indifferent until you show them why they should care. And with a gold medal in volleyball and a newspaper of the year award in the same weekend, we’re starting to do just that.
Now you go...
One Response to “We’ve come a long way, baby”
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Props on winning ACP of the year award. We’ve been close before. Congratulations on this incredible achievement. It goes to show the strength of the Mars’ Hill that year after year we keep building on our successes and achieving greater things.