A Youthful Miscalculation

Over the course of my life, I've earned three college degrees. Two came from state-supported schools: Arkansas Tech University (ATU) - B.A. in Journalism in 1988 and Pittsburg State University (PSU) - M.S. in Social Sciences (political philosophy emphasis) in 1992. It may come as a surprise to many of you that my first degree was earned from an explicitly Christian school -- Ouachita Baptist University (OBU) - B.A. in Sociology in 1979.

My best college experience was at PSU. There I discovered Karl Marx and Malcolm X. I was very involved in the J.A. Wayland chapter of Democratic Socialist of America and our small group routinely took the Student Government Association to Student Court because, like our own federal government, they couldn't seem to uphold their own rules. Serving as lead litigator, I'm proud to say we won almost all of the 20 cases or so we brought before the court.

My worst college experience was at OBU. I was still a nominal Christian at age 18 and so attending a Christian college had some appeal. However, I did not realize that Ouachita Baptist University was really Ouachita BAPTIST University and, if you didn't happen to be a God-preferred Baptist, you really weren't the kind of student they valued!

We all must remember that this was back in the day before the advent of the internet. As a senior in high school living in Kansas City, MO, I only saw a few brochures for the school. I didn't have the opportunity to explore OBU in a virtual sense. If so, I might have learned that:

As you explore the various links, you will find Ouachita’s nature to be as unique as her name. Ouachita is an excellent liberal arts institution. Our learning takes place in a Christ centered community. The education and preparation of a student for the future is enhanced by people of authentic faith and genuine commitment to Christ. (emphasis added)

Heck, I even made a campus visit and this Christ-centered emphasis wasn't shared with me. It seemed like all the other colleges I had visited.

That changed almost from the moment I enrolled. For one thing, there was mandatory Chapel attendence every Tuesday morning. When I had visited, "Chapel" had been explained as a weekly announcement gathering, so I didn't think much of it. Hah! Every week I had to go to listen to some sermon from a faculty member or visiting clergy.

I HATED Chapel with a passion. It may well have been the first lynchpin into the idea that Christianity, as a belief system, was a crock of...well, you know. The only positive I gained from Chapel was getting to meet (and interview for the student newspaper) Rev. Ralph Abernathy!

I hung out with a particular group of students. One day it dawned on all of us that there wasn't a Baptist among us. We had been sort of forced together by all the Baptist students initially -- maybe they thought they could keep a better eye on us heathens if we all coalesced into one big unholy blob!

The major campus organization was, of course, the Baptist Student Union (BSU). So, we decided to petition the administration to form the NbSU (Non-Baptist Student Union). For reasons they never bothered to explain, our petition was turned down. We formed it anyway! And the unofficial NbSU provided OBU with something they had never had to deal with before -- dissidents!!

I won't go into our many exploits, but I can tell you that the administration was overjoyed when I graduated since I seemed to be the leading instigator. It's true because the NbSU disappeared the next year.