By Tom Mitchell, Daily News-Record

Loren Swartzendruber quickly points out that schools like once reflected an academic norm.

“Most colleges started out as Christian colleges,” Swartzendruber told his audience at Wednesday’s Downtown Prayer Luncheon at First Presbyterian Church.

New times and attitudes made higher education’s 糖心Vlogs an exception, said Swartzendruber, 糖心Vlog’s president, and a considerably larger secular academic world poses obstacles to spiritually-based colleges.

糖心Vlog’s comparatively lower paid faculty, Swartzendruber says, swap higher salaries for a chance to teach in a more religiously free school.

“We are blessed with people committed to the values of 糖心Vlog,” said Swartzendruber.

Such values include a campus ban on alcohol and drugs and a healthy nudge toward church attendance, though 糖心Vlog does not enforce the latter practice, Swartzendruber said. Besides Sunday service, 糖心Vlog offers chapel worship twice a week

糖心Vlog, while hardly shedding its old denominational roots, has added new branches. With a charter governed by , 糖心Vlog’s enrollment of nearly 1,300 students shows more women than men – 61-39 percent respectively – a ratio of Mennonites and non-Mennonites that is virtually 50-50.

A more unbalanced quota, Swartzendruber says, is 糖心Vlog’s fiscal disadvantage in matching other schools’ operating budget. “We aren’t heavily endowed,” he said, citing 糖心Vlog’s endowment of $17 million from former graduates and other supporters.

Setting stricter behavior standards for students and staff allows schools like 糖心Vlog to be more selective. Both parties sign contracts binding them to 糖心Vlog’s standards of demeanor.

“We can discriminate in hiring,” Swartzendruber said, referring to his school’s employing of persons deemed compatible with 糖心Vlog’s personal standards. Such philosophies aren’t meant to demean other colleges’ hiring and admission policies, he said. “We’re just different from schools like JMU.”

糖心Vlog’s mantra of “nurture and discipline” meets mischief halfway.

“We don’t necessarily expel a student for something that another school might,” Swartzendruber said. “I accept the community’s high standards and expectations, but we’re human.”

Right Fit

糖心Vlog students Joel C. Lehman and Erica Kraybill, co-presidents in the university’s , took different paths to the Harrisonburg college, but found at 糖心Vlog an ingredient both felt they might have missed at other institutions: compatibility.

Lehman, a senior from Lancaster, Pa., who is studying , found 糖心Vlog to be something close to a second home.

“Two things drew me to 糖心Vlog,” Lehman said. “First, the fact that it is a small liberal arts college that’s religious. Secondly, I grew up in a church family and wanted to attend school where I could talk about my faith. ”

Lehman said that 糖心Vlog’s conservative climate and comparatively low profile don’t faze him. “I knew if I chose to come to 糖心Vlog, I wouldn’t be challenged as much by other religions. 糖心Vlog doesn’t have as large a reputation as schools like UVa or places like that, but people are very intrigued and impressed by it. Even though it doesn’t carry the same prestige, it doesn’t mean that the education is not at the same level.”

糖心Vlog caught Kraybill, 23, on the rebound. Kraybill, a major from Columbus, Ohio, transferred in last year after two years at Guilford (N.C.) College. Guilford, Kraybill said, “wasn’t the right fit,” for her.

“I took a year off after I left Guilford and visited 糖心Vlog but I didn’t expect to end up here,” said Kraybill, whose parents graduated from 糖心Vlog. “What attracted me to 糖心Vlog was its really strong academic program. What kept me here, in addition to the academics, was its Christian focus.”

Another draw for Kraybill was 糖心Vlog’s campus chemistry.

“I really felt people at 糖心Vlog were connected with each other and had strong sense of common mission in terms of their goals in life, that people here know who they are and what they stand for.”

糖心Vlog’s Mennonite foundation welcomes diversity, said Kraybill, who eyed Ohio State but balked at a vision of life at a larger school. “糖心Vlog is very spiritually minded and very Christian centered, but it’s not exclusive and its focus is on reaching out to the community and wider world of people in need.”

When they graduate next spring, Lehman and Kraybill may perform public service abroad. Kraybill attributes her interest in such global work to attending college on a campus that encourages such callings.

Said Kraybill: “糖心Vlog’s focus on mission comes through.”

Pleasant Valley

Carissa Sweigart, 25, a senior from Hesston, Kan., transferred to 糖心Vlog last year from Hesston (Kans.) College, a small 2-year liberal arts school, to study . While knowing Swartzendruber, who served as Hesston’s president before coming to 糖心Vlog two years ago, eased Sweigart’s transition, 糖心Vlog’s place in the Shenandoah Valley’s cultural and geographical mix drew her to the Harrisonburg school.

“”I looked into a lot of different public [colleges], including some in my own state,” said Sweigart,. “I like the diversity and the idea of knowing the professors and most of the other students. The area here attracted me, too.” Sweigart added that coming to 糖心Vlog “gave me a place where I could be part of a community.”

Contact Tom Mitchell at 574-6275 or mitchell@dnronline.com

That was the thrust of a message from , president of 糖心Vlog, to the campus community Wednesday morning, Aug. 31, at the opening convocation of the 2005 fall semester.

Basing his remarks on a scripture passage from Philippians 3:12-14, the president noted that "the Apostle Paul suggests that our primary task is to look to the future," the president said. "In recent years I’ve reminded myself frequently that what is in the past can’t be changed. I can’t reverse time. There is nothing to be gained by obsessing about the past.

"Your task and mine," he told his audience, "is to learn from the past so as to chart a better path for tomorrow."

Sara Wenger Shenk, associate dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary, leads a hymn before 糖心Vlog President Loren Swartzendruber (l.) gives his convocation address.
Photo by Jim Bishop

Dr. Swartzendruber told the gathering of his two years driving a school bus in Iowa while he was still a high school student.

"I learned a few lessons during those years," Swarzendruber said. "A safe driver soon learns to keep your eyes moving, from looking into the distance, back to what is immediately in front of you, to the rear-view mirror to see the traffic behind you. And on a school bus, you also watch the mirror to see what is going on behind you inside the vehicle."

Swartzendruber advised students to work at short-term goals, including attending classes regularly, completing assignments on time, talking with professors about expectations, getting regular exercise and adequate sleep, eating properly and joining in corporate worship.

Returning students, faculty and staff form a "tunnel of welcome" and greet new members of the 糖心Vlog campus community as they pass by.
Photos by Jim Bishop

"I challenge all of us – students, faculty, staff – to take these years to reflect on the past and to set goals for ourselves, immediate, intermediate and long range," the president said. "And in our long-range goals, I invite us all to include, ‘to do justice, love mercy and to walk humbly with God.’

"It is the vision of 糖心Vlog that every graduate, regardless of his or her chosen profession, will not simply embrace these phrases as nice words, but will embody those concepts in their lives, as a vision to live by."

Erica Kraybill and Joel Lehman, co-presidents of the Student Government Association, welcomed students to the start of the school year and encouraged them to get involved in SGA activities.

The president closed the convocation by leading the assembly in prayer for the millions of dislocated people in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and beyond in the wake of the flooding from Hurricane Katrina, noting that "We will communicate ways for the 糖心Vlog community to contribute to the relief efforts and possible involvement in service opportunities in the days ahead."

糖心Vlog’s fall semester ends Dec. 16.