(RNS) — A small, conservative Christian college in Pennsylvania has become the latest battleground in the evangelical “woke war.”
Since 2020, concerns about “wokeness” — a term used for those aware of systemic racism and, recently, often connected to critical race theory — have pitted Christians against one another in the pews and in the classroom. Grove City College, nestled in the quiet borough of Grove City an hour north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been a prime example.
On Feb. 16, the college’s board of trustees stated that it “categorically rejects Critical Race Theory and similar ‘critical’ schools of thought as antithetical to GCC’s mission and values.” This week, in response, a petition from Grove City alumni, parents and students asked the school not to inhibit discussions about race and racism on campus.
The board’s decision and the dissenting petition follow months of debate over whether Grove City College has succumbed to “mission-drift” from its traditional values.
The controversy began last fall, when a group of parents and alumni authored a petition raising concerns that critical race theory, an academic framework that sees racism as embedded in institutions and policies, was “threatening the academic and spiritual foundations that make the school distinctly Christian.”
The authors of the Nov. 10 petition, titled “Save GCC from CRT,” called the theory a “destructive and profoundly unbiblical worldview” that sees white people as “intrinsically racist” in a society that “favors Whites and oppresses Blacks and other minorities.” This, they said, undermines the Christian understanding that humans “equally share the image of God.”
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“What’s happening at Grove City is what’s happening within the conservative movement in America,” said John Fea, professor of American history at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Fea told Religion News Service that debates over wokeness and CRT are dividing theologically orthodox evangelicals into two camps: a “Trumpian” wing that sees CRT as antithetical to the gospel, and a “free inquiry” wing that believes CRT can be utilized as a tool for understanding racial justice.
At Grove City College, where just 6% of undergraduates are “multi-ethnic,” according to the website, the board reaffirmed its commitment to “free society, traditional values, and the common good” in its Feb. 16 rejection of critical race theory. The statement also introduced a new committee that will investigate allegations of mission-drift and identify remedial actions that have already taken place or ought to be implemented. Some of the school’s stakeholders, however, fear that the board’s statement could curb free thought on campus, as they made clear in a new petition published Tuesday evening (March 8).
“In discussions with faculty, we have become aware that some faculty may be limiting their course content to avoid allegations of teaching CRT,” the petition says. “We ask that the board make a strong commitment to academic freedom and not ban whole theories or perspectives.” As of Friday morning, the petition had 134 signatures.
