“As before, we do not write to endorse or condemn CRT as a legal theory,” the petition, which has 579 signatures as of Monday afternoon, says. “In fact, CRT continues to be a distraction. In their report, the Ad Hoc Committee fell into the trap of viewing any discussion of racism as indicative of CRT.”
Jemar Tisby speaks at Grove City College in Oct. 2020, in Grove City, Pennsylvania. Video screen grab
A separate petition asks the board to issue a public apology to historian Jemar Tisby after the report characterized inviting him to speak at a 2020 chapel service as a “mistake.”
Petitions have been a popular vehicle for discontent since November, when a group of parents, students and alumni published an initial petition that accused the school of promoting CRT. Last Friday, the original petitioners posted a new announcement, praising the committee for its rigorous investigation and for vindicating them.
“There is now no doubt about it; CRT has unfortunately gained a foothold at a college that rightly prides itself on its commitment to truth, its Christian worldview, and its conservative values. Now we can focus on what needs to be done to fix this.”
Isaac Willour, a sophomore political science major at Grove City who wrote about the controversy earlier this year in National Review, said it’s a shame Grove City has become a talking point in the larger culture war. He told Religion News Service the debate should have been a campus matter, and its nationalization has only made the campus culture more polarized.
“So much of this has been overblown. The claims of wokeness are overblown. The pushback has been overblown, the pushback to the report is a little bit overblown,” he said. Willour believes most students are upset about the introduction to the report, which includes what he called “speculations” about the definition of critical race theory. In reality, he said, the introduction doesn’t carry weight — it’s the recommendations that will impact the school, and it’s still not clear if or how those will be enforced.
Grove City College president Paul McNulty. Photo courtesy of Grove City College
In an email to Religion News Service, President Paul McNulty said the board is still determining how to address the report at its May 13 meeting. He also clarified that the recommendation to re-add “conservative” to the mission statement is the only item in the report that specifically requires board action.
Lewis believes it’s now up to the board whether the school will prioritize its faith or fall prey to the culture wars. For him, the debate has never been about CRT. It’s about whether the school will uphold biblical principles, including the command to love one’s neighbor. Lewis says the committee failed to do so when they maligned his colleagues’ work — including that of his co-teacher Gina Blackburn, as well as the director of multicultural education and initiatives, Justin Jose, and Chaplain Donald Opitz.
“These are amazing Christian people, and they — we — have not been treated in a supportive, Christian manner,” Lewis said. “That is my biggest disappointment.”
According to McNulty, the dispute presents an opportunity to overcome the divisiveness found in broader culture. “We must follow Christ’s command to love one another and then take up our shared calling to be peacemakers,” he said. “No Christian community will achieve unity of thought, but it can be united in love.”
This article originally appeared here.
