Currents Magazine Fall 2013

IS PEPPERDINE A STRONGLY RELIGIOUS AND
CONSERVATIVE COMMUNITY?
PRESTON SCHLAGEL
(sophomore) Pepperdine itself caters to the
religious crowd on campus; there
I think that [Pepperdine] is a is a strong and active community
very religious school, but it has a for those wishing to pursue the religious
options that Pepperdine of-
good balance between having a
good time and enjoying the religious
aspects.
equally large presence on campus
fers. However, there seems to be an
with little or no religious affiliation.
Stereotypes or outside perceptions
of the university do not seem to focus
on this group as
PAUTSCH
much.
After experiencing my freshman
year at Pepperdine, I found
my perception to be somewhat
incorrect. I did encounter people
who I consider to be extremely
religious and conservative, but I
also met quite a few people at the
complete opposite end of the spectrum.
Generally speaking, Pepperdine
does have a very conservative
and religious community, but I was
surprised to meet such a variety of
people.
RUNK
Being in my third year, I’ve
come to find that Pepperdine has
more of a religious undertone,
rather an outright identity, but
since we’re a smaller community, it
appears more polarized than it really
is. I think it’s also important to
point out that there is a fair share
of students in the community that
aren’t religious at all or put on a
façade that they are “good Christians,”
but then go out and smoke
and drink on Saturday nights before
church on Sunday morning.
BUCKLEY
LEE
I believe that although we
are indeed a religious community,
Pepperdine is not a conservatively
Christian university where
it enforces, rather than demonstrates,Christian
values onto its
students like some Christian universities
do today … In Pepperdine,
students are bestowed with
the right to freely choose how they
wish to worship God or practice
Christianity. Instead of restricting,
regulating or directing the students’
religious lives in set, conservative
and traditional methods, our
administration actually supports
the students’ freedom to worship
however they wish.
MATTHEWS
I taught in rural Arkansas for
4 years at a Church of Christ university
with a similar faith based
mission as Pepperdine. Pepperdine
is generally viewed as a non-conservative
institution with only
marginal ties to the Churches of
Christ. When one faculty member,
for example, found out that I
was moving to Pepperdine, his response
was that I should work on
converting some of the faculty. In
the context of Southern California,
Pepperdine appears to be conservative,
which is perceived differently
in somewhere like Arkansas.
What students complain about
being conservative here at Pepperdine,
(chapel once a week and three
semesters of courses in Religion) is
viewed as quite liberal in Arksansas
where the requirements include
daily chapel and eight semesters of
courses in Religion.
JONES JOLIVET
I believe it takes the whole
community of students, faculty,
alumni, boards, administrators,
staff and community partners to
enact and embody [the aforementioned]
vision. This is an organic
process that invites us a community
of learners to practice virtues
like humility, truth seeking, sacrificial
love, justice, sense of interdependency
and understanding. This
is a work in progress, to be sure, but
I’m confident that our faith serves
as a resource to us in cultivating
our communal life together.
26 | Currents