By Lloyd Mackey

TRINITY WESTERN University (TWU) works within a definition of academic freedom which includes a "generous orthodoxy" in its approach to faith matters, according to its president, Jonathan Raymond.

And "we will stay the course" on that stance, he added, despite a 25-page "report of inquiry" from the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT). The report concludes TWU's policies "allow for unwarranted and unacceptable constraints on academic freedom."

The inquiry took place over the past 16 months, and its report was authored by William Bruneau, a University of British Columbia education professor emeritus; and Thomas Friedman of the English and modern languages department of Thompson Rivers University.

CAUT functions in many ways like a teachers' union. Many Canadian universities have CAUT local associations - although TWU is not among them.

In an interview with CC.com, Raymond pointed out that TWU - based in Langley, B.C. -- fits well into the definition of academic freedom adopted by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), of which Trinity "has been a well-accepted member for 25 years."

Noted the TWU president: "Here is the heart of it: We are a Christian institution - systemically Christian - in identity and in fidelity to our Charter, which requires us to take that posture."

That said, Raymond pointed out that Trinity is fully included in arrangements that permit interchanges with British Columbia's public universities on faculty tenure and curriculum planning.

The school, which enrolls around 4,000, is considered a bit of an anomaly, which may well be why CAUT decided to investigate it. The association has indicated its intention of developing similar 'inquiries' into Canadian Mennonite (CMU) and Crandall (formerly Atlantic Baptist) universities in Winnipeg and Moncton, respectively, and Redeemer University College near Hamilton. They are similar in faith emphases, but each has about one-third the student body of Trinity.

All three, like Trinity, require faculty members to sign Christian faith statements. And they all accept the academic freedom statement adopted by the AUCC.

Not all Christian universities require such statements to be signed by faculty members. In a footnote in its report, the CAUT points out that St. Thomas University, a Catholic institution in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and Kings University College, a Reformed-rooted school in Edmonton, welcome faculty and students "from all faiths and backgrounds."

The ultimate recommendation in the inquiry report is to create and disseminate a "list" of institutions whose faculty relations practices do not fit the CAUT criteria.

The report quoted extensively from various TWU statements on faith and practice to build its case that, despite the school's high academic standards, the statements that faculty signed precluded them from the kind of academic freedom that CAUT calls for.

David Robinson, CAUT associate executive director for research and advocacy, readily agreed in a phone interview with CC.com that the association's definition of academic freedom is different from that of the AUCC.

He said that CAUT's definition is the "generally accepted model," adding that "ours is the consistent model based on the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations) definition of the status of teachers (and related issues)."

Under that model, Robinson asserted, "professors and academic staff should be able to raise questions without being confined to a specific doctrine or belief."

He said that an institution with a narrower approach to academic freedom, in CAUT's view, "would not be considered a real university," no matter how high its academic standards.

Robinson suggested that emerging faith-based educational institutions need to keep in mind the history of universities, particularly relating to the quest to "be free of orthodoxy."

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One of the issues, he agreed, related to an institution's age and maturity. Catholic universities in Canada, for example, like St. Francis Xavier, have been able to adapt to the pressure of secularization, yet retain their religious roots.

"We are happy to continue the dialogue" with TWU and similar schools, "to help in their adjustment," he noted.

The CAUT investigation into CMU will be conducted by John Baker of the University of Calgary philosophy department; and Mark Gabbert, head of the history department at the University of Manitoba.

Raymond says Trinity welcomes - and has - students from non-Christian and non-faith backgrounds. They sign a community covenant which allows them to recognize that they are studying within a Christian framework.

He also speaks of CAUT's seeming attempt to "stereotype" Trinity in a "narrow fundamentalist context."

Raymond portrays the school as offering a "broadening experience. We are geared to help students find their way within a generously orthodox context. We will always be challenged, and we will wear the [CAUT censure] badge with honour."

TWU will be 50 years old in 2012. "And we are not unhappy when we are compared with Wheaton College, which is 150 years old and remains anchored in its [concept of] Christ preeminent."

Both the CAUT report and Raymond's four-page response are on the CAUT web page (www.caut.ca). In his response, the TWU president pointed out that the association commenced its inquiry "without any 'informal negotiation' with us - which was required by CAUT's own policies."

He said that the teacher group created a "negative perception throughout the province before TWU even had opportunity to discuss this matter with CAUT."

Raymond stressed that Trinity was created by law to be a Christian university. "However, within that legal mandate, TWU welcomes a broad diversity of viewpoints. Faculty and staff come to [the school] from a wide spectrum of Christian backgrounds. Students need not have any religious belief to attend TWU. While [it] is a faith-based university, it is also a richly diverse community and certainly not narrowly 'homogenous.' The (CAUT) report is simply in error in describing the TWU community in this way."

People representing a variety of interests have weighed in on the issue.

John Stackhouse, a Regent College theology and culture professor, and leading authority on Canadian evangelicalism, finds CAUT's stance on academic freedom to be a "curious claim" and "hegemonic" in nature, by "insisting that there is only one way of pursuing legitimate university education."

He noted: "As one who has been educated in and has taught at both kinds of institutions, I believe CAUT is right to champion academic freedom. I also aver that TWU is right to champion confessional education and scholarship."

Charles Lewis and Peter McKnight wrote pieces on the CAUT-TWU issue for the National Post and the Vancouver Sun, which appeared January 29 and February 6, respectively.

One unidentified non-Christian TWU student, blog-responding to Lewis' story, said: "I have never felt any pressure from my professors, to need to think a certain way. We are given the choice: they teach us both what they believe and what others believe -- and we, in the end, choose ourselves. These people are not ignorant, Bible-thumping Jesus freaks. They deserve the respect that they have earned in academia."

The Princeton-based National Association of Scholars' communication director, Ashley Thorne, (www.nas.org) suggested tongue-in-cheek that "we at the NAS are considering an investigation to see whether we should put the CAUT on our list of organizations that misappropriate the notion of academic freedom and endanger true freedom of inquiry."

Raymond, for his part, said the university will shortly issue a full statement on the issue, and its plans with respect to the CAUT report.

And he said he is appreciative of the fact that, while CAUT refused to withdraw the inquiry report from its website, the association did post Trinity's response just below that report.

February 11/2010