‘This is not going to blow over’
Two alumni of Wheaton School who’ve been outspoken in regards to the Evangelical college’s alleged leftward drift defined earlier this week that their alma mater has more and more gone woke and wishes new management.
Alumni Eric Teetsel and Daniel Davis spent 45 minutes with the Middle for Baptist Management Govt Director William Wolfe on Tuesday, discussing their issues that got here to a head earlier this month when the school deleted a Fb publish congratulating and urging prayer for 1998 alumnus Russell Vought for his appointment within the Trump administration.
Has Wheaton Gone Woke? The Russ Vought Controversy and Fallout (ft. Daniel Davis & Eric Teetsel) https://t.co/c3ozGrrLGW
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— Middle for Baptist Management (@BaptistLeaders) February 25, 2025
After some alumni complained, the varsity eliminated the publish and apologized, claiming “the political scenario surrounding [Vought’s] appointment led to a big concern expressed on-line,” and that “it was not our intention to embroil the School in a political dialogue or dispute.”
Davis, who graduated from Wheaton in 2014 and penned an article for First Issues this month, titled “God and Man at Wheaton,” informed Wolfe he believes the varsity’s dealing with of the Vought incident “actually encapsulated, I feel, the rot within the management at Wheaton that I’ve seen since my time on campus 10 to fifteen years in the past, which has solely born increasingly unhealthy fruit in recent times.”
“This has been years within the making,” he mentioned. “I have been out of faculty for over 10 years, however since I’ve left Wheaton, I’ve met increasingly current alums who’ve had experiences on campus that simply confirmed the drift.”
Davis recalled that “conversations on race began to take an identitarian flip” whereas he was a pupil. He famous in his article for First Issues that in his tenure, there was “a sweeping DEI regime at Wheaton, couched within the Christianese of ‘kingdom variety.'” He remembered a segregated commencement ceremony held for college students of shade.
Teetsel, a member of Wheaton’s class of 2006 who’s the CEO at The Middle for Renewing America, just lately spoke to The Christian Submit about his function in drafting the letter to Wheaton’s board of trustees advocating for management change.
Greater than 1,200 alumni have signed the letter as of Thursday morning.
Teetsel alleged to Wolfe that Wheaton’s school is replete with professors who intentionally flout the varsity’s Assertion of Religion and promulgate unbiblical teachings.
“The issue is individuals who deliberately undermine orthodox Christian teachings as affirmed in Wheaton School’s Assertion of Religion, which each school member, employees member and pupil is required to signal,” he mentioned.
“These are guerrilla warriors for a progressive agenda. They’re knowingly and deliberately and willfully undermining the Assertion of Religion of their school rooms, they usually have a tendency to shut the door simply earlier than they do it, as a result of they know they’re doing it.”
Their subversive angle seeps into their views and instructing on sexuality, gender id, race and even the character of God Himself, Teetsel mentioned.
Each Davis and Teetsel agreed that Wheaton’s trajectory over the previous decade signifies that new management is required, and that Ryken is probably not adequately geared up to information a faculty that’s below religious assault.
Davis mentioned he believes Ryken “is an efficient man who’s personally orthodox and sound.”
“However I feel what we have seen during the last 15 years is that being personally orthodox may be very totally different from having the ability to lead and shield a complete establishment in its orthodoxy,” he mentioned. “And he is simply proved to be a peacemaker, and he has not expelled the unhealthy actors from campus. In truth, he is appeased them.”
Echoing Davis, Teetsel mentioned of Ryken, “It is to not say he isn’t individual, and it is to not say that, in some context, he isn’t chief.”
“However there are specific leaders who’re wanted for sure durations of time, and it is a time when establishments of upper schooling are on the entrance strains of what’s a religious battle: for the soul of the church, for the soul of the nation and for particular person souls.”
Teetsel warned that given its historic fame as a stalwart Christian institution, it might develop into “a weapon in Devil’s arsenal” if it finally ends up sending younger Christians into the world crammed with “these unbiblical concepts [that] have been baptized and sanctioned by this establishment.”
“The Bible teaches us that Devil is prowling round like a lion searching for one thing to devour,” he added. “Now we have to be vigilant about that actuality and we have not been. It requires a sure sort of chief to acknowledge that, and there is no proof that Phil Ryken is that sort of chief.”
Teetsel mentioned he heard that the Wheaton administration’s preliminary response to the swell of incensed alumni was that “there’s nothing to see right here” and that “this can blow over,” however he believes this time is totally different.
“I can see why they’d suppose that as a result of issues have occurred previously they usually have blown over. They do not perceive that this is not going to blow over. Sufficient is sufficient, and we’re not going to let off the fuel till we see ample response,” he mentioned.
Teetsel acknowledged that “perhaps Wheaton will die” like many different traditionally Christian establishments which have fallen away, however he maintains some hope for his alma mater.
“God does not want Wheaton, however I do know that He wish to have Wheaton be part of advancing His kingdom,” he mentioned. “And if there’s one factor that I, as somebody who has been saved by means of the redemptive energy of His grace, if there’s one factor I do know, it is that redemption is actual and that it is by no means too late.”
