On March 12, the Office of Intercultural Engagement at Wheaton College hosted the Historical Review Spring Symposium, an event discussing repentance, responsibility and renewal after the college’s release of the Historical Review Task Force (HRTF) report in September, which presented the findings of a two-year study of the college’s racial history. The symposium drew an audience of faculty members, Wheaton locals and a few students to Barrows Auditorium at 7 p.m.
The event began with an introductory video from President Philip Ryken, in which he apologized for his absence but emphasized the importance of continual repentance. Following the video, the Wheaton College Gospel Choir led the audience in worship.
Charlie Dates, senior pastor at Chicago’s Progressive Baptist Church and Salem Baptist Church – two predominantly Black churches – delivered a message about how the college can continue to strive toward these virtues, especially on racial justice issues.
Dates began with Amos 5, which he said calls Christians to repentance and justice.
“God rejects any form of worship that neglects justice,” he said. “The sad warning of this passage is that the church itself, and dare I say even Christian institutions like yours, can sometimes be the biggest obstructions to justice in the world.”
He told the audience the institution must set new standards to chart a path toward renewal. As other Christian colleges and universities close, Dates argued, the college has an opportunity to distinguish itself by producing future leaders with a modern theological education.
“Maybe Wheaton will seek not just to be the Ivy League of Christian institutions but the kind of institution that raises up relevant Christian leaders,” he said. “Leaders who are not so addicted to old white male theology, so drunk on the commentaries of slaveholders that they can break away from white supremacy in our Scripture reading and preach the truth to folk who are broken and hurting.”
The Historical Review Task Force, made up of faculty, staff and students, examined the college’s policies, campus attitudes and notable events regarding race from 1860 to 2000. The findings revealed both Wheaton’s consistency with white evangelical attitudes toward people of color throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and times when the institution parted from larger evangelical and cultural narratives to welcome students and community members of color. As a response, the administration said in the report’s conclusion that it would rename the library, long named for the third president, J. Oliver Buswell, who, the report showed, voiced prejudicial concern about enrolling students of color and interracial dating during his tenure.
In an interview with the Record in February, Michael McKoy, professor of politics and international relations, talked about the experiences that people of color can and have had in white spaces like Wheaton College.
“When you’re a person of color, you’re always welcomed as a guest. You’re a guest, which means you’re welcome and wanted,” he said. “But you are a guest, which means you don’t make the rules. And when you desire to make the rules, you are reminded quickly that you are a guest.”
Although McKoy explained that this hasn’t necessarily been his experience at the college, he said he would assume this has been the reality for many students of color at Wheaton. As an example of how some in the college’s community hold on to more traditional white evangelical views about race, he cited the reactions to the administration’s decision in May 2021 to change the wording of the Jim Elliot memorial plaque in Edman Chapel, which had formerly referred to indigenous peoples as “savages.”
“To me, that was a relatively noncontroversial change. Savage is just not a word we would use,” McKoy said. “Yet surprisingly, for many people with these deep ties to Wheaton culture, it was hard to let that go. The fact that there would have to be a long discussion about it suggests who this place is fundamentally for.”
McKoy said he hopes that the college’s future plans will include building relationships with the indigenous tribes who once resided on the land where the college’s campuses, including HoneyRock and the Black Hills Science Station, are now located.
“I would love to see Wheaton reconcile with the native owners of the property and have real discussions about topics such as co-ownership of HoneyRock,” he said. “It is a hard conversation to have, but when you think something is important, you talk about how hard it is, not as a way of discouragement, but as a way of saying, ‘What do we need to do?’”
Scarlet Smith, a Gospel Choir member and a first-year student studying biblical and theological studies, said she feels similarly to McKoy. After the symposium, Smith said she hopes the college will continue moving from talking about reconciliation toward policies that make progress on the historical issues revealed in the report.
“I thought about how different of a campus it would be if we dedicated the time and money to accept 400 students of color next year,” she said, referring to an idea presented at the symposium that the college should accept more Black students. “That would be a major change, but at the same time, why haven’t we? Wheaton must try harder to push toward inclusion and equity instead of just saying they’re going to.”
