The most recent version of the music programming guide at Wheaton College states that student organizations playing music in public should choose music that promotes “holy and healthy living” and play at least some music with Christian lyrics.
These guidelines apply to music played at athletic events, campus dances, the Chrouser Sports Complex weight room, the campus bookstore, Sam’s coffee house and other on-campus public spaces.
College officials are also working on producing new AI-generated playlists for campus use — which will include songs that fit the guidelines.
Although the wording has mostly remained the same, new suggestions for how to handle the guidelines were implemented after complaints that music guidelines already in place were not being followed, said Steve Ivester, dean for student engagement. Ivester said the new guidelines are a “recast vision” rather than new rules.
The guidelines were revised as of July 24. This August, Ivester led a review of the revised guidelines regarding implementation.
The group who oversaw the changes included Paul Chelsen, vice president for student development; Mike Schauer, athletics director and head basketball coach; Tony Dawson, director of auxiliary services; Billye Kee, associate director of Multicultural Development; and Stevener Gaskin, director of Intercultural Arts and Media. Their authority spans Chrouser Sports Complex, Sam’s Café, the college’s bookstore, athletic fields and campus dances.
Music guideline conversations have been ongoing since before 1989, when Schauer started attending Wheaton College as a freshman, the coach told the Record. Ever since the ban on dancing ended at the first college-sponsored dance in 2003, music on campus has increased, causing more frequent analyses of the guidelines.
The 2024-2025 Student Involvement Programming Guide states that music guidelines should “encourage listeners to love God and to love others.” The guide also says that music played in public venues should honor God.
The change to the guideline included the implementation of “Soundtrack,” a music platform that utilizes artificial intelligence.
The program, overseen by Gaskin, creates music playlists with the criteria it is given, allowing a and faculty at the college to play music according to the values in the Community Covenant.
Until the “Soundtrack” streaming service is in place, students play their own selection or college-provided playlists.
Schauer sent an email to the college’s coaches suggesting that 20 percent of all music should be Christian. His hope is that music at practices is akin to how the college approaches “Christ-centered” education.
“Like much of Wheaton, we do not want to eliminate things that are of value that come from the ‘secular world.’ We’re not isolating you to only read Christian authors, Christian philosophers or church history,” he said.
That 20 percent rule is being used in other settings.
Abby Lawson, a junior studying business economics and Spanish, is an employee at Sam’s Cafe who felt like the “recast vision” is ambiguous. Before this year, she already played music that she understood to have matched the values set by the Covenant, and now she feels restrained.
“If the college has to mandate that all music that’s played be 20 percent Christian, they’re not doing a good enough job of encouraging students to voluntarily practice Christian values,” she said. “It seems like there’s some other flaw in the system that should be addressed, instead of just trying to regulate what students are listening to.”
With differing interpretations and mixed messages about purpose, Olivia Wiebe, senior history major and swim team member, was confused. After first hearing of the 20 percent suggestion via her coach, she was curious most about its philosophy.
“People might have very strong opinions about why you do communion, the role of community even in All-School Communion or in chapel.” she said. “You sometimes wonder, does the school really have the right to say I have to be listening to this amount of Christian music?”
She was curious as to why the communication of the guideline practice changes didn’t follow the Community Covenant’s example of leading with the why, not the what.
“Whenever a school sends out rules, especially if it’s a school that’s based on Christian principles, they should have a reason behind why they do things,” she said. “Instead of emphasizing 20 percent Christian music, explain why first, and I think students would be a lot more receptive to it.”
The vision of Ivester differed slightly from Schauer.
Although he also believes in playing music that aligns with the values of the college as a Christian institution, he does not think that the means by which that is done has to be through Christian music; it may also be through non-Christian music that affirms foundational biblical truths.
“While a lot of people might feel like it’s in the background, there’s a lot of people who are impacted by the words that pop up out of nowhere and how that influences the atmosphere and dynamic we’re trying to create on campus that we want to be thoughtful about,” Ivester said.
Lawson echoed his sentiment, feeling that music that is not categorized as worship music has a contextually appropriate time and place. As a track athlete for Wheaton, Lawson frequently is in the weight room, feeling that hymn-like worship music with a “slower beat” is not the best fit there.
“Giving students freedom to listen to the kind of music they like on campus is important for keeping students happy. We don’t have a dress code so that students can come and express themselves how they want to,” Lawson said. “I believe you can listen to music that’s not Christian and not be going against Christian values and morals.”
Ellen Love, a sophomore psychology major and member of the Women’s soccer team, does not believe that there should be any suggestion or requirement by athletics to include Christian music at games. Love believes explicitly Christian music is not needed to prepare for games.
“I believe we represent Christ through our actions on and off the field, which is why we publicly pray and invite the opposing team to pray with us after the game and avoid unsportsmanlike behavior,” Love said.
While freedom is of value to Ivester, he has seen it abused at times in his own consumption of music when he failed to pay attention to the lyrical messages. In that spirit, he wants students to discern the content they take in.
“Guidelines summarize what the Community Covenant does and does not affirm in music lyrics to help facilitate decision making that practices responsible Christian freedom, and that’s beautiful in my mind,” Ivester said. “There’s some Christian music that probably is not careful theologically, so I want us to evaluate those kinds of things and what we’re consuming.”
