Campus for Christ

In 2004 Wilder Robles, then an assistant professor of international development at the Canadian Mennonite University, and two of his colleagues wrote a letter accusing the university of treating them as "cheap intellectual labor (sic)."

The three worked at the Menno Simons campus, which merged with two other campuses in 1998 to create the CMU.

According to their letter, Robles and his colleagues felt Menno Simons was being pushed to become an explicitly religious campus. None of these faculty members have Mennonite backgrounds, and complained of being sidelined in decision-making at the university because of this.

CMU's Shaftesbury Campus in South Winnipeg.

In 2007, Robles resigned largely because of these reasons. He now works in the University of Manitoba’s faculty of human ecology.

“I couldn’t see any solution,” he says. “I think that the CMU was . . . committed to serving the particular worldview that I found contrary to academic freedom.”

Robles left the university in part because “faith tests” started becoming part of the hiring process. He says it was not clear what this new development meant for the freedom of non-Mennonites to express their academic opinions.

The Canadian Association of University Teachers criticized faith requirements at the CMU in a report released in late October. The nation-wide group is governed by delegates from faculty associations at 122 universities.

James Turk, executive director of the CAUT, says a “faith test” is not an entrance exam, but a requirement that faculty accept their university's set of beliefs.

“Faith tests” can appear in many forms, says Turk, who set up the investigation into the CMU. Job ads can specifically say you must be a Christian in order to apply. At the CMU, potential faculty members may be required to state that they identify themselves as Christian.

 Faith testing

“No university should be making disciples,” says Turk. “They should be helping people think more critically and openly and exposing [them] to a variety of viewpoints.”

Turk says universities are meant to be a place where students and professors can investigate their beliefs and make judgments about them independently. This is limited if everyone at a university is pushed to share the same overarching worldview.

“We see it as a serious violation of academic freedom if any university imposes any ideological or faith obligation,” he says.

Although most faculty must identify themselves as Christian, CMU president Gerald Gerbrandt says the requirement is not as clear-cut as the CAUT report makes it seem.

“We don’t say, ‘You have to believe these 10 doctrines in order to be accepted.’”

Faculty at two of the university’s three campuses are asked if they self-identify as Christian when they are hired, Gerbrandt says. At Menno Simons, there is no such requirement.

No university should be making disciples. — James Turk

The Menno Simons campus has different standards because it is affiliated with the University of Winnipeg and teaches non-religious classes in international development and conflict resolution, says Gerbrandt.

But some educators say there was still pressure from administration.

Mark Burch, Robles’ Menno Simons colleague who co-authored the complaint letter, says tenure track and permanent faculty were still required to endorse the university’s faith.

“The difference between endorse and join was sometimes vague,” he says. “You were also strongly encouraged to participate in certain activities, which involved all kinds of things that I just felt crossed the line for me in terms of what I was prepared to do publicly in relation to my faith.”

Burch left the CMU in 2005 for reasons unrelated to religion, but returned to teach a course on living simply.

As a non-permanent contract instructor, he says he is less concerned about faith-related conflicts than he was when he worked full-time. He also says he values the university’s commitment to justice and peace that comes from Mennonite beliefs.

Colleagues and consequences

Gerbrandt says he is disappointed that the CAUT report encourages other universities not to associate with the CMU.

The document recommends that the University of Winnipeg reconsider its relationship with the Menno Simons campus until faculty have more academic freedom. It also cautions the University of Manitoba to be wary of any relationships with the CMU.

“Are they really saying that in this pluralistic world, you can only work together with those you agree?” asks Gerbrandt.

The CAUT does not officially represent any staff at the university, so it cannot censure or condemn the school.

Are they really saying that ... you can only work together with those you agree? — Gerald Gerbrandt

“We’re not saying the government should put them out of business,” says Turk. He says the public and academic communities have a right to know what academic freedom is like at the CMU, and this was the motivation for its October report.

Turk says he would like to see faith requirements abandoned at the CMU, but he predicts this will not likely happen, as it “would call into question the very essence of the institution.”

Trinity Western University in British Columbia and Crandall University in New Brunswick are also on the CAUT’s list of universities that have faith or ideological requirements. A CAUT investigation into academic freedom at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ont., is underway as well.

Turk points out that concerns about academic freedom at these institutions have nothing to do with their religious focus.

“The overwhelming majority of religious-based universities in Canada do not have faith tests,” he says, citing St. Francis Xavier in Nova Scotia and St. Paul’s University, an institution in Ottawa under the authority of the Vatican, as examples.

“This isn’t about secular versus religious,” says Turk. “We’d be just as upset . . . at a university that said you can only teach here if you’re a Marxist.”

More academic freedom?

Sutherland says it's easier to express personal beliefs at faith-based universities.

John Sutherland, a semi-retired business and economics professor who has taught at both public and faith-based universities, says secular institutions don't necessarily provide greater academic freedom.

Sutherland spent 18 years of his career teaching at Trinity Western.

While working at the University of British Columbia, Sutherland says he had a difficult time incorporating his ethical views into his teaching because they came from his Judeo-Christian beliefs.

He says if a professor had a Marxist view of the world, the rest of the university would consider it interesting and worthy of debate. If he brought up his religious beliefs, Sutherland says many of his colleagues were reluctant to discuss them. 

“At Trinity Western, I was perfectly free to say [my views], so I always felt I had much more academic freedom.”

According to Sutherland, public universities worry about what professors at schools like Trinity Western or the CMU would do if their research led them away from their faith.

“If you had integrity, you would resign,” says Sutherland. “Just like if you were a psychology professor … [if] you came to the conclusion that psychology was bunk, you’d leave.”

Learning with the Lord

Students Evan Menzies and Spencer Andres speak about their experience at Trinity Western University and its Ottawa outpost, the Laurentian Leadership Centre.