Am I the only one who notices that Cedarville loves telling us how much the buildings cost? The new BS building cost $14 million to build. The Gym cost $15 million. The SSC cost $23 million.

Most of this doesn't even come out of our pockets, as many students like to whine that it does. In contrast to this whining about expenses and rules, I and my nine demerits (this semester) would like to point out a few reasons Cedarville rocks ... Compare this to, say, Bob Jones.

• We can watch movies rated "worse" than G. Granted, we can't watch R-rated movies in the Residence Halls, but that's not all bad, and if you really have a problem with that, just go to the DMC and watch it; that's not a Residence Hall.
• We're allowed to go to movie theaters.
• We're allowed to dance. (Look in the handbook, guys. It says nowhere in there that we can't dance.)
• We can listen to basically whatever music we like, including such immoral, hip-moving music as Jazz, Rock, and Christian Contemporary (Heaven forbid).
• We can play T and E10 rated video games. Question: What the heck is an E10 rating? I've never even heard of it ...
• We just have to be in our Residence Halls past curfew ... Not in bed with the lights out.
• We have open internet access and our emails aren't screened by Big Brother.
• Girls can eat a banana anyway they like. (If you don't get this one, don't think too hard about it ...)
• We're allowed to choose the Church we go to on Sundays, if we go at all.
• We (guys too) can wear necklaces.
• We can wear Abercrombie & Fitch.
• We can play Poker, just not for money.
• We can socialize (and date) in coed groups without a chaperone.

If you aren't aware of the current Cedarville "situation," I won't bother enlightening you too much. You can enlighten yourself by going here or here for Cedarville's opinion and here for the outsider's opinion. There's also some good information here from an anonymous point of view. I especially like this blog because they don't always give an opinion, they just state the facts (and cite their sources, unlike the outsider's opinion ...)

Cedarville has been getting some publicity as of late (thanks, Dayton Daily News and Columbus Dispatch)! On the front cover of the Dayton Daily News paper on Sunday, March 30th, there was a large picture of two Cedarville girls walking on a sidewalk. The headline? "Bible Profs Fired, 'A Climate of Fear at Cedarville U.'" Personally, I liked this rendition by David Sizemore all the more. I was shocked to read this article for two reasons. 1.) This happened at the end of last year and somewhat over the Summer. The Board of Trustees voted in January, making their firing decision final. It's over, people! 2.) I'm not afraid. Nobody's afraid. What "climate of fear?" You'd think that, well, since I live on this campus, I would notice if everyone were crying themselves to sleep every night.

Another irony is the fact that, when the newspaper was on campus, they were escorted by Dr. Ruby, and he had to answer all their hard-hitting questions. The reporters were under strict orders that they were not allowed to take photographs, but they could ask as many questions as they like. So, please explain to me how this article has a huge picture, front-and-center? Some people who are anti-Cedarville in this fight like to blame Dr. Ruby for the fact that pictures were taken, but I'll bet you one thing: They didn't take them while he was around! There are people on this campus all the time taking pictures; nobody stops you! All they had to do was come back later. But I'd like to speak to the reporters for a moment. Question: If you were trying to capture an image that would represent your "fearful" title, why did you choose to print a picture of two girls laughing and smiling, walking along happily with each other? Very fearful ...

The author of the article is apparently a Christian and felt it was her duty to write the article out of concern. She claims she wrote the article based on an "anonymous phone call." Your credibility is skyrocketing in my mind. I didn't see her interviewing me, though apparently she stayed on campus "researching" for four days.

There's two main groups up on Facebook, where all proper debates should take place. There's the "I support Cedarville" side and the "I want Cedarville destroyed" side. Some fans of the latter group may jump all over me, telling me all they really want is "the truth," not to destroy Cedarville, but let's think about the logic. What are you accomplishing by sticking your nose where it doesn't belong? Absolutely nothing! And as Cedarville Faculty continues to deny you any facts, and third-party sources keep making up stories to feed you, you just get more and more angry towards Cedarville. And for what? To satisfy your curiosity?

On the anti-Cedarville Facebook group, they proudly sport the banner under their description, "Opposing views are welcome but individuals will be removed from the group who are known to have no connection to the situation and/or who base their authority on anonymous sources." Interesting statement. It's false. I joined the group and posted on the wall, explaining to all the members that, no matter how much they kept asking, Cedarville would never give them "the truth" that they wanted due to simple ethics and legal confidentiality. I also explained that, no matter what, I supported Cedarville and didn't want to ask questions because I trusted Dr. Brown and the Board of Trustees. It's their job to work with these types of decisions, not mine. Only a few hours went by before my wall post was deleted and I was sufficiently blocked from the group. A further message from the group's creator informed me that he was glad I was "very informed [and had] read everything Cedarville has communicated to [me]." I replied and thanked him, of course. And, yes, it's true, I've read everything Cedarville has fed me. I've also read all the other information I can get my hands on to try to make sense of it and, quite honestly, I can't! Interestingly, the admin of this anti-Cedarville group is a Cedarville alumni who graduated last year. Guess what that means? He doesn't even live on campus anymore! I'm glad one of the people who has the most adamant voice against Cedarville in this situation isn't even in the middle of it anymore. Not surprisingly, most of the anti-Cedarville articles and information is from off-campus sources. That seems really credible.

What I find ironic is that this group and all its members are demanding that they deserve to know why these profs were fired when, in reality, they have no right. They say the firings were unethical and this gives them the right to know. (Really?) Apparently what they don't understand is that their demands are equally unethical, if not more so. I would say more so because the administration here at Cedarville obviously had a reason for doing what they did, and this group has no viable reason, except gossip, for their demands. They argue that Cedarville is hiding things from us and that they won't let us see all the facts. Ironically, however, this very group itself is hypocritical in that manner since they aren't accepting outside opinions either! And when an opposing view comes onto the wall, they are quick to delete it and block the user. Hmm ... Doesn't that sound suspicious to you?

I have now made my home at the pro-Cedarville group and am no longer afraid of being blocked. But I can tell you this: I've never felt so proud of being blocked from a group :). It made my week to know that I hit such a sensitive nerve that they didn't want what I said to get out. Heaven forbid people actually know the truth. The only truth they're very going to understand in this situation because, let me say this one more time people ... Cedarville will never, EVER give you this information!

Did I miss the memo saying Cedarville was a perfect college? Oh, wait. There wasn't one! There's no such thing as a perfect college. Turns out every college has issues like these. (I know, who knew, right?) I've about had it with people griping about the school. What happened to Philippians 2:14 "Do everything without grumbling or complaining?" Or what about Romans 1:29-32? "They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, senseless, covenenat-breakers, heartless, ruthless. Although they fully know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them." (Please don't take this as I think you should die ...) People hop all over our President for having a book on Postmodernism on his "Books to Read" list. Why is this a bad thing? Additionally, if we have a Chapel speaker come who has a very Postmodern point of view and, perhaps, isn't even 100% in line with the Cedarville's doctrinal statement, this doesn't mean we're ready to go to Hell. Cedarville isn't about spoon feeding it's students a worldview and saying, "Get out of here. Figure the world out yourself." Cedarville is all about presenting the truth from God's word and allowing us to mold our worldview based upon that guide. This way, when we get into the real world, we know how to react to situations on our own, we aren't dependent on a prof to tell us how to react. The anti-Cedarville groups want to the the truth about this so-called "faculty exodus" at Cedarville, claiming it is leading us down the path of Postmodernism, when in reality, the professors were probably fired for violating the Faculty Handbook. The administration at Cedarville has told us the firings were not based on a Theological issue, so they were probably based on misconduct and abuse of authority. Yes, that can get you fired. We really have no reasonable reason to think this isn't true, so making things up and demanding to know the "real" reason for the firings is just ludicrous.

In conclusion, I would like to say this publicly to Dr. Brown, the Board of Trustees, Dr. Ruby, Dr. Milliman, and everyone else in the administration taking all the heat for this: "I love you guys. I appreciate you guys. I respect your decisions, and as far as I'm concerned, this is a 'closed case.' I'm sorry the media and people off campus are printing slanderous things against you and defaming you verbally, but since when has the media actually given a proper representation of something? That doesn't sell stories ... So stay strong! I'm praying for all of you."

Feel free to post any arguments you have with this post. I'm quite open to all points of view, and I will not delete your comment. But no matter what you tell me, I will continue to support our administration. But to those of you who enjoy griping about the rules and expenses associated with Cedarville University and constantly trying to find the schools Biblical faults (and making them up when you can't find them), I wonder ... Why are you coming here?

Tags: Cedarville