Risky for Universities to Ignore Religion, Says Expert

March 9, 2007
United Methodist Reporter

C. John Sommerville, professor emeritas of history at the University of Florida and an expert in the history of universities, commented recently on the trend of universities to concentrate less on acknowledging religious traditions. A reason for that trend, he said, "is that we're all very conscious of cultural differences, of religious differences...All the talk about diversity has made us conscious of these differences."

But he added there is a likely peril in the trend for the universities: "They risk becoming irrelevant. They are not giving American society leadership of any kind. When they were founded that was the hope -- that American society would be led by thinkers rather than by businessmen...The corporate model has become the organizational model of the university, much to the despair of the faculty."