No Protestant Zone at Georgetown
Georgetown University officials citing a desire to centralize the administration of
Protestant campus ministry groups, severed its ties with all of its affiliated ministry organizations last week, barring many long-established religious groups from operating on campus according to a report in The Hoya.
Groups that include the InterVarsity, the Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship and Crossroad Campus Christian Fellowship will be unable to conduct activities if they are not run solely by students which many are not since they are operated by churches or other outside groups.
In a letter to the ministries from Protestant Chaplain Team Leader Rev. Constance C. Wheeler said as a result of a change in direction they were severing their ties with the organizations. The letter also stated that “all websites linking your ministries to a presence at Georgetown University will need to be modified to reflect the terminated relationship”. Wheeler ended by saying that “While we realize this comes as a great disappointment, please know we are moving forward with this decision only after much dialogue with the Lord.” And that the ministries will “always be kept in our prayers.”
The University is certainly free to implement any policy that it sees fit to, but what really upsets the now banned groups is the way the school chose to inform them. Several people who spoke to The Hoya said that they attended a meeting last week with administrators in which they announced the policy but prevented any feedback or discussion.
According to Tim Ratp an adult leader of the Campus Crossroad Christian Fellowship the administration was apparently concerned that they didn’t know what the groups were doing on campus, yet when invited to attend some of their meetings they refused to come.
Unfortunately for students, Georgetown like many other universities and colleges may preach freedom of speech and religion, but they practice something quite different.
Don Irvine is the chairman of Accuracy in Media, Accuracy in Academia’s parent organization.
Don Irvine
Donald Irvine is the chairman of of Accuracy in Academia (AIA), a non-profit research group reporting on bias in education. Irvine follows his father’s legacy, Reed Irvine, to critically analyze the liberal media’s bias and brings over thirty years of media analysis experience. He has published countless blog posts and articles on media bias, in context of current events, and he has been interviewed by many news media outlets during his professional career. He currently hosts a livestream weekly show on AIA’s Facebook page which discusses current events.
Irvine graduated from the University of Maryland and rose up the ranks to become chairman of Accuracy in Media until his transition to AIA.
He resides in the suburbs around the nation’s capital and is a proud father and grandfather.
