Colorado Christian University

Date: Mar 15 2008
Major: Other (This Major's Salary over time)
During the majority of my time there, Colorado Christian University was by my lights a respectable school: professors were free teach according to their judgments, in consistency with established norms of academic freedom; students were free to think, dissent, and the exchange of ideas was cordial; and students went on to succeed in their fields.

However, when former U.S. Senator William Armstrong became president, Colorado Christian University took a rapid downward turn. "Strategic Objectives" were implemented, which made CCU's curriculum virtually synonymous with Religious Right dogma. Professors were fired for encouraging students to consider the consequences of capitalism. Other professors voluntarily left the University when a narrow curriculum was imposed on them. Narrowly-educated religious studies professors became advisers of the Global Studies program. A class on African history and society is in the process of being disbanded because President Armstrong does not believe the continent of Africa has any geopolitical consequence for the United States. The class "Global Social Justice" is being renamed to "Global Management" to reflect a more capitalistic approach to world affairs. Professors are reportedly miserable and applying to work elsewhere. Student enrollment is declining rapidly; and hundreds of students have transferred since Armstrong became president.

Colorado Christian University has ceased to become an effective academic institution. For students (or the parents of students) seeking the most narrow of Christian educations, pick CCU. But consider first Biola, Liberty, Oral Roberts, Wheaton, Gordon, Westmont, and others: these institutions, while undeniably conservative, at least have the pretenses of being real colleges. CCU lacks both the educational merits of a liberal arts college, AND the general respectability that the schools listed above continue to maintain. I am thoroughly unimpressed with Colorado Christian University, and thoroughly ashamed of the direction Armstrong has taken the school.