I recently finished Rick Ostrander’s memoir focused on his career in evangelical higher education. Among Rick’s many stops in Christian college leadership was Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He served as provost at the university from 2009 to 2015.
Today I was struck by a few passages from Rick’s book, Academically Speaking: Lessons from a Life in Christian Higher Education.
Here is a passage on technology:
…While Cornerstone subsequently did make some progress in digital learning, I tended to identify with my traditionalist colleagues in the Humanities Divisions such as philosophy professor Matt Bonzo, a Wendell Berry disciple who ran a small farm north of the city, and Michael Stevens, who was thoroughly and charmingly inept with technology.
In the following passage, Rick describes his daily tour of Cornerstone’s campus in the years he served as provost:
…Then it’s time to tour campus. I’ve developed a circuit after lunch that takes me through every faculty and academic building on the way back to my office (it’s a small campus). I head south out of the Student Center and enter the Faculty Office Building, a.k.a. Fowler’s Folly, home to the Humanities and Bible Divisions. I drop in on a few professors before ending up at the corner office occupied by Matt Bonzo, the Wendell Berry-reading head of the Institute for Christianity and Cultural Engagement, which boasts the memorable acronym of ICCE (pronounced “Icky”). Matt is a friend and trusted advisor who I count on to convey the unvarnished truth about the faculty culture.
Last Spring, ten Cornerstone faculty, including Matt Bonzo, either left Cornerstone or were forced out by the administration. This is the same administration, led by president Gerson Moreno-Riaño, that received a 42-6 vote of no confidence by the faculty in October 2021. Learn more about the October 2021 controversy here and here and here.
Last week, Cornerstone made more cuts. The humanities and music programs were eliminated. Seven tenured faculty were fired, including Michael Stevens (mentioned in the Ostrander excerpt above). As I write, there are no full time faculty in history, literature, writing, languages, philosophy, or theology. If its website is any indication, Cornerstone actually still believes it is a “liberal arts college.”
These cuts were not acknowledged publicly by the university and neither the president nor board acknowledged the lifetime of work done by these faculty. They did not even get a thank you. Some of these faculty spent the better part of their careers serving Cornerstone University. Some of them taught at the Christian school for more than 25 years.
Nearly all of the Cornerstone faculty who voted “no confidence” in 2021 are gone.
Arts and humanities students at Cornerstone recently received this poorly written e-mail from the administration:
Dear “student”
As we continuously do, we have been praying for your summer initiatives whether they be restful or productive or a healthy combination.
This summer, the university leadership teams are busy preparing for your return and the welcome of our new students in August. There is much good, hard work to be done all across campus.
Refinements are necessary within all institutions, whether they be ministries or industries, and Cornerstone University is not exempt from the need for continuous assessment and evaluation of our operations and academic offerings. For the past many years, leaders have shared with students our desire to protect our beautiful mission as well as expand its reach to more students and communities.
For the past 18 months, the university’s Vice President for Academics, Dr. Bradford Sample, has been carefully reviewing six years of student data trends and course choices by our on-campus and online students, and the results of this review prompted several academic refinements in fall of 2023 and additional changes effective fall 2024. These refinements have the unified unanimous support of the board of trustees and the university’s executive team.
A small number of majors will be merged into larger market-aligned programs for future students.
A small number of majors will be discontinued for new students even as we offer teach-outs to all current students.
Faculty resources will be reallocated and deployed to support growing majors and market-aligned programs for the future, including psychology, counseling, social work, chemistry, math, nursing, engineering, business data analytics, and media production.
Decisions like these often leave people with questions. In this case, some faculty positions will also be reduced where there are not enough student enrollments in impacted majors. The university is committed to maintaining a robust full-time faculty population to support the majors and courses that students are selecting, but when enrollment trends are shifting from one discipline to another, faculty roles and expertise must adapt. Any impacted faculty have been generously supported by the university in transition plans and separation agreements.
Our records indicate that you are enrolled in an academic major that was a part of last year’s academic updates, and you are already involved in a teach-out plan. This announcement does not change your teach-out plan, and as a current student, this change will not affect your graduation plans — you will be able to complete the major you chose.
The academic advising and Spiritual Formation & Christian Community (SFCC) teams will reach out to discuss what this change may mean for your schedule and any registration considerations for the fall. They are creating customized plans for each student in the impacted programs to provide a clear path to graduation.
We know change is rarely easy or comfortable. We know you desire transparency when possible, and we know that you need to have outlets for questions and discussions. Our SFCC and advising teams are standing by to support you when questions arise over the summer and when the new school year begins.
We do pray for the LORD’s perfect peace to surround you.
And then there is the following announcement (June 7, 2024 ) from Cornerstone’s website. It is titled “Cornerstone Continues to Advance Growth Plans“:
In February, Cornerstone University announced its first uptick in student enrollment in more than a decade. Simultaneously, the university has been engaged in a comprehensive, multi-year data analysis of student career aspirations, workforce demands and the commitment to Christian mission.
This week, the Cornerstone University Board of Trustees announced unanimous support for the institution to invest in and grow existing high-demand programs like business, finance, nursing, education, engineering, exercise science, and clinical counseling. Cornerstone will also offer new online programs in data analytics, counseling for ministry and Biblical studies. Additionally, the university’s existing MBA program will now offer concentrations in specialty fields in human resource management, sport management and strategic marketing.
“We believe that Cornerstone University’s singular approach integrates a sophisticated and compelling Christian worldview with a comprehensive, market-aligned education designed to equip the workforce of the future,” said Cornerstone President Gerson Moreno-Riaño.
While Cornerstone pursues sustainable growth, its directional growth gains — the first since 2012 — are an important milestone. It underscores the increasing demand for Cornerstone’s programs and the distinct value offered by its Christian worldview amidst a volatile higher education market. In addition, the value and affordability of a college degree are crucial as globalization and AI-driven technology radically transform the nation’s workforce.
“There is an urgent need to prepare students for a rapidly evolving workforce transformation in Michigan and the nation,” added Moreno-Riaño. “Now more than ever, colleges must offer value and fiscal sustainability. We are excited that Cornerstone University is helping to address these challenges in West Michigan.”
Last month, the university celebrated its 82nd Commencement ceremony, honoring more than 370 graduates, including its first-ever class of nursing students.
As noted by Cornerstone’s Board of Trustees in a recent communication to the campus community, “Our board remains committed to ensuring that Cornerstone maintains itself as a Christ-honoring university characterized by a sophisticated Christian worldview. This is essential so that our students can continue to be educated with Christ-centered academic excellence that is both innovative and market compelling.”
How does Cornerstone expect to advance its mission without a humanities division? The university has eliminated the full-time faculty tasked with exploring what it means to be human (arts, literature, history, philosophy, languages). Can such an institution still claim a “sophisticated Christian worldview?
Cornerstone claims it offers “Christ-centered academic excellence that is both innovative and market compelling?” This sounds more like a tech school or professional school than a liberal arts college. According to Cornerstone’s general education “core,” students graduating from the university with a B.A. degree are required to take courses in writing, arts, social sciences, and history. (Martin Spence, the university’s only full time history professor, was also let go last week). Who is going to teach these courses? I am assuming Cornerstone will rely on adjuncts.
Believe me, what just happened at Cornerstone will soon happen at a Christian college near you. Keep your eyes open. Of course not all Christian universities will cut humanities and liberal arts programs as dramatically as Cornerstone did. Instead, the cuts will come gradually. Professors in history, English, literature, philosophy, theology, and global languages will retire and they will not be replaced. Parts of programs will get cut. Departments where deep disciplinary conversations once took place will be merged with departments from other disciplines.
In April 2024, over 100 Cornerstone faculty, alumni, and students gathered at the Little Pine Island Camp and Retreat Center in Comstock Park, Michigan to hear Matt Bonzo’s “last lecture.” It was titled, “A Contrary Hope.” (The fact that it did not occur on the campus of Cornerstone, a place where Bonzo taught for twenty-six years, speaks volumes). My sources tell me that Rick Ostrander was there, presumably as a show of solidarity with the faculty he once led.
Here is a taste of what Bonzo said:
Simply as a member of this community, I say thank you to Nicole MacDonald (26 years), Nola Carew, and Cam Lewis who among others are leaving this year. Your love for your students and the quality of your teaching has given witness to your unwavering commitment to Christ. To those who may yet leave and to those who have determined to stay, may God give you the necessary strength to remain faithful. And to those who have already left, I want you to know that your name is on a list on my desk. You have not disappeared. I have prayed for you faithfully. This membership has, and will, continue to transcend the walls that once held us. Each person can tell her story and reasons for their decision for either staying or leaving. To all of you, let me say I am confident that as the truth breaks through the veneer of spin and the attempts to normalize the decimation of our community, our faithfulness to our calling, a calling that reaches far beyond a job or title, will be revealed. May the healing continue as we lament what we have lost, for it is in the soil of lament that hope grows.
Bonzo ended with quotes from Bruce Cockburn and Wendell Berry.
Cockburn:
“Let’s hear a laugh for the man of the world
Who thinks he can make things work
Tried to build the New Jerusalem
And ended up with New York.”
And Berry:
So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Practice Resurrection
Thank you Matt Bonzo. Hope is hard to come by these days in Christian higher education. We can talk about hope until we are blue in the face, but who will be around to explain to students what it means?
Cornerstone has fallen al long way from the early 1070s when I attended the seminary (Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary). The college (Grand Rapids Baptist Bible College) was a bustling community. How are students prepared for any vocation without knowledge of the humanities and social sciences? How does a Christian school produce a Christian worldview and glorify God by doing what Cornerstone has done? My own college alma mater closed last year for lack of students and funding,, but before that they had dropped every major in the social sciences and humanities. College was never meant to be a four year trade school. I feel for the students there who have studied for nothing.
This man has left nothing but devastation in his wake, everywhere he has ever been. Good people—scholars and teachers—have faced financial and emotional turmoil. Families suffer. Students leave “universities” with tremendous debt and an impoverished “education.”
Sadly, it’s a playbook being used everywhere.
What makes all of these even more scandalous is that Bradford Sample holds a BA, an MA, and a PhD in history. He should know better. An incredibly sad, pathetic day for Christian higher education.
Dr. Green’s observation sparked my curiosity, so I checked the VP’s bio page at Cornerstone. One becomes inured, I suppose, to the suffocating mix of puffery and mindlessness that defines academic administration-speak, but even among a pool occupied with so many worthy challengers, this was notable: “Dr. Sample drives Cornerstone’s preparation for future enrollment growth and market expansion through developing a second-to-none academic student experience, elegantly refining current academic processes and creating an in-demand suite of programs and world-class general education core that position the university as a highly sought after institution of quality, Christ-centered higher education.” I mean this seriously: Lord have mercy.