Council For Christian Colleges & Universities Research Articles

Measuring Faculty Faith & Learning Involvement: Toward the Validation of a Survey Instrument

Higher education continues to face an uncertain future, not only through demographic shifts, rising costs, and a competitive marketplace, but also through dissonant visions for the telos of education. In this context, Christian institutions have the opportunity to carve out a distinctive niche, provide answers about the purpose of a liberal education, while also impacting the lives of its students and staff through their Christ-centered missions. In an effort to meet those ends, the integration of faith and learning remains central in the life of religious colleges and universities. As a result, the purpose of this study was to develop and validate an instrument to measure faculty involvement in faith-learning integration. Through a sample of faculty at seven member institutions of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU), the survey instrument met both validity and reliability standards, and also revealed three distinct areas of faculty involvement in the integrative task. Moving forward, administrative and faculty leaders could use the instrument to help gauge the involvement of their current and future faculty, and then engage in tailored professional development toward sustaining and supporting faculty growth.

Sporting Faith: Exploring Displays of Faith as Part of Christian Higher Education Athletic Program Identity

Contemporary higher education is made of a marketplace where institutions aggressively market themselves to student consumers who “shop” for school options (Tolbert, 2014). This study examines the marketing of faith-based higher education institutions’ athletic programs to determine how faith-related missions are revealed on institutional websites. Higher education institutions analyzed in this study consisted of 112 of the 141 member institutions that are members of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU), which compete in sanctioned intercollegiate athletics programs (e.g., NCAA, NAIA, NCCAA). The study attempted to quantify how strongly a university’s athletic program portrays the faith dimension of the school’s identity through the visual marketing tool of the athletic departments’ website to determine whether that measure is indicative of external perception. For this study, institutional websites were examined to measure the strength of faith identity presented on the sites using a content analysis of the university tagline, university mission statement, and athletic department mission statement. Faith expression was lacking in 53% of taglines and 33% of athletic department mission statements. Study results reflect that CCCU member institutions should streamline the faith expression of the university mission statement into the message conveyed in the tagline and the athletic department mission statement.

At the Intersection of Institutional Identity and Type

Positive public perceptions of academic quality and professional ethics are critical to the long-term legitimacy of American colleges and universities. Faculty codes of conduct are one mechanism whereby the professoriate can define acceptable practice, exercise social control, and maintain public confidence in higher education, yet the drivers of their adoption are not well understood. Building upon previous research into such organizational behavior by institutional type, this study examined the prevalence and content of publicly posted faculty codes of conduct within an organizational field of institutions that share a common religious identity but differ in their institutional types and employment structures. Faculty handbooks from American member institutions of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU), an international association of faith-based institutions, were gathered and analyzed. Although only 27% of CCCU member institutions in the U.S. (36/135) publicly posted faculty codes of conduct, the average number of tenets present in each code (n = 7.5) was higher than suggested by previous research. Study findings also revealed that membership category, institutional type, and employment structures influence the content of faculty codes of conduct, indicating that isomorphic pressures operate within this particular organizational field. The piece concludes by commending publicly posted codes of conduct as an affirmation of the personal responsibility, fairness, and care exercised by ethical professionals in the academy.

Doctoral Capstone Products: A Systems Thinking Model for Quality Assurance

This article draws from a keynote address presented at the 2019 Doctoral Education Forum sponsored by the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU). A review of the literature reveals growth in doctoral education in the United States and the proliferation of types of doctoral degrees. The article describes an increase in the variety of doctoral capstone products (DCPs) beyond the dissertation, including portfolios, digital DCPs, artistic performances, interdisciplinary collaborations, and professional endeavors; the article also identifies a concomitant need for achieving and maintaining quality outcomes in all forms of DCPs, including the dissertation. Systems thinking is applied to this end by first identifying three factors—the student, faculty, and program context—as influencing the DCP process, based on a review of the literature and then analyzing the interactions among those factors which influence the quality of the DCP processes and outcomes. To holistically improve the DCP process and outcome, five principles are offered: (a) develop a program context that adheres to its standards of excellence; (b) recruit qualified students and position them for success; (c) engage qualified and committed faculty in the growth journey with students; (d) prioritize resource allocation in support of high-quality DCP production; and (e) implement a fair and appropriate DCP evaluation system. The conclusion describes possible implications for future research related to this topic within the context of Christian Higher Education.

The Status of Doctoral Education in the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities

The number of doctoral programs being offered by Christian universities is expanding, bringing new opportunities, needs, and challenges to these postsecondary institutions. Currently, 46 of the 113 governing member institutions of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) offer doctoral-level programs. Of the 185 member, partner, and affiliate institutions connected with the CCCU, 76 (41%) offer doctoral-level education. This article reports on the results of a 2018 survey of 57 North American institutions affiliated with the CCCU regarding their doctoral programs, with particular attention to program design, faculty development and workloads, institutional infrastructure, and student needs. Recommendations are offered for the support of doctoral programs, faculty, and students.

Christian Colleges in the Locational Wilderness: The Locations of CCCU Institutions

This article examines the locations of the 111 governing members of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) and consider how these locations hinder evangelical Protestants from reaching their goal of engaging American society. We found that CCCU institutions cluster in cities in mid-sized metropolitan regions in the South and Midwest, are more likely than the United States population as a whole to be in rural areas, and have a limited presence in the largest metropolitan regions in the United States, particularly their central cities. In comparison to the top 102 liberal arts institutions and top 101 national universities, CCCU governing members were on average founded later and they have locations more similar to liberal arts schools than research universities. We argue that these patterns are physical manifestations of the modernist-fundamentalist debate, suburbanization pressure and anti-urban sentiment, and concentrations of evangelical residents. We conclude that CCCU members’ locations limit their ability to help students and constituents engage society with locations away from the largest cities and their power, resources, and networks.

Openness to Christianity among Chinese Graduate Students Who Attended a U.S. Christian University: A Grounded Theory Study

More than 300,000 Chinese students attend U.S. universities annually (USDHS, 2018), many of whom reportedly “Leave China, Study in America, Find Jesus” (Zhang, 2016). However, research on this phenomenon of worldview change is thin, especially as related to the experiences of atheist or nonreligious Chinese graduate students attending Christian institutions. This grounded theory study investigated the central research question: “What factors influence Chinese graduate students’ openness to Christianity while attending a Christian university in the United States?” Twenty-five Chinese graduate students from various majors were interviewed regarding their experiences attending an anonymous member institution of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU). Among the 25 participants, 20 entered the university self-identifying as nonreligious or atheist; three entered self-identifying as Christians who had attended an unofficial or official church in China. One participant reported having had limited involvement in Christianity in China; another reported significant previous involvement in Daoism. The major finding of the study is that Chinese graduate students who attended a Christian university experienced increased openness to Christianity yet with competing influences—contributors increasing openness to Christianity and other contributors that reportedly decreased openness to Christianity. This article focuses solely on the contributors that increased openness, organized by the researcher in three domains—the Theoretical-Curricular, Relational-Cultural, and Supernatural Dimensions. Ten contributors to openness were identified: (a) Worldview Courses Analyzing Arguments For/Against God’s Existence, studying the work of atheist Richard Dawkins (2008) alongside Christian apologists J. P. Moreland (2007) and W. L. Craig (2010); (b) Faith Integration Requirements; (c) Intellectual Freedom; (d) The Bible; (e) Faculty and Classmates’ Influence; (f) Church Relationships; (g) Family Support; (h) American Culture; (i) Direct Experience With the Supernatural; and (j) Experimental Prayer.

Diversity and Distance Learning: An Exploratory Study of the Relationships between Online and Minority Enrollment at Private Nonprofit Christian Colleges

Despite changing demographics in the U.S., many private nonprofit Christian colleges have been unable to recruit and retain racially diverse students, and most are experiencing declining undergraduate enrollments. The strategic plan at these institutions undoubtedly contains two directives: to increase enrollment of racially diverse students and to attract new students through online and hybrid programs. Since 2008, almost all Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) member institutions have added distance learning options. Little research has been conducted to determine whether expanded access to education has influenced a change in enrollment of racially diverse students. The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) national database has tracked online enrollment for less than a decade and does not require institutions to report on the racial diversity of students enrolled online. This lack of data requires researchers to look for relationships between online options and overall institutional racial diversity. Using exploratory correlational analysis that controlled for state population racial diversity, this research revealed statistically significant, but weak relationships between the number of online-only and hybrid students enrolled at an institution and the percentage of minority students enrolled. Findings suggest increased enrollment in hybrid programs and online graduate programs at CCCU institutions are related to a higher percentage of racially diverse students, and Black or African American students, in particular. The addition of online courses and fully online programs may provide an opportunity for private nonprofit Christian colleges to close the educational attainment achievement gap between White and minority students, and in turn, participate in God’s redemptive work in the world.

Institutional Expenditures and Student Graduation and Retention

As the cost of higher education continues to rise faster than inflation and as the pressure from community colleges offering four-year degrees increases (See: https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2018/04/26/more-community-colleges-are-offering-bachelors-degrees), it is imperative that colleges and universities examine how they allocate finite dollars in ways that increase retention and graduation rates. This study examined correlations between certain expense categories as defined by the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and higher retention and six-year graduation rates of first-time, full-time students attending Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) member institutions. The results of the hierarchical regression analysis suggest that the strongest correlations were dollars spent on instruction per full-time equivalent student being positively correlated to higher six-year graduation rates, and higher percentage of total spending used for research being positively correlated to higher retention rates.

Mission Animation: Christian Higher Education, the Common Good, and Community Engagement

Christian institutions are founded on a diverse set of historical and theological backgrounds and strive to integrate faith, learning, and living in a way that not only educates and develops students, but also responds to the Christian call of service. Community engagement, therefore, becomes a way for Christian institutions to achieve said goals—fostering authentic partnerships, responding to the needs of communities and individuals, and encouraging student learning and development. This article maps the landscape of community engagement in Christian higher education by exploring its history as well as its philosophical, theological, and theoretical foundations. In addition, practical expressions of community engagement are addressed through a review of two national Christian higher education associations—the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) and the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities—as well as a consideration of programmatic exemplars at evangelical Christian and Catholic institutions and an accounting of CCCU and ACCU members receiving the Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement. The article concludes with a consideration of how community engagement represents a critical dimension of Christian mission in action for evangelical and Catholic colleges and universities.

Amnesty: Title IX Policies and Christian Colleges

Underreporting of sexual assault on college campuses is a growing concern for institutions of higher education. Amnesty clauses in Title IX policies intend to reduce barriers to reporting, encouraging victims and witnesses to come forward with any knowledge or experience of an incident of sexual assault. However, little research has been conducted on Christian college campuses and Title IX issues. In an effort to close this scholarly gap, this study explores the 112 Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) member institutions located in the United States to determine what, if any, types and extent of amnesty they afford complainants and/or witnesses during Title IX investigations. The findings of this study demonstrate that some form of amnesty provision is apparent in about half of CCCU institutions. However, after a content analysis of these institutions’ Title IX policies, this study reveals that only five out of the 112 CCCU member institutions afford complete and comprehensive amnesty to complainants and witnesses during a Title IX investigation. As relevant literature and federal Title IX guidance suggest, this lack of true amnesty has major implications for Title IX reporting and best practices on Christian college campuses.

The Predictors of Religious Struggle among Undergraduates Attending Evangelical Institutions

This article is the second in a two-part series and focuses on the predictors of religious struggle among students attending evangelical institutions. Of the 900 religiously-affiliated colleges and universities in the United States, a significant portion of institutions (approximately 118) are members of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU). As members of the CCCU, these institutions have a shared commitment to the academic and spiritual development of their students. However, relatively few studies have included datasets with multi-institutional types and longitudinal data. The purpose of this two-part study was to examine the patterns and predictors of religious struggle among traditional undergraduate students attending evangelical institutions compared to those at three other types of institutions. This article addresses the following questions: (a) What are the pre-college characteristics/experiences, college environments, and college experiences that contribute to the patterns of change in religious struggle among college students attending evangelical institutions? (b) Are there any unique predictors of religious struggle for students attending evangelical institutions? A quantitative design using the 2004 and 2007 College Student Values and Beliefs Survey (CSBV) responses from 14,527 students attending evangelical, Catholic, other religious, and nonsectarian institutions was employed. Results indicated that significant differences in the levels and patterns of religious struggle exist between evangelical institutions and other types of institutions. Longitudinal measures revealed that students from evangelical institutions experience higher levels of religious struggle compared to their peers at other types of institutions at the end of their junior year.

The Patterns of Religious Struggle Among Undergraduates Attending Evangelical Institutions

Of the 900 religiously affiliated colleges and universities in the United States, a sizable portion (approximately 118) are members of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU). As members of the CCCU, these institutions have a shared commitment to the academic and spiritual development of their students. However, relatively few studies have included data sets with multi-institutional types and longitudinal data. The purpose of this two-part study was to examine the patterns and predictors of religious struggle among traditional undergraduate students attending evangelical institutions compared to those at three other types of institutions. This article addresses the following question: How does the level of religious struggle change between the freshmen and junior years among college students attending evangelical institutions? A quantitative design using the 2004 and 2007 College Student Beliefs and Values Survey (CSBV)—which was last administered in 2007—with responses from 14,527 students attending evangelical, Catholic, other religious, and nonsectarian institutions was employed. Results indicate that significant differences in the levels and patterns of religious struggle exist between evangelical institutions and other types of institutions. Longitudinal measures revealed that students from evangelical institutions experience higher levels of religious struggle compared to their peers at other types of institutions at the end of their junior year. This article is the first in a two-part series and focuses on the patterns of religious struggle among students attending evangelical institutions.

Are Nondenominational Colleges More Liberal Than Denominational Colleges?: A Comparison of Faculty Religious Identity, Beliefs, Attitudes, and Actions

Throughout American history, scholars called Christian higher education by other names. They used terms such as “denominational,” “sectarian,” “church-related,” “church-sponsored,” “church-based,” and “church-affiliated” higher education to describe Christian higher education. What these terms failed to include, however, were the increasing number of nondenominational institutions that began to emerge in the nineteenth century.In The Dying of the Light, James Burtchaell (1998) did include these institutions in his argument. He suggested that nondenominational colleges and universities had the same weakness as denominational institutions that abandoned their church connections. In fact, compared to institutions that kept their church ties, in Burtchaell’s eyes, they appeared to be weaker institutions since they lacked direct denominational support.Apart from Burtchaell’s one historical case study, very little empirical literature exists that supports this argument. This study explores this claim empirically, and compares faculty attitudes, theological beliefs, and religious behaviors at denominational and nondenominational institutions that are part of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU). Respondents included 1,999 full-time faculty from 49 CCCU institutions. Contrary to what certain scholars claim, results demonstrated that faculty at nondenominational institutions did not significantly differ in their theological beliefs from their denominational counterparts. Further empirical research is needed to understand the reasons for this outcome, although we offer some possible hypotheses.

Christian Higher Education in the United States: The Crisis of Evangelical Identity

The Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) is the most successful higher education organization to emerge from the modern American evangelical movement. Especially within the context of the United States, higher education has been a key element of neo-evangelicalism since the 1940s. Rather than choosing between biblical truth and cultural outreach, post–World War II neo-evangelicals called the church toward a thoughtful approach to address the needs of the world. The early movement was focused not only on evangelistic ministry efforts, but also on education as a primary means for shaping the culture. As modern evangelicalism took shape in the 1950s, the movement struggled to find a consistent moral voice. From early challenges related to the civil rights movement to current debates over poverty and immigration, evangelicals have engaged with cultural issues, but with a wide variety of strategies and viewpoints. Political issues have brought evangelicals into public life, and some leaders have used elections as the primary means for promoting moral concerns. Consequently, the public may often view U.S. evangelicals as activists concerned with political voting rather than as sincere followers of Christ who are committed to social ethics. Yet, the Christian college represents a significant platform for sustaining evangelical thought in public life. Evangelicalism has suffered a fracturing in the last decade or so, and the term now carries a negative connotation in some circles. Many colleges in the CCCU are searching for a new way to describe their evangelical identity. The historical meaning of the term evangelical focused on gospel proclamation and social reform. A return to this emphasis, as well as an alignment with the international focus of evangelical movement, can provide a more accurate and consistent legacy for evangelical institutions.

The Discounting Dilemma: Institutional Benefits, Unintended Consequences, and Principles for Reform

In recent years, concerns regarding runaway college tuition and student loan debt have risen to the forefront of the public consciousness, undermining confidence in the value of a college degree. Ironically, the very issue that is now causing such alarm—high tuition—has been a signature feature of the financial model intentionally employed by the vast majority of smaller private colleges and universities in the United States, including members of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU). In the “high-price–high-aid” model, postsecondary institutions mark up their “sticker price” (meaning the publicized cost of attending per year) and then offset the tuition hike with sizable discounts that take the form of institutional grants marketed as scholarships. This article examines the institutional benefits and unintended consequences of tuition discounting, giving special attention to effects within the evangelical Christian segment of the private sector of American higher education. The article concludes by offering a set of principles for reforming tuition pricing and financial aid practices at Christian colleges and universities.

Foregrounding Women in the Doctoral Classroom: Mainstreaming and Single-Sex Approaches to Graduate Education

ABSTRACTAn increasing number of published studies have drawn attention to gender disparities in various dimensions of Christian higher education. Although the majority of students on the campuses of member institutions of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) are women, and the percentage of women holding faculty and administrative roles has increased, the male-normed environment of the academy continues to be evident in various ways, particularly in these Christian institutions. At the same time, higher education—and doctoral education in particular—is an important pathway to prepare future leaders and professors for Christian organizations. One potential way to begin to shift toward a more welcoming climate that benefits both men and women on CCCU campuses is to “foreground,” or make central, women's issues and concerns as part of regular classroom teaching. Such foregrounding can help counter the historic tendency to treat men's experience and concerns as normative for the human race. In the discipline of missiology, women make up the bulk of the practitioners yet are underrepresented as scholars, making it a pertinent field to challenge the neglect of women's voices and concerns in the academy. This article describes how a missiology classroom has been used to create a climate where women have opportunities to be central and where women's perspectives are treated as equally important as men's perspectives. To do this, I used three key practices: intentionally addressing gendered topics in mixed classes, offering selected single-sex education opportunities for women, and focusing on gender-related topics for research and publication. Using the discipline of missiology as a case study in relation to the importance of giving women's contributions to the field both recognition and voice may also offer transferable insights for doctoral faculty in other disciplines.

Football, Recruitment, and Retention at U.S. Christian Colleges

ABSTRACTAn increasing number of Christian colleges are adding football programs as a way to boost enrollment among men and ethnic minorities. No systematic study has attempted to measure these outcomes. We tested the relationship of football to percent male, percent non-White, and first-year retention at 125 U.S. colleges and universities affiliated with the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU). Our findings revealed that football at Christian colleges is associated with more men on campus, but not with more ethnic diversity. In addition, Christian colleges with football retained fewer students from first-year to second-year than did Christian colleges without football. We discuss the implications of our findings and offer suggestions for further research.

The Number of Credit Hours Required for Bachelor’s Degrees at Christian Colleges and Universities

Trends in the minimum number of credit hours required to complete a bachelor’s degree have been studied at four-year public institutions and appear to have been moving steadily towards a 120-hour standard for the majority of programs. The existence of such trends at Christian institutions have not previously been investigated nor has credit hour data been collected and made publicly available. If Christian institutions are not moving towards 120 hours, as state schools are, it could signal an emerging dichotomy in higher education requirements. This paper presents both the data and the trends in the minimum number of credit hours required to complete a bachelor’s degree at institutions who are members of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU). An analysis shows that Christian institutions are likewise reducing their degree requirements but at a slower pace than public four-year institutions.

The Paradox of Faith: White Administrators and Antiracism Advocacy in Christian Higher Education

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of White administrators in Christian higher education within the United States who were active in antiracism advocacy. A team of researchers employed narrative inquiry borrowing from grounded theory approaches and interviewed eight administrators from four member institutions of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) in the Midwest region of the United States. Data analysis indicated that the participants' faith both hindered and helped in their antiracism advocacy. The process of politicizing racial justice issues and participants experiencing a fear of suspicion from institutional leaders because of their antiracism advocacy were identified as being hindrances to their antiracism efforts. However, the administrators cited their interpretations of Christian scriptures and their personal faith commitments as motivators for their antiracism work. Implications for practice include the encouragement of higher education communities to make systemic (rather than individual) changes, and to approach racial justice first and foremost from a biblical and theological perspective.