Mounting tension between Robert Folkenberg, General Conference president, and leaders of North American Division higher education culminated at a meeting in Tucson, Arizona, in December. Two catalysts for this tension were an article regarding Adventist higher education which Folkenberg had proposed to publish in the Adventist Review and a document entitled "Total Commitment to God," which calls for an annual assessment of institutional spirituality. Already concerned about the impact of the proposed article and the document, the NAD education leaders experienced new frustration over the outcome of the meeting itself.

Last summer the NAD education office learned that Folkenberg was planning to publish an article which would criticize certain religious aspects of the church's colleges and universities. The planned article as well as certain public criticisms which Folkenberg had made spurred Dick Osborn, an educational vice-president of the NAD, into action. He consulted with Folkenberg about scheduling a meeting between the president and the leaders of the NAD colleges and universities.

Meanwhile, independently of Osborn, Dick Greenslaw, chair of the Association of Adventist College and University Presidents and president of Florida Hospital's health sciences college, began to lay similar plans.

The upshot of these efforts was an agreement to hold a summit in Tucson which would focus on assessment of spirituality in NAD colleges and universities. With one exception, every college and university president and board chair attended this meeting at a time and place that fit Folkenberg's schedule: December 5-7, 1996, in Tucson.

The importance of the Tucson meeting was heightened by the document entitled "Total Commitment to God" which Folkenberg himself developed and presented last fall to the Annual Council for adoption. The document contained many of the concerns which Folkenberg originally planned to include in his Review article. The final draft calls for all church institutions?conferences, hospitals, colleges, schools, food factories, and all levels of organization'to devise plans for spiritual accountability. The Annual Council voted to accept the document but did not put it into the G.C. Working Policy as the president desired. One of the Council's reasons for this decision was that the document was not written in the style of policy statements. The NAD Year-End Meeting merely voted to "receive" the document.

The contents of the "Total Commitment to God" document escalated the concerns which NAD education leaders already had. "Total Commitment to God" Document The document's purpose is to save the denomination from spiritual deterioration by calling for a concerted focus on evangelism and orthodoxy. For example, it calls for colleges and universities to affirm "unambiguously in classroom and campus life the beliefs, practices, and world view of the Seventh-day Adventist Church?" Each institution is to prepare a "spiritual master plan and assessment program" which it would then submit to a "General Conference-appointed, international panel" for a written evaluation.

The "Total Commitment to God" document appeared in the mass-circulated January NAD edition of the Adventist Review. An interview with Folkenberg precedes it. In the interview William Johnsson asks Folkenberg if the proposed spiritual assessment plan will help parents or students to decide which college or university to attend.

In his answer Folkenberg asserts that it is vital for the parents of prospective students to have access to the spiritual master plan of the school they?re considering. But, he acknowledges, the plans may be long, complex, and consequently daunting. "Therefore," he instructs, "I urge every parent/student to secure from the colleges or universities to which your child may be submitting an application (1) a copy of the letter to the board from the independent panel?and (2) a copy of the report of the previous semester/quarter's spiritual evaluation."

Although his interview statements may sound tough, Folkenberg's conversations with certain educators sounded quite different. He explained that the international panel's role would be "formative," not "summative." The panel, he explained, would consult with the respective institutions and help them to form ideal plans for spiritual assessment. The panel would not be for the purpose of evaluating and summoning the institutions as would a tribunal.

The problem for many NAD educators, though, is not the call to spirituality. Rather, they worry about the proposal that "an international panel" would oversee the implementation and assessment of spirituality. Administrators from a breadth of Adventist institutions were alarmed by the implications of such a plan. For example, some professors and administrators at Southern Adventist University worry that their accreditation might be in jeopardy. "How will accreditation bodies view the integrity of a university's governance system if its vital religious focus is evaluated by a foreign board whose authority supersedes the legal board of trustees?" asks Pamela Maize Harris, chair of Southern's journalism department.

Most NAD educators view spiritual assessment positively. "If Christian colleges are to have spiritual elements in their mission statements, they have an obligation to have methods of assessing how they are doing," Dick Osborn told Adventist Today. "What are you doing to accomplish your lofty goals?"

Osborn believes, however, that spiritual assessment is much more complicated than surveying the students and sending a report to the board. It might require novel approaches such as these which some schools are already trying: students "journaling" throughout their four years of college to keep a record of their experiences, and having seniors complete a paper explaining how an Adventist world view influenced their perceptions of their major fields of study.

Osborn tells of one business department that contacted graduates after 10 years to ask them how attending a Christian college had positively or negatively affected their lives. Some 75 percent responded that the Christian values they had learned in their programs had made a difference in how they performed on the job.

Long-term developmental issues are crucial, says Osborn. But the most important factor "in transmitting faith maturity and denominational loyalty is the teachers? congenial, personal relationships with their students centered around the teachers? positive relationships with Jesus Christ and the church." The Tucson Higher Education Summit Kent Hanson, an attorney from Corona, California, moderated the Tucson meeting. Hanson is legal counsel for Loma Linda University and La Sierra University and is an active Adventist churchman. He demanded that the agenda for the dialogue include equal coverage of all points of view with no one person dominating the discussion. He took his role seriously, even flying to Silver Spring to work with Folkenberg on the agenda. According to host Dick Osborn, Hanson did an excellent job, fulfilling his role with passion and heart.

The first day's discussion was candid and open. School representatives asked Folkenberg to explain the implications of an international board assessing American colleges. They asked how the board's members would bridge the cultural gaps that might prevent them from understanding the individual colleges? policies and programs.

That evening three administrators gave reports of the spiritual activities on their campuses. At the conclusion of the third report, one university president rose and asked if the group might hear the GC president's reaction. The chair accepted this suggestion, but when Hanson called for Folkenberg to take the floor, he was gone. In fact, not only was he absent, but he had left Tucson for home.

Folkenberg had told Osborn that he needed to leave on Saturday night in order to spend a few hours with some family members who would be going overseas soon. Apparently he had mentioned his departure on Friday to one or two persons only minutes before leaving. Nearly all the NAD and higher education administrators were present that night. They were put off by Folkenberg's unannounced absence, and some felt betrayed.

Knowledgeable participants in the Friday meeting report that the discussion had been "very confusing" as Folkenberg worked through some of the practical considerations of implementing the "Total Commitment" document. But, as one participant said, implementation has no easy answers.

Besides spending Friday in discussions, Folkenberg had spent the first part of the week in intense discussions with Adventist health care leaders. His arduous schedule and his emotionally demanding prophetic style in dealing with complex institutions might explain his early departure.

After the educators and administrators in Tucson adjusted to Folkenberg's absence, they continued by focusing on North American concerns. Each college and university president presented plans for focusing on spiritual goals and assessment. The conference adjourned positively but early at noon the next day.

Loma Linda University will host an international meeting in March which all Adventist educators are invited to attend. Humberto Rasi, director of the GC education department, is planning the session. The focus of the session will be on the importance of mission statements, particularly their spiritual aspects. The "Total Commitment to God" document is also on the agenda. Although only half of the NAD college presidents plan to attend, Rasi sees NAD institutions as being considerably ahead of other divisions? colleges in their embracing of formal spiritual planning.
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