Increased sliding and gliding causes administration to rethink chapel policy

by Bridgette Harmon, News Editor


Recently students have been blatantly swiping and ditching in front of George Fox Student Life staff members.
Photo by Erica Bader

Slide and glide. Swipe and ditch. No matter what you call it, students' habit of sliding their cards for chapel and leaving before the service is over has caused the George Fox administration to consider changing its chapel attendance policy.

"While we have no firm plans at this point to change our chapel attendance system, it is certainly a concern," said Mark Pothoff, dean of students.

In a recent email survey conducted by George Fox students Laura Jones, Lauren Miller and Tiffany Nevills, 37.6 percent of the 109 students who responded admitted to sliding and gliding.

"Especially in the last year or two," said Pothoff, "we have had an additional problem with students getting up and leaving in the middle of chapel, which feels disrespectful. People even walked out during former president Brandt's farewell speech."

Sarah Thomas Baldwin, campus pastor, said, "There are two main conversations about this issue: Should we require chapel? And, if we do require it, what is the best way to hold students accountable?"

Some of the most common reasons for swiping and ditching that Pothoff hears from students are:

  • I only like the worship, not the teaching.
  • I shouldn't be forced to be spiritually formed.
  • I'm too busy-chapel time is my only chance to study or eat.
  • The teaching in chapel doesn't agree with my personal beliefs.

Chase Tedrow, a senior political science major, said, "I don't think I ever swiped and ditched, but I can see why some people do. I've walked out of a few chapels halfway though because I thought the doctrines the speakers were teaching were at least borderline heretical."

One example of such a teaching that Tedrow mentioned was a speaker in the fall of 2006 who said all religions lead to God. This speaker said that Christians should participate in the practices of other religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism and learn from their teachings in order to fully understand God.

Pothoff and Baldwin have listened to several suggestions on how to counteract sliding and gliding, from making chapel attendance completely optional to posting staff members in the Bauman lobby during chapel.

One proposed solution under consideration is to install a second set of card scanners in Bauman. Students would then have to slide their cards going in to chapel and coming out of chapel in order to receive credit. This is the system for recording chapel attendance at Pepperdine University, for instance.

Corban College, on the other hand, has recently made their chapel attendance voluntary. Dr. Kent Kersey, campus pastor at Corban, said, "Chapel attendance is an expectation, not a requirement. The value of this is that students at chapel want to be there, and that adds a unique atmosphere to our chapel program."

Both Pothoff and Baldwin would prefer to keep chapel a mandatory element of George Fox community life, although they do not want to hinder students' spiritual growth by overly policing chapel attendance.

"The current way I see it," said Baldwin, "chapel is the best way to communicate the centrality of Christ in our community. It strongly defines who we are and is distinctive to what George Fox is about."

"The culture of George Fox is centered on Christ, which is not optional. Chapel should not be an elective, but part of the fabric of our community," said Baldwin.

Pothoff said, "I encourage students to go in to chapel with an attitude that God can teach them something." Although Pothoff understands many of the reasons students give for not attending chapel, he says there are many other opportunities to earn chapel credit, such as Bible studies, service opportunities, and alternative Spiritual Formation events.

"I just want people to be honest," said Pothoff. "If you scan your card, you're agreeing to go to chapel and stay the entire time."

Baldwin adds: "None of us are in charge of our spiritual formation; the whole point is allowing Jesus to be in charge."