“In a city full of colleges and in an economy increasingly perilous for small schools, one wealthy businessman is making an unlikely investment. Next fall he will open a college in Boston geared toward conservative Christian students, using an innovative model that incorporates online learning.
Sattler College, named after a 16th century martyr, will be entirely funded by Finny Kuruvilla, an investment fund manager with a medical degree and a PhD from Harvard. He has guaranteed $30 million of his money to fund the school.”
Of course, I immediately thought you mistyped Salter College and maybe this should have been part of their research into naming. My second thought is that I wonder if there is a market for such a institution in the northeast. I’ll need to switch devices to read more as I’ve exhausted my five free Globe articles for the month…
I’m also out of free articles, but this sounds interesting. Most of the conservative Massachusetts Christians I know (who want to go to a Christian college) head to Wheaton, Gordon, Grove City, Calvin, or, if they’re really conservative and into evangelical culture as much as belief, Liberty. Sattler would probably compete most directly with Gordon, a Christian LAC in Wenham.
If your faith is tested and you cannot handle it, or if being in college makes you lose your faith, then the problem is your faith. Christians must expect to be tested and being in college is part of growing as a Christian (“in the world, not of the world” IS an evangelical value.)
I do imagine homeschooling parents or kids would like this parents and the Boston location would surely be a plus. The model seems similar to what Minerva has done (incorporating online learning) without he preprofessional focus.
@Massmomm I forgot about Gordon and I shouldn’t have as one of my work BFFs worked at Barrington College for many years. They merged with Gordon in the 80s. I can attest to the fabulous soccer fields at Gordon…
I was interested in reading about the institution’s loose affiliation with Anabaptists. I find it different their “claim to fame” is the non-infant baptisms. American (or Northern) Baptists also do not baptize infants. Albeit not the very first baptist church in the country (near me in Providence), my church is the oldest in Massachusetts.
My son’s faith has only grown stronger at Oberlin. He has also become a Christian anarchist, LOL!
I am conflicted when it comes to this type of school. I am sure they provided a wonderful, faith-based environment, but do they prepare their students for the “real world”? Someone who is home-schooled for religious reasons, interacts with other kids primarily at church events, then attends a strict Christian college–do they learn how to interact with people different from them? Like non-Christians, or people of a different race? There is something to be said about being adaptable in a diverse society, without an “us vs. them” mentality.
For example, I know people who are virulently anti-Muslim that have never even spoken to a Muslim person–they just feed off of stereotypes and are poisoned by them. I tell them that I have taught dozens of Muslim students in my career, and found them to be just like any other kid. They are convinced that any of them would kill me if they had the chance, and I literally laugh in their faces!
Only $9000/year in tuition is definitely attractive. It’s clearly not a college that you’d want to attend if you wanted a wide variety of options in terms of majors. Nor would you want to go there if you’re not ok with taking a year of Greek and a year of Hebrew. And if you have problems with the idea of taking mandated general ed classes that include Christian topics, then you wouldn’t want to go there either.
But it’s a free country. And there are thousands of other universities and colleges for one to choose from across the US. Some are religious schools and some are not. Some are very conservative, like this one appears to be (based on what the school has posted on their website…I read all of their stuff on the “Standard” part of their website).
If it doesn’t float your boat, then don’t apply and don’t attend.
The head of the school seems to be very accomplished. He has an impressive resume, regardless of the particular religious faith he practices.
A strong core of liberal arts courses that doesn’t challenge the ideas or beliefs of people who are afraid to attend a secular school because of how that might affect their conservative (evangelical? fundamentalist?) beliefs? I wonder what those courses look like. A liberal arts education is very much about learning to question assumptions and understand different points of view.
Something that is lacking at many elite colleges today. CC has many threads started by students who don’t want to go to a college if there are conservative students there.
^ this is due to the recent change in what “conservative” might mean. I don’t think most students oppose Libertarians (one of the newly most popular versions of conservatism for young people).
In the same way, you see many threads byyoung conservatives who don’t want to go to a college if there are too many liberals there, due to some liberals being too vocal and aggressive (such as what happened at Reed).
Sattler may provide an environment young “cultural conservatives” or their families will appreciate, but they’ll have to distinguish themselves from Gordon, Calvin, Hillsdale, or Hope.
It is really, really expensive to run a college these days, ESPECIALLY a small college. Without a track record or significant endowments, I can’t imagine why someone would start any school … much less one that will compete head-to-head with similar schools for what I suspect is a relatively small population of interested students.