Todays college age students know little or nothing about the LCMS/ELCA split or they care less. Hopefully the President Konkol can renew more interest in todays college bound students who profess the Lutheran faith. VU is not a Seminary. Let's hope and pray that Valpo will enroll more "Lutheran" kids than recent figures show as the new President begins a renewed effort to recruitment in this area. I believe he will indeed do that.
My experience is a little different. As someone in an executive leadership position at the LCMS seminary level, I speak with young men and pastors on a weekly basis. I do not shy away from the fact that I am a Valpo graduate, even though in these circles, Valpo is theologically looked down upon. This is despite the fact that many of our faculty members who are over the age of 60 attended Valpo. I can tell you from a vast amount of experience that many Lutheran high school students from my area, which is predominantly LCMS, tell me they never considered going to Valpo. Most pastors will also tell me that they would never recommend Valpo to high school students in their congregation. I feel that LCMS students in our area, the area and congregations that purchased VU, look for more conservative religiously affiliated schools. Many more students from Concordia Lutheran High School in Fort Wayne attend Hillsdale or the LCMS Concordia Schools than attend Valpo. This was not the case 25 years ago. I still believe in Kretzmann's vision and recommend to students that they consider Valpo, especially if they are interested in STEM.
I also pray that Valpo will enroll more "Lutheran" kids and that the new President can somehow reconnect with the 130 LCMS High Schools in the US.
I think this is part of Rev. Konkol's challenge. If a kid wants a school that is more like Hillsdale, then Valpo will either not be a great match or would have to change itself to the point where other kids who want a more cosmopolitan student body wouldn't want to come to Valpo. By the same token, if a kid is looking for a Macalester or a Grinnell, they may not be as open to Valpo. But there's a big cut of young folks who would be open to something in-between.
even though in these circles, Valpo is theologically looked down upon.
EWAlum, here in is the problem. If in fact these kids actually "look down" on ELCA kids, that is a clear indictment of the message they are receiving. A student who would rather attend Hillsdale is probably not well suited for a wide ranging academic curriculum but rather has already been put on a path of right leaning inflexibility.
I was raised in the LCMS and left many years ago and now am active in an ELCA congregation. If you will recall, Alan Harre, hardly a "left winger", was "put on charges" but his national church for the audacity to pray with non-LCMS clergy during the 911 crisis.
Valpo should seek Lutheran students of all backgrounds willing to be open to learn, explore and grow from civilized intellectual learning.
I think it isn't that hard to surmise that the LCMS also looks down on Valpo because its not "their house". They have the Concordia system and would likely recommend their students to go there as they are completely controlled by the LCMS and have various campuses around the Midwest. The LCMS dumps around 1.8M a year into the Concordia system. One would think that because they invest so heavily into it, it would be on the top of the recommendation list.
Valparaiso, and NWI, is a very purple area in an otherwise red state. It would also be worthwhile to consider the interests of your neighbors who might be willing to work with you on certain projects and philanthropic efforts. Selling out to one side or the other isn't going to bode well. Hence why there should be people from both sides of the isle in the Lutheran religion reaching out to the Lutheran HS base.
EDIT: Not implying that the school should sell out to municipalities, merely suggesting that if you completely ignore the community you are a part of (as valpo has been known to do from time to time) it wont bode well. Although recent efforts have shown a healed relationship, there have been too many relatively recent occurrences of the city and university butting heads that ultimately leads to further distrust of the school by the community. (See the Aquatic Center debacle). You shouldn't be able to walk around town and people not know anything about the school, or the only comment being "Yeah I heard they are on hard times" or "I heard they are closing soon". Especially when a majority of your (particularly athletic) support comes from the community/sponsors and not alumni, even with the generous gift from the Schrage family.
I thought I read somewhere that Church and State should never be mixed. Oh, yeah, it was in all of my LCMS religion classes when I was growing up.
There are many Lutheran groups/synods. LCMS leans right. ELCA leans left. And there is a whole bunch in between. But if you do a bubble chart you’d easily see all the commonalities that are shared. The intersection (i.e., the overlap) of all those bubbles is actually quite large because we all share many fundamentals. We only diverge on specific details. So you have the Concordias and you have the St. Olafs that support the details. Then you have Valpo. IMO, Valpo sits at the epicenter of the intersection of all Lutheran values. It is in a tremendous position to attract the vast (and, IMO, majority of) moderate Lutherans of every synod/group.
Think of all the various (and different) Catholic colleges and universities across the country. Then ask anyone to name the preeminent Catholic university in the US. Answer: just down the road - Notre Dame. Why? It sits at the intersection of all US Catholic educational endeavors.
Valpo needs to fill that role in the Lutheran context.
Thanks 62. A brilliant and very accurate observation. Notre Dame is not The University of Dallas or Stubenville. Trust me on this one!
Brian Konkol has already visited a VUWBB practice. Pretty cool to see him interact with the athletic department this early.
Lutheran students attending a Lutheran university feel like low hanging fruit. Either way, we need more high-quality students who want to come to Valpo.
Brian Konkol has already visited a VUWBB practice. Pretty cool to see him interact with the athletic department this early.
That's wonderful! Because of all the negative press and trends, I admit I've been a little worried that anybody who took this position would only be doing it for the paycheck; ie, they know its a sinking ship but want the boost of a pres salary over whatever their previous post paid. But it sounds like Konkol is stepping in already to do the work of showing up, like he really wants to learn and do the job. My expectations for higher admin folk are generally low, but one can hope.
I don't know if the financial/debt interest situation is something he can overcome, but I do feel hopeful for the first time that maybe there is actually some possibility of turning things around if he's a good leader and if he can catch some of the counter-winds already beginning. Across the country, some schools are actually seeing a turn-around in the the areas that Valpo was historically good at in addition to the professional schools ... rising numbers of humanities majors, a realization that employers are actually attracted to graduates with backgrounds that suggest they can think etc., a return to religiously-affiliated colleges and education and so on. Still early indications, but I wonder if we're already past rock bottom nationally in terms of the devaluing of the liberal arts + professional education that Valpo offers. Ironically, the brazen technocratic hollowing out of social values thru the financialization of all of society + the realization that Chatgpt can replace most 'skills,' all this seems to now have more people grasping for a more substantive picture of what education is for.
Paul's excellent Victory Bell piece is a great read for anyone who wants to get a sense of Pres. Konkol and what coming to VU means to him. I sense that he will promote a Lutheran voice that is much more like Notre Dame's Catholic voice...i.e., both faith-based and inclusive, both insular (in a good way) and cosmopolitan (in a good way).
FWIW, he's not coming here to referee intramural differences or to settle old scores. It's about getting people believing in, and excited about, what VU has to offer the world. And based on what I've seen so far, I have a feeling that he's read about the immediate impact that O.P. Kretzmann had on the VU community upon his arrival. Like O.P., he's going meta, or macro, as Paul put it, with an overarching message about is special about Valpo.
Here's a chunk of what Paul wrote:
“There’s a couple things I align fully with the Lutheran values of freedom, scholarship and faith,” Konkol said. “I believe there’s an opportunity here to be rooted in the Lutheran tradition and reaching in ways like never before; rooted and reaching like a tree. You’ve got to grow in two directions. You’ve got to deepen roots and you’ve got to widen the reach. That provides us with an opportunity to educate young people in the head, the hands and the heart. When I think about what our students are yearning for today and what our world needs today, it’s for young people not just to have a career, but to have a calling. Not just to have a paycheck, but to have a purpose. Valpo provides that. So, we’re going to work incredibly hard to invite people into that. To the question about enrollment, enrollment is ultimately about believing what you are enrolling people into. Advancement work is ultimately about what you are advancing. If you believe in what you are advancing, and if you believe in what you are enrolling people into, it’s going to take care of the rest. I’m very confident. I’ve always loved this place, and I really mean this is a dream come true.”
There are a lot of generalities here - not surprising at this point, though I believe that Konkol will need to have his vision evolve into objectives. I am a bit concerned about the quotes at the end about enrollment and advancement...."if you believe then it's going to take care of the rest". He is transitioning from leading a large church to leading a large organization. More people who are more varied, bigger objectives with more rigorous stakeholders (e.g., debtholders), a critical need to hire and retain excellent senior people in adminstration, leading in an environment where many key people can say "no, I am not going to do that". My hope is that he understands and learns how his leadership needs to be different (no reason to think that he isn't).
I don't claim to be an expert on the various Catholic sects, but my hope is that he has a vision more akin to the Jesuit sect and less of Notre Dame's sect. Notre Dame is more dogmatic.
To VUIndiana's comments, I have always seen the value in humanities but I am not aware of any data that shows that humanities enrollment is increasing. Business, nursing, health sciences remain very strong. Engineering is down some...which is concerning (a lot of it likely comes from high school students not being sufficiently prepared and thus are not confident in quantitative areas).
The argument focusing on specific Lutheran groups or synods is interesting but hopefully we focus on being inclusive yet faith based with bias toward the overall Lutheran denomination. We need some engagement with the Lutheran Fort Wayne churches, but not entirely meet all their requirements for acceptance. I would assume we will make decisions at a high level rather than a micro level.
I would be surprised if Rev. Konkol hasn't considered how internal Lutheran dynamics relate to VU's ability to recruit students and enlist alumni and church support. It may involve walking some tightropes, but such is almost always the case with a religiously-affiliated university. This is especially the case with an institution that has expressly welcomed those of other faith manifestations and backgrounds generally into its community.
Paul also mentioned on his podcast that Konkol will be at the men’s basketball game this afternoon. If I remember correctly, he might be speaking at some point during halftime. Not sure if it will be on the ESPN+ stream or on the court.
Lots of good discussion. Lots of people who care about Valpo. People who have different day-to-day experiences.
I'd like President Konkol to focus "Excellence". Excellence in academics. Excellence in faith life and service. Excellence in sports (yes, having a good Men's BBall team attracts students-my kids, who went to Lutheran schools K-12, chose Butler and Dayton, and a big part of their college experience took place at basketball games). Excellent experiences.
It's far less about focusing on "left" or "right" philosophies, and focusing on performing really, really well in all facets of the college experience.
Paul also mentioned on his podcast that Konkol will be at the men’s basketball game this afternoon. If I remember correctly, he might be speaking at some point during halftime. Not sure if it will be on the ESPN+ stream or on the court.
The evidence that this is his dream job (his term to describe this opportunity) is how immediately present he has become, with a consistent message tailored for this institution, well articulated if still at a general level (per vu84v2's observations).
It's a deeper level of general messaging that goes beyond the bromides and platitudes issued by some new presidents and deans when they're happy about this new level of professional & career ascendance, but have only a superficial understanding of, and appreciation for, the institution they're now about to lead. (Believe me, I've heard my share of those newbie boss bromides and platitudes, and one could fertilize all the farms of America with it.....)
