also be due to a search for
something more meaning
ful than Yupward mobility.
The students of the '60s
found their faith in the qua
si-religions of the youth
Going tack to tta told:
Many faiths meet (and
sometimes do battle)
within the marketplace
of ideas that academia
traditiona lly provides
movement and antiwar activism; in the ’70s self-develop
ment was often a fixation. Today there are few unifying
causes—and rebellion for its own sake can seem dated or
downright silly. Arid so those who seek something other
than success to worship say they are, increasingly, look
ing to God.
The impact of today’s fervor varies from campus to
campus. For most students, religion remains a personal
matter. "It gives me peace of mind,” says Northwestern
freshman Joellen Ruvoli, who attends a weekly Rible
study group. "It’s like a rock that helps me escape all the
craziness here at school.” For a minority of others, howev
er, religion is a militant calling that demands that skeptics
be compelled to see the light To put it bluntly, says Dana
Strong, a UT junior who heads the evangelical Longhorn
< ARUM MUKt SO
Christian Fellowship, "we seek to interrupt their lives
(Students protest that) religion is an individual thing and
[say,) 'What right do you have to tell me how to live?’
They’re offended by what we do, but we want to confront
some of [the values) that they brought from a materialistic,
hedonistic society
Some students and professors see a dark side to this
devoutness, fearing that it will lead to intolerance and
confrontation In particular they worry that fundamental
ists may begin toclamor for the teaching of what they regard
as the literal Truth So far, such pressures have come not
from students but from the religious establishment As
examples, critics cite the effort of the Southern Baptist
Convention to impose its fundamentalist views on the cur
riculum of Baylor University (page 17* and the Vatican’s
silencing of Catholic University theology Prof. Charles Cur
ran, who had alarmed the church with his dissident views on
sexual morulity (page lHi It may lx- only a matter of time,
however, before some religious students adopt the tactics of
Accuracy in Academia, the conservative political group that
monitors professors for deviations from right-wing ortho
doxy "Some fundamentalist people are looking for quick,
easy cookbook answers." complains the Rev David Turner,
u priest at St. John's Catholic Chapel at the University of
Illinois, Champaign-Urbana "|There’s a) sense of accepting
a very simplistic kind of solution and teaching. They don’t
want to think as they do with academic subjects."
BH| questions: To lx- sure, religion has always provider! a
palliative for the normal anxieties of students "When
you’re at college, you’re struggling with some of the most
profound questions humans can ask," says USC’s chaplain
Alvin Kudisill, who has heljxxl coordinate the campus roll
gious community for 25 years “I think young people to
day along with the rest of society- are stymied by life’s
big questions It’s almost as if they're hedging their bets lor
the future, which is very uncertain " And as piety becomes
more acceptable, students feel more comfortable about
seeking out its solace. It’s
hard to live in this crazy
world where some peoplesay
you're weird when you're
religious," says Duke
sophomore Klizabeth San
ford, who belongs to the
Duke Inter-Varsity Chris
tian Fellowship "It'sgoodto
come here and have others
say, 'Yeah, you're doing tin
right thing'.”
Some find religion fosters
u sense of ethnic identity
"For us Islam was not just
a religion, it was a way of
life,” says Washington Uni
versity senior Mohammed
A R Khan, a founder of
the school’s Islamic Society
"We wanted to bring that
knowledge to students on
campus who hardly knew
anything about Islam.” At
Brown this fall, eight .Jew
ish students have congre
gated in one section of a dor
mitory, calling it Hebrew
Those who are
seeking meaning
beyond the spoils
of success are
increasingly
turning to God
: