Campus CrossWalk Magazine: 2005 Summer Issue -- Tracking Trends

UCLA’s Graduate School of Higher Education conducted their 38th yearly study of incoming college students nationwide during the fall of 2004. The study surveyed more than 112,000 freshmen at 236 colleges and universities and here are some of the key findings as related to spiritual life:

: 80% are interested in spirituality;; 76% are searching for meaning and purpose in life;; 74% discuss the meaning of life with their friends;; 81% attend religious services;; 79% believe in God;; 89% say non-religious people can be just as moral as religious believers;; 64% say that most people can grow spiritually without being religious.

Riverside Press-Enterprise

A study of 18-25 year olds was conducted among 1,385 Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslims by Reboot, a national Jewish youth network in April, 2005. Here are the results of “Generation Y” survey:

: 36% attend worship services weekly;; 55% pray before meals;; 51% say it is not necessary to believe in God to be moral and have good values;; 38% talk about religion with friends;; 33% read religious books, newspapers or magazines;; 8% volunteer to help the disadvantaged. (Press-Enterprise, 4/14/05)

“Choosing Their Flock,” was a major front page heading in the Chronicle of Higher Education’s January 28, 2005 story about conservative Christian groups/clubs that “have forced colleges to allow them to bar gay students and nonbelievers. Some institutions are finally ready to fight back.” Two Ohio State University law students had complained that the campus chapter of the Christian Legal Society, a student group, was violating the institution’s nondiscrimination rules. This past fall, without having to go to court the CLS won a victory when OSU changed its policy to exempt groups formed to promote “sincerely held religious beliefs.” However, other schools such as Arizona State, the University of California Hastings School of Law and the University of North Carolina “are determined to fight the legal challenge,” such as preventing what happened with Ohio State’s Christian group. (CHE, 1/28/05)
Parents are less likely to discuss drugs with their teen-age children than in the past. “Only 85% of parents in the survey taken last year said they talked to their children in the last 12 months about drugs.” In 1997 -- 98% of all teen parents talked to their children about drugs. (USA Today, 2/23/05)
Auburn University officials have determined that 'Fellowship of Christian Athletes' employee, Bobby Lowder, who also serves as chaplain for the Tiger’s athletic department, “did not violate any major NCAA rules after the New York Times raised questions about his role.” Some benefactors, including an Auburn trustee, have donated to Williams’ foundation. (Los Angeles Times, 1/8/05)
Louisiana State University has recently granted official recognition to the Muslim Students Association after the group was denied recognition for a year and a half for refusing to accept limits on its rights to religious liberty and fee association. (www.thefire.org 4/30/05)
The Parents Television Council recorded and analyzed 171 hours of programming around the clock during the week of March 20, 2004, to March 27, 2004 on MTV during “Spring Break” coverage. MTV’s reality programs averaged 13 sexual scenes per hour, while music videos on MTV averaged 32 instances of foul language per hour! (ptcealerts@parentstv.org)
Nearly six in 10 high school graduates in 2005 will start college in the fall, but half of them – and more than two-thirds of the African-American and Latino students who enroll – will fail to earn either an associate’s or bachelor’s degree. (Los Angeles Times, 1/2/05)
A “drunk” University of Pittsburgh football player, Billy Gaines, 19, fell to his eventual death after drinking eight glasses of rum and Coke plus a shot of liquor furnished to him at a party at St. Anne Church in Pittsburgh. The party was hosted by priest, Rev. Henry Krawcyck, who was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to seven years’ probation. Krawcyck was the only adult at the party that resulted in Gaine’s death 19 hours after his fall from a crawl space more than 20 feet above the church ceiling and landed on his head. Gaines’ family has a $75 million suit pending against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. (USA Today, 2/23/05)
A mother was arrested in Granite City, IL when she tried unsuccessfully to prevent her 14 year old daughter from having an abortion. Hospital authorities called the local police and had the mother arrested and the abortion was completed. (Life.News.com 4/11/05)
The University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire Student Senate has amended it rules to forbid any student-organized activity that promotes a “particular ideological, religious, or partisan viewpoint” from receiving student-fee funding. According to FIRE (Foundation for Individual Right in Education) “this new policy directly contradicts the university’s First Amendment obligation to distribute student funds regardless of viewpoint and violates the rights of all UWEC students.” (www.thefire.org 4/30/05)
“64% of all voters” in the last national election “went to church, synagogue or mosque.” (Fox News, 1/13/05)
Three Colorado Supreme Court judges have declared Bibles as “biblio non grata” in United States court rooms and jury deliberation chambers. The case involved throwing out the sentence of a man who was given the death penalty after jurors consulted the Bible in reaching a verdict. (frcpub@frc.corg 3/30/05)
13 billion dollars was contributed to the American economy by foreign students in American colleges last year according to David G. Payne, executive director of the Educational Testing Service. Foreign applications to American graduate schools declined 28 percent last year and actual foreign graduate student enrollment dropped 6 percent according to Payne while foreign student enrollment “have been surging in England, Germany and other countries.” (Riverside Press-Enterprise, 1/9/05)
Lee Strobel, former atheist and former legal editior for the Chicago Tribune said “There is no other place to go to see well-informed Christians engaging in these topics.” Strobel’s statement is reference to the new PAX television show “Faith Under Fire,” where he is the host each Saturday evening. Strobel has guest authorities on his show dealing with almost every topic that Christians are often concerned about from evolution to heaven to God being a Democrat or Republican. (Christian Examiner, 12/04)

Rick Rowland recently retired as a professor at Pepperdine University in Speech Communication. He serves as the External College-Age Ministry Leader for the Murrieta Church of Christ in California. Rick also serves as the president of the Campus CrossWalk board.