Search

Positive public perceptions of academic quality and professional ethics are critical to the long-term legitimacy of American colleges and universities. Faculty codes of conduct are one mechanism whereby the professoriate can define acceptable practice, exercise social control, and maintain public confidence in higher education, yet the drivers of their adoption are not well understood. Building upon previous research into such organizational behavior by institutional type, this study examined the prevalence and content of publicly posted faculty codes of conduct within an organizational field of institutions that share a common religious identity but differ in their institutional types and employment structures. Faculty handbooks from American member institutions of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU), an international association of faith-based institutions, were gathered and analyzed. Although only 27% of CCCU member institutions in the U.S. (36/135) publicly posted faculty codes of conduct, the average number of tenets present in each code (n = 7.5) was higher than suggested by previous research. Study findings also revealed that membership category, institutional type, and employment structures influence the content of faculty codes of conduct, indicating that isomorphic pressures operate within this particular organizational field. The piece concludes by commending publicly posted codes of conduct as an affirmation of the personal responsibility, fairness, and care exercised by ethical professionals in the academy.

Civic work—both scholarship and practice—has long been central to the purposes of American higher education. Whether cultivating future leaders, advancing knowledge in service to society, or enrich...

In recent years, concerns regarding runaway college tuition and student loan debt have risen to the forefront of the public consciousness, undermining confidence in the value of a college degree. I...

Evangelical colleges and universities situated in rural communities are uniquely positioned to bridge the ever-widening cultural, economic, and political divide that threatens American demo...

Leaders of evangelical Christian colleges must navigate a challenging environment shaped by public concern about college costs and educational quality, federal inclinations toward increased regulation, and lingering fallout from the Great Recession. Proceeding from the premise that empirical analysis empowers institutional actors to lead well in uncertain times, this article examines four key areas—access, affordability, student outcomes, and financial sustainability—using publicly available data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Results for the evangelical segment and the wider private nondoctoral sector of American higher education are compared, and areas of relative strength and weakness are considered. To facilitate benchmarking by institutional research professionals, the article's appendix presents national longitudinal norms for both the evangelical segment and the private nondoctoral sector.

Using a national dataset containing responses from 3,238 college students at 39 member institutions of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), this study empirically tested the relationship between a series of institutional factors and the components of fallibilist Christian spirituality they were theorized to cultivate. Results of multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) revealed that personnel, curricular, and cultural factors foster student development of commitment to Christian faith, provisionality of belief, and openness to pluralism. Implications for student development theory, institutional practice, and future research are considered.

As the conclusion to a three-part series assessing the denominational identity of American evangelical colleges and universities, this article presents findings from Phase III of the CCCU Denominational Study. Data for this research were gathered via an online survey that was completed by 3,160 full-time undergraduate students attending 16 denominationally affiliated evangelical Christian colleges. Similar to national trends, the results indicate that more students identify as nondenominational than any other particular Christian denomination. In addition, most students view their denomination as having little importance to their faith lives, and are likely to base their college choice on an institution's Christian identity, not its denominational identity. Nevertheless, students do not have negative views of their denomination and typically hold similar beliefs to the denomination of their institution. These results are discussed in light of their implications for Christian higher education, followed by ...

This article presents results from Phase II of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) Denominational Study, a multi-institutional examination of the state of denominational identity at evangelical Christian colleges, their faculty, and the students they serve. This phase of the study involved the administration of an online survey that was completed by 1,557 full-time faculty serving in 37 denominationally-affiliated evangelical Christian colleges. On the whole, faculty expressed a strong sense of affinity toward the sponsoring denominations of their respective institutions, though less than half attended a local congregation in the same denominational tradition. In addition, personal theological traditions were reported to influence faculty classroom practice on a number of dimensions. Faculty also perceived that college leaders and administrators placed a significant amount of importance on the denominational identities of their respective institutions, reporting that denominational id...

In an effort to better understand the role of denominational identity among its member institutions, the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) commissioned a three phase study of its institutions, faculty, and students. This article provides an overview of the study as a whole, as well as an in depth examination into the responses from the institutional portion of the study. Seventy-nine of the CCCU's member institutions in the United States responded to the online survey, yielding a response rate of 72%. Results suggest that a number of policies and practices currently in place at many church-related colleges serve to maintain denominational identity. In particular, college governance practices, annual appropriations from ecclesiastical bodies, and employment policies were generally found to support the denominational character of the institutions sampled. However, longitudinal trends suggest potential challenges on the horizon, as denominations have provided smaller annual appropriations ...

Using a national dataset containing responses from 14,527 college students at 136 institutions, this study empirically tested a theoretical model for fallibilist Christian spirituality. Results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicated an acceptable fit between the specified model and the actual structure of the data, suggesting that a fallibilist epistemology emphasizing provisionality of belief can empower college students to remain committed to their personal faith traditions while at the same time exhibiting openness toward pluralism. Implications for student development theory and student affairs practice are considered.