The 'Harvard of Christian schools' slams Fox News op/ed calling the college 'woke'

A college known as the "Harvard of Christian schools" is clapping back at a Fox News opinion piece that claims the school has gone “woke” just like Harvard University.

Wheaton College, a private Christian liberal arts school just outside Chicago, issued a statement Wednesday addressing the Fox News article, saying that they "remain committed to Christian service" and that the “claims made about the college are false or misleading.” 

Freelance writer Tim Scheiderer, who penned the Fox News op/ed, says that the school has begun to “mimic Harvard’s wokeness” by “banning biblical words, teaching critical race theory, and psychologizing gender identity issues.” 

“In the 19th century, Harvard was slowly, and permanently, transformed from a Christian university into a secular one,”  Scheiderer writes. “At Wheaton, the biblical belief in only two sexes is being tainted. With this and the other shifts mentioned, it may seem like a slow drift. But a gentle tide can carry a boat far from its dock.” 

Wheaton College President Philip Ryken slammed the “incendiary" opinion piece, saying in a statement that it “failed to meet minimal standards for journalistic accuracy.”

Here’s what we know.

Who is Tim Scheiderer?

Scheiderer, the author of the article, has no apparent affiliation with Wheaton College. 

He graduated from Bob Jones University, a private evangelical university in Greenville, South Carolina, with a B.A. in mass communications and media studies in 1999. He also has a “Master of Divinity” from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, according to his LinkedIn page.

Scheiderer’s resumé also lists him as a founding board member of The Augustine Fellowship, a Christian Study Center at Georgetown University.

He says on his website that he earned his “writing chops” working for ABC, Fox News and CNN.

What else does the Fox News article say?

Scheiderer writes that Wheaton College has slowly drifted away from traditional Christian values since the 2000s when the education department “commended the teachings of Marxists."

The college's most "blatant offense against Christianity is the ban of certain biblical words that are key to the faith’s foundation," stating that students have been discouraged from using words like "service" and "mankind." 

He also calls out an endowed chair in Wheaton’s psychology program for expressing views on gender identity that Scheiderer says are "rooted in an anti-God philosophy."

Scheiderer concludes the article by asking: "Would Billy Graham, the most influential 20th-century evangelical, endorse his alma mater?

How has Wheaton College responded? 

In his statement, Wheaton College's president discouraged community members from “engaging further" with Scheiderer.

The article, which Ryken says appeared to have been “cobbled from out-of-context items found on the Internet” is mischaracterizing since the author “does not name any sources or give any citations for his many contentions.” 

Ryken said that Scheiderer had reached out to the college’s marketing department a month ago, claiming that he was writing an article for the Wall Street Journal on a tight deadline. 

When the spokesperson questioned Scheiderer’s credentials, he told them that he was “actually a freelance writer attempting to pitch an idea to the Journal's opinion section."

“A representative from the WSJ confirmed that Scheiderer was not an employee. Although the WSJ did not run his piece, evidently he was able to have it appear on a FOX News page,” Ryker noted. 

"Wheaton College remains fully committed to Christian service − which we embrace as 'service' in our very mission statement − to biblical orthodoxy and Christ-centered education, including in matters of human sexuality, gender identity, and race relations," Ryken said.

Ryker concludes the statement by pointing to the college’s institutional commitments website for “ accurate information about our convictions.”