April 25, 2024
Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson released a song in 1978 entitled, “Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.” I like the song, because I have always been a Washington Redskins fan and their arch-rivals have been the Dallas Cowboys.
However, today I feel inspired to write a song entitled, “Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Go to Hampshire College.”
Hampshire College has made headline news in recent days, and in my considered and accurate opinion the news is not good.
The rather obscure and unheralded college has become a topic of discussion in Starbucks from coast to coast and over water fountains in office break rooms all over the nation. Why?
Protesters gather as a show of force against Hampshire College president Jonathan Lash's decision to take down the American flag after student complaints following the presidential election. FACEBOOK/SpecialOn the day after the general election students at Hampshire lowered the United States flag to half-staff to demonstrate their angst over the “toxic tone of the months-long election.”
On the evening of November 10 or in the early morning of November 11, the flag was burned. The flag was immediately replaced, and the college’s board of trustees voted to continue to fly it at half-staff.
Jonathan Engel Bromwich wrote, “Some on campus perceived the flag as 'a powerful symbol of fear they’ve felt all their lives because they grew up in marginalized communities, never feeling safe.'"
Others claimed they wanted the flag lowered while students and faculty members at the college discussed and confronted “deeply held beliefs about what the flag represents to the members of our campus community.”
Eh, what!
But just days later Hampshire College President Jonathan Lash sent an email announcing that the flag was to be taken down altogether, suggesting that the action of lowering the flag had nothing to do with the results of the presidential election. All he did was exacerbate the problem. Instead of showing leadership, Lash cowered to pressure and acquiesced to the wishes of a group of coddled, misguided students.
Derek Cloutier, a Marine veteran and founder of the New England Veterans Alliance, led a group of former military personnel to protest the action of the college by waving flags on the campus green and chanting “Raise our flag.”
A student who wished to remain anonymous wrote an article published in The Daily Wire entitled, “A Conservative Student’s Thoughts on The Flag Burning at Hampshire College.” This student stated, “It is interesting how President Lash seems adamant in protecting the right to mourn and protest, but there appears to be a looming culture of a singular mindset on campus.
“A student is more than welcome to burn the symbol of liberty, but if a student feels upset at the disrespect of a symbol they see as sacred they must sit in the shadows or face a barrage of ad-hominem attacks. It seems that bigotry and intolerance of opposite opinions is actually exhibited by those who spew that accusation the most often.”
To this student’s credit he lashed out at Lash, saying, “I have hoped that those that desecrated the flag have the potential to grow up from their mistakes and eventually understand the sacrifices that have been made to allow them to enjoy liberties such as the first amendment, but this hope has been quickly extinguished by actions from President Lash.
“Not only are these students’ actions positively reinforced, but it is evident that after decades of experience and education our leadership does not have the moral integrity or wherewithal to stand up for the symbol of liberty.”
It is difficult to heap all the blame on 18-21-year-old college students when the president of the institution has such a cavalier attitude toward the flag himself.
It is not news that some schools of higher learning have been transformed into breeding grounds for radical thinking, anti-social rhetoric, and anarchy.
So, Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up and go to Hampshire College or any other school that stresses anarchy over order or confusion over truth.
In fact, you would do well to lead your babies to grow up and directed toward one of our Baptist universities or our Baptist college. For example, Shorter University’s motto is: “Transforming lives Through Christ.” The Mission and Purpose of the University is: “To advance God’s Kingdom through a commitment to academic excellence, spiritual growth, Christian leadership, and global service within the context of a biblical worldview.”
Truett McConnell’s Mission Statement declares: “The mission of Truett McConnell University is to equip students to fulfill the Great Commission by fostering a Christian worldview through a biblically-centered education.” The theme of TMU, “from the very first verse to the very last tribe,” underscores the schools commitment both to the Word of God and the Great Commission.
Brewton-Parker College’s Mission is: “To develop the whole student through the application of Biblically-centered truth to a liberal arts curriculum in a community of shared Christian values.” Their Vision is: "To honor Jesus Christ in every area of the academy.”
When your student chooses one of our Baptist colleges, in many cases he/she chooses Christ over chaos, order over anarchy, transformation over conformity, truth over error, and a secure path into the future rather than a treacherous one.
