Cum gratia officium. With gifting comes responsibility.

While that may sound like a tagline straight out of Spider-Man, that is in fact the motto of the Templeton Honor College here at Eastern University. The Templeton Honors College, THC from here on out, serves as one of the many colleges within Eastern that prides itself on a rigorous curriculum, dedicated faculty,
and talented students. Unfortunately these ideals remain in the world of the forms that THC so loves to
talk about and the responsibility they feel comes with “gifting” is left unfulfilled. This THC student has found that the promises of meaningful conversations, real world problems, and rich personal formation have been nothing more than empty lies meant to protect an elitist institution.

From the very beginning of students’ time here at Eastern, mine included, THC strives to set their students apart from the rest of Eastern’s academic community. They whisk away the freshman for a camping trip in the Adirondacks, and the students return in the middle of freshman orientation after the rest of the students have already gathered and met one another.

For almost the entirety of their first two semesters, freshmen in THC are hidden away from the rest of
the university, taking different versions of the same general education courses that the rest of the university takes, only they take them exclusively with Templeton students and professors. In this, Templeton students are alienated, immersed, and for many overwhelmed.

Existing almost entirely within the sphere of THC as one adjusts to college life is bound to create some
kind of problem, if for no reason other than the fact that humans are created to be in community with one another and THC operates as one big competition, both within itself and with the university at large.

Students every year share how incompetent they feel in the THC classrooms while also sticking their noses in the air whenever they are around students outside of Templeton, relying on the gold medal (literally given at graduation) of THC to distinguish their work from their peers.

Threads of elitism begin to peek through, subtly at first with the reminders to enrolled students that when we engage with the “western literary canon”, we enter into a “great conversation” that has been going on for hundreds of years (they tell that to a bunch of nervous freshmen and expect their egos to stay the same size?), but becomes more overt as time goes on: explicit acknowledgement of visitors’ unwanted presences at THC events, conversations meant to exclude those not in THC classes, and the increasingly formal “celebrations” of students which serve as fundraising opportunities.

In the age of COVID, Templeton’s elitism has gone so far that it seems as if they are even too good
for a pandemic; frequent lack of masking and social distancing were encouraged during their orientation
program under the guise of the new students being “adults capable of making their own decisions.” While I have personally referred to THC as a plague more times than I can count, I never expected that comparison to come anywhere near reality.

How an institution like THC has managed to continue the way it has at a place like Eastern truly
baffles me. Ideals like “faith, reason, and justice,” “courage,” and community engagement (“wake up the
world”) have defined Eastern University for quite some time, but Templeton continually stands in opposition to these ideals as they push a singular narrative devoid of any real world application of the concepts they pretend are crucial to personal and spiritual formation.

Add in the sexism, racism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, all of which have been addressed by
students and ignored by faculty, and well, this THC student would like to exchange this “gift” for something a little better.

      On Oct. 19, Logan M. Isaac spoke at Eastern’s Windows on the World event. Isaac integrated his experience as a veteran with his identity as a Christian to offer a new perspective on war. He engaged with Augustine’s Just War principles and asked how a Christian can justify war. His talk offered students, faculty, and staff a unique opportunity to engage with difficult topics in a way that was accessible and thought-provoking.

      As a former Iraq veteran, Isaac is hyper-aware of what is called the Civil Military Divide. The Civil Military Divide is known as the isolation of military personnel and communities from the civilian counterparts. Isaac used this idea to explain that both the military and civilians are often unaware of what is going on in each other’s worlds. He described the divide as being the way a civilian views military soldiers and vice versa. He explained this through the difference of “good and bad theology.”

      During the first portion of his presentation, he explained Augustine of Hippo’s term, “Just War,” which is the theory that some wars are justified because they are used to amend evil. In this theory, St. Augustine argued that some wars from the Bible, when taken out of context, can be seen as amending evil. Isaac proposed that this theory is misleading because wars are not normally seen as amending evil, but creating evil and he believed this kind of thinking constitutes as bad theology.

      Isaac went on to explain his reasoning by describing the term “Just wars” in further detail. He believed that the term “Just War” from Augustine’s narrative could have been used to preemptively justify war, that is to make an excuse to go to war without feelings of guilt rather than finding a way to delay or avoid war altogether.

      “But the wise they will say, they will wave Just Wars,” Isaac said.

      He made it clear that although beginning a war to end a dispute once and for all may sound like a good idea in theology, it is not. According to Isaac, Augustine was using an ancient Greek political tradition, appropriated by the Roman jurist Cicero. Cicero was one of the leading political figures of the era of Julius Caesar; he discovered the riches of classical and rhetoric philosophy.

      It is important to think of the justification of war without using the context or theology behind the reasoning for war. If the war cannot be justified on its own terms, adding in details from context and theological backgrounds can make the situation more confusing than it was at the beginning. The idea of a “just war” ought to be simple enough on its own; the damage caused by the war should outweigh the damage already done.

      As college students it is important to recognize our education on the topic of war and theology. Theology is often explained in connection to several hundred years of philosophy and historical context that can make it confusing, especially for people who may not have read major works of thought yet.

      College students are in a unique position where they are still learning about major issues and deciding where they stand, but they are expected to know and be knowledgeable about these things already. This makes seeking out more accessible discussions even more important for college students. Listening to Logan’s presentation was one way to become educated on a topic that is rarely discussed among college peers.

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