The Eastern University traditional undergraduate program at St. Davids campus has been around since 1952. In that time, countless campus changes, building renovations, culture shifts and world events have occured, inevitably changing the student experience along the way. How has Eastern changed over time? Is it better or worse? What things should be evolved past, and what lore should be remembered and brought back?
Dr. Matthew Moser, Theology professor in the Templeton Honors College who arrived back on campus in 2024, was a student at Eastern between 2000-2003. He lived in Gough Residence all three years he was a part of the student body — although back then, it was simply referred to as New Residence Hall, or NRH for short. The student body then was much smaller, with just about a thousand students on campus according to his estimate. Eagle, Centennial and Sparrowk Halls did not yet exist, meaning the on-campus students were more concentrated on the side of campus where Freshmen now live and Doane. Because of this, the student culture was distinct.
“There was a much more kind of concentrated student culture. I think there was a kind of more of a shared emphasis and vision on the faith, reason, justice motto, but especially the social justice stuff. That was a consistent presence on campus as a student…It was just a big conversation happening around Eastern and students were really kind of united in that,” Moser said.
The closeness of dorm buildings meant a vibrant residence life. According to Moser, there was a strong pranking culture when he was a student — including setting geese loose in academic buildings, filling hallways with packing peanuts and water balloon fights between guys and girls halls.
The smallness of the community brought upsides and downsides to campus culture. “It was just such a smaller community then, and we were all living closer together. With the smaller community, there’s benefits, right? You kind of know everybody, but then there are downsides. Everybody knows you. There wasn’t a lot of privacy in terms of things that were happening and couples getting together, couples breaking up. It just seemed like you were seeing a lot of the same people in the different clubs. I would be at Sunday night worship with the same crowd that I was at the Swing Dancing club with and that I would see when I was in RA. So it was just a lot of the same people mixing and there was a wonderful kind of community that came out of that,” Moser said.
Many of the clubs and events Moser used to attend, such as YACHT club, ETHELS swing dancing and coffeehouses are still around, and he says there’s more happening here than there was when he was a student. However, because of the smallness, events used to turn out significantly more people, whereas now there are more frequent, smaller events that appeal to different fragments of the student population.
Ruby Baker and Nicole Markert were both students in the latter half of the 2010s, and both returned quickly to join the staff after graduating. They both highlighted how Faculty Firesides have changed. One traditional part of orientation week was leaving campus in buses to go to your INST professor’s house. “[you would]…get to know your faculty member as a person who exists in the world. That’s not possible anymore because our class sizes are so huge. And a lot of the people who teach them are staff and adjuncts so it’s not the same as, hey, this is a faculty member you’re going to be with for four years,” Baker said. INST classes also used to be grouped by major, meaning the class worked in more of a cohort style than it does now.
Markert says because of world events occurring during her time at Eastern, the student culture was politically active. “I think a lot of students in my class were really forward-thinking. A lot of them protested, a lot of them signed petitions against the university. Very action oriented. Of course, not everybody shared the same views, but everybody was actively engaged. A lot of political things were happening in the 2016 to 2020 era, and so I feel like that really reflected in the culture and what we prioritized as a student body at the time,” Markert said.
Baker points out athletics are more of an emphasis than it once was. “In some ways that camaraderie that exists between athletes is a change — neither good nor bad, just a change — because you see them all the time and they’re always around. There’s certainly more camaraderie on sports games, which was not the same when I was here. People went to basketball games, people really loved intramural, but I don’t know people weren’t attending games all of the time other than basketball. There’s more of a rally behind our student athletes,” Baker said.
According to Baker, two language classes were previously required as part of GenEd. The cutting of this requirement eases student schedules, but also lessens the degree that various classes mingle with one another.
She also observes that freshman are less able to connect with upperclassmen due to the size and way the GenEd classes have changed. “[Freshmen] get to know each other, which is good because they’re going to be stuck with each other, but they have less of that mentorship that existed. I think still exists in smaller departments — you get to know people in your major, but not usually as a freshman. You don’t get to know them until sophomore, junior, senior year,” Baker said. The decision to create freshman only housing, rather than mixing the dorms between classes, has also contributed to the lack of mentorship for freshmen.
Iyenani Zabadi, who wears many hats as an Eastern staff member, got to campus a year before Baker and graduated in 2018. She observes the gender ratio has significantly changed, as there were once many more women than men on campus. When she was a student, she felt a distinct student culture on campus. “People would walk around barefoot — it was just very free. You would see people outside on the grass just hanging out, talking — even if you didn’t know someone, you walked past they would smile at you or say hello. So it just was very… welcoming,” Zabadi said.
According to Zabadi, people who came to Eastern often came looking for a unique Christian community. “For a lot of people coming to Eastern at the time, they were coming to a Christian school that had this social justice outlook, so they were really passionate about that. We also were a Christian school that offered some things that others didn’t have, like the dance and theater, so people would come from far to participate in that,” Zabadi said.
This passion translated into clubs with high participation, including a couple clubs that have since vanished, like Habitat for Humanity and Students Advocating for Gender Equality (SAGE). At the time, Refuge was starting out and attracting lots of activity on campus, according to both Baker and Markert. “People lived for the outings,” Zabadi said, referring to YACHT and other social justice oriented clubs.
Since her time at Eastern, the interests at Eastern have changed a bit. Zabadi attributes this to both the broader world’s shifts, but also to the increased shyness she has observed on campus. “I think that’s one thing that has changed, that willingness to take that first step. I get it — I’m introverted too. So [we’re] just trying to get them into spaces they can actually engage,” Zabadi said.
Both Moser and Zabadi believe that increased safety concerns have changed the culture of the school. When Moser was a student, residence halls were constantly full of social activity. He attributes this change to the enhanced concerns for security meaning it is harder to drop in on friends living quarters. “I think maybe the biggest thing in terms of shaping the culture and the residence halls is all of the safety and security concerns that we now…have. But I feel like that it makes me really sad that you guys don’t get the same lighthearted residence life experience that that I got to have. It’s just so much more serious and locked down and quieter because of the world that we’re in now. So I feel like that’s a huge shift.” Zabadi points to decreased interest in social justice focused outings like volunteer hours and Habitat for Humanity due to safety concerns.
Diversity has also changed significantly. Markert says racial, sexual and religious diversity has significantly improved, and made Eastern feel more consistent in its messaging. “I’m not sure why that shift happened, but I’m really grateful that it did because I think we’re better as a university when we have a more diverse group of students and we can be more conscious about how to be more inclusive, especially since like our motto is faith, reason and justice. Having that motto, but then being a primarily white school seemed kind of weird to me,” Markert said.
Moser also says the religious diversity is more significant. “I think there’s a lot more ecumenical diversity now, and not just Christian diversity, but diversity between people with different religious faiths, people with no religious faiths. [Eastern] was much more strongly Big Tent evangelical.”
What do former Eastern students wish could be brought back from the time they were students? Markert mourns the lack of community spaces at Eastern. “I don’t necessarily think there are as many community spaces, or they don’t feel geared toward gathering people. There used to be a lot of community gathering areas — that whole front entrance of Walton used to be a commuter lounge,” she said, drawing a comparison between that space and the current commuter lounge in the basement of Guffin.
Zabadi thinks the in-person community is not as energetic as it once was. “Hang out! People were always in the lounge. That was a sacred space for them, just being in those lounges in whatever building. There was just community and more face time. All of the digital stuff is cool, but I think a lot of people want to connect interpersonally. Just having openings for [is] something I would like to see,” Zabadi said.
Moser observes the compartmentalization of faith, reason and justice. “There definitely seems to be less emphasis on the integration of faith, reason and justice. You have your social justice people, and then you have your book people, and then you have your faith people. The Eastern I experienced, and what was so transformative for me, was being encouraged to bring all of those together. To act, serve, think and believe in a faithful, reasonable, justice-oriented way. That blew my mind as a kid showing up here who lived in a very compartmentalized life…If that dynamic is changing, I would love to see Eastern continue in the direction of keeping those integrated,” Moser said.
Overall, all former students believe Eastern has inevitably changed, both for better and worse. The school has significantly grown in size, bringing with it both the increased fragmentation of student interest, the greater divide between faculty and students and a less integrated community — but it has also brought diversity, energy and opportunities former students never got while attending Eastern. The culture of the world has changed, meaning greater security concerns, less interest in justice and an addictive device in the pockets of every student — but it has also brought lightning fast online connection, mind-boggling technological innovation and, according to Zabadi, a generation of students who are less afraid to be themselves and more willing to hold power accountable. It is up to current students to decide what parts of Eastern’s history should be resurrected, and which should be left in the past.