Wheaton Breaks Tradition, Hosts On-Campus Dance
by Jim Brown and Jody Brown
November 20, 2003
(AgapePress) - A well-known evangelical Christian college near Chicago recently held its first open dance in the school's history. Before lifting its long-time ban on social dancing, Wheaton College only allowed square dancing on campus. But that all changed last weekend as a swing band called the "Rhythm Rockets" took the stage and more than 1,000 Wheaton students danced the night away. Dr. Sam Shellhamer, Wheaton's vice president for student development, explains that the dance was made possible by revisions to the school's lifestyle statement called the "Community Covenant."
"The motivation to change it was not singularly [the issue of] dance," Shellhamer says. "The real focus was primarily on our Community Covenant statement of aspiring to be a Christ-centered community."
Shellhamer says those rewriting the statement asked themselves questions such as: What does such a community look like? -- and, How can we create an environment that fosters, for college students, growth and maturation as a believer in Christ in a way that is positive, wholesome, and truly reflective of what scripture sets forth to us?
The school vice president says the time had come to rewrite the Covenant. "The new statement is put into a context that's more biblically based, scripture is more directly applied -- and we wanted to come up with a Community Covenant that more reflected biblical standards," he says. "There's nothing in the Bible that prohibits dancing."
The revised statement reads as follows:
The Wheaton College community also encourages responsible freedom in matters of entertainment, including the places where members of the College community may seek it, such as television, movies, video, theater, concerts, dances and the Internet. The College assumes its members will be guided in their entertainment choices by the godly wisdom of Philippians 4:8: "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things."
On-campus dances will take place only with official College sponsorship. All members of the Wheaton College community will take care to avoid any entertainment or behavior, on or off campus, which may be immodest, sinfully erotic, or harmfully violent (Eph. 4:1-2, 17-24; I Tim. 5:2; Gal. 5:22-23). [excerpted from Wheaton College "Community Covenant"]
Dr. Shellhamer, who took his wife to the dance, says he appreciates all the media attention the school has received because, as he puts it, "people want to understand what our community is all about."
An AgapePress article earlier this year reported that Wheaton College also had revised its behavioral standards to permit faculty, staff, and graduate students to use alcohol and tobacco. At that time, Provost Stan Jones said the new policy on dancing was needed in light of cultural changes on Christian campuses.
