How Fundie is Ouachita Baptist University?

[FJismyheadship]

I'm going in the fall to major in music. I know they have a great music program, and I don't know anyone who hasn't had a great experience there. They gave me a voice scholarship.

I wondered if anyone had any experience with OBU and if so, did you think it was crazy fundie or just a normal Christian college? I'm not entirely excited about some parts of it (No alcohol at all while you're a student, even off campus, chapel twice a week and two bible study classes) but I'm willing to deal with it. I'm excited about going in general, but I've never heard anything bad, even from the super gay guy I know that went there. 

[Elegant Mess]

I have no experience with OBU, but I did notice from a quick online search that Mike Huckabee is an alumnus, so take that factoid for whatever it's worth.  

[Pammy]

With a little poking around, I learned

- Visits to opposite gender dorm rooms have rules, but are not forbidden.

- Homeschool students will be very happy, but transcripts and exam results are required, and there are standards to be met.

- Photos of female students in shorts, pants, short skirts.

This seems normal-Christian-college to me.

 

[OldFadedStar]

I have a friend who went there and she loved it. I never discussed the school with her really but she is pretty super liberal hippie chick, just divorced her husband, etc. So I would say they aren't fundie if she graduated from there. 

I went to a christian college myself and I personally didn't feel like the "strict" parts were that bad... even then at least at the school I went to there were ways around the rules. It was actually kind of nice that there was no alcohol there because people weren't just searching for the next party to go to. 

[FJismyheadship]

Cool, I'm glad.

I have a friend who has friends who went and she I just found out is kind of fundie. That's what raised my concerns because I know she has ties to the Duggars (but doesn't know them) 

When I did the campus tour the advisor said that they had campus apartments, and said that might be better than dorm life since I have a three year old. Nobody seemed to care that I was unmarried and had a kid. They were very welcoming. 

I just wanted to make sure I wasn't about to dive into a world of koolaid! 

About the only advice I have been given from those who have been is to not advertise on social media that I go to a drag bar or that I participated in drag shows before. Either that or have a separate Facebook page for my college life and my weekend life lol

[tabitha2]

Don't several of the Older Duck Robertson Grandchildren attend there? 

[goldbu]

I have a friend who went there and I'm pretty sure he liked it. He's not conservative at all, but I don't know what he was like in undergrad. We met when he was in grad school and I was in undergrad at another moderate Baptist university. He's now a fairly moderate-to-progressive religion professor at a different Christian university. 

[artdecades]

I don't know anything about the school (how do you even pronounce it? ew-a-ch-ta? ow-chita?) but based one what others have said and a quick look at the website it is accredited which most fundie schools are not. The accreditation process is not quick and easy and shows that they are committed to academics and not just jesus. They have counseling services which is good.

 

HOWEVER, there are a few huge red flags. Required ministry retreats and chapel visits in order to graduate. There are two required bible classes as part of the core education for all students: Survey of the Bible and Interpreting the Bible. Their job posting page also states they only hire faculty who are their type of Christian and that is also a huge red flag. There is also this bit from the handbook

Quote

The Ouachita community recognizes that human sexuality is a gift from God for procreation of human life and for the expression of one’s love through marriage. Misuses of God’s gift include, but are not limited to, promiscuity (including violation of the Biblical teaching against homosexual acts), possession or distribution of pornographic or obscene materials, and/or other immoral sexual acts.

 

These may not be big deals for you.

[silverspoons]

I say take the opportunity for the scholarship and just keep school and your personal life separate. I have friends that went to BYU and lead very different lives off campus and after college. I have one friend and I see her now and have no idea how she could have sat through 4 years at BYU and not got herself into trouble (she is so vocal). She also was a single mom (divorced from an abusive man) and she knew getting a degree was the only way she could give her kids the life they deserved. She said it took some will power to sit through religion class and to smile when she saw thing she didn't agree with but she did it for the free education. She got her degree in Chemistry and has a fabulous job and many crazy stories to tell about life at BYU. She lived off campus and kept her friends separate from college.

I say go for it. What is the worst that can happen? The school is super fundie  and you decide to leave after a year? At least you will have one year of free education.

[slp]

18 hours ago, tabitha2 said:

Don't several of the Older Duck Robertson Grandchildren attend there? 

No they are Church of Christ,not Baptist.   They attend Harding University in Searcy Arkansas.

[FJismyheadship]

1 hour ago, artdecades said:

I don't know anything about the school (how do you even pronounce it? ew-a-ch-ta? ow-chita?) but based one what others have said and a quick look at the website it is accredited which most fundie schools are not. The accreditation process is not quick and easy and shows that they are committed to academics and not just jesus. They have counseling services which is good.

 

HOWEVER, there are a few huge red flags. Required ministry retreats and chapel visits in order to graduate. There are two required bible classes as part of the core education for all students: Survey of the Bible and Interpreting the Bible. Their job posting page also states they only hire faculty who are their type of Christian and that is also a huge red flag. There is also this bit from the handbook

 

These may not be big deals for you.

Wah-Shi-Taw

I know, it doesn't look like that lmao.

Yeah, the chapel visits I can deal with, and I was aware of the two bible classes, I guess the thing is, am I gonna be the student thats constantly questioning everything? Probably. How well will they handle that? I would assume that as long as they have been open they are used to that by now, and the teachers will know how to handle that. I'm a natural talker too, less so since I Have gotten older. My super gay friend who used to go said he slept through Chapel and nobody really cared as long as he showed up.

[JesusCampSongs]

Two concerns about attending a school like that:

1. How strictly are the rules enforced? My sister went to a fairly conservative, strict-ish Christian college that had a lot of rules about who could be in dorm rooms and when and what angle of a door constituted it being open and light sources other than the TV and nooooo drinking...however, the reality was that as long as you weren't totally egregious and/or brazen about your rule-breaking, you could stay out of trouble pretty easily. Other schools encourage a culture of snitching that can be tough to deal with. A good friend of mine got kicked out of such a school back when we were in college because someone saw her drinking at a bar and took a picture of her. Apparently, said school had a semi-official "God Squad" that would visit local bars and crash parties at nearby universities in an effort to bust their fellow students. 
2. Beware the financial aid bait-and-switch. Attending a school that doesn't commit to four-year funding upfront or promise to meet demonstrated need puts you at risk of situations like my sister's. She got offered an awesome aid package her first year, but with each subsequent year, the ratio of grants:loans shifted in a way that didn't benefit her. She couldn't transfer because the courses at her school weren't equivalent to courses elsewhere, so switching schools would have meant starting over and possibly spending more money. 

I haven't heard anything, negative or positive, about that specific school, though. I just know a lot of people who went to Christian colleges (I did not, because I hate rules).

[PopRox]

I don't have any experience with that school, so I can't add anything helpful :-/ but I wanted to say congratulations on your vocal scholarship! I wish you all the best. :-)

[FJismyheadship]

4 hours ago, JesusCampSongs said:

Two concerns about attending a school like that:

1. How strictly are the rules enforced? My sister went to a fairly conservative, strict-ish Christian college that had a lot of rules about who could be in dorm rooms and when and what angle of a door constituted it being open and light sources other than the TV and nooooo drinking...however, the reality was that as long as you weren't totally egregious and/or brazen about your rule-breaking, you could stay out of trouble pretty easily. Other schools encourage a culture of snitching that can be tough to deal with. A good friend of mine got kicked out of such a school back when we were in college because someone saw her drinking at a bar and took a picture of her. Apparently, said school had a semi-official "God Squad" that would visit local bars and crash parties at nearby universities in an effort to bust their fellow students. 
2. Beware the financial aid bait-and-switch. Attending a school that doesn't commit to four-year funding upfront or promise to meet demonstrated need puts you at risk of situations like my sister's. She got offered an awesome aid package her first year, but with each subsequent year, the ratio of grants:loans shifted in a way that didn't benefit her. She couldn't transfer because the courses at her school weren't equivalent to courses elsewhere, so switching schools would have meant starting over and possibly spending more money. 

I haven't heard anything, negative or positive, about that specific school, though. I just know a lot of people who went to Christian colleges (I did not, because I hate rules).

There were two copies to be signed, and I kept one and Dr. Secrest keeps the other. It shows the scholarship amount yearly and shows that I will receive it for four years.

From what my one friend said, they don't condone it, and like you said, as long as you weren't totally brazen about it, it was okay. He was an out gay man, and while everyone knew he was, its not like they caught him having sex or anything. Another person warned me that they have kicked people out before for being gay, but according to my friend if was mostly if you were caught engaging in sexual activity, which I think is in the rule book for anyone, gay or straight and unmarried. However, I did notice in the book that if you were sexually assaulted, they encouraged you to come forward, and they also encouraged you to continue your education if you did break the rules and wound up pregnant.

[Manda]

How much of the community college credit transfers?  Do they have on-site day care for your daughter?  Two Bible classes isn't bad and well within the norms of Christian colleges.  Living in an apartment the dorm rules won't affect you anyway and you can learn to let things go by in class.  All of that is if you want to of course.  I had a couple college classes where I learned it was better to just be quiet and get out and then my first job out of college found that was one of the most useful things I learned.  I had to just keep my head down and stay out of trouble while applying for other jobs for six months.  

[BiblebeltCath]

It's about on level of Baylor as far as the fundie quotient. So, Christian, but not extreme. I'm sure there are people there who are very fundie, and others who are just nominally Christian.

I'm Instagram friends with a recent graduate. She wears clothing that is tight, sleeveless, or short all the time, and posts pictures with gay friends. She worked at Disney for a while, and is in a arts/performance career. Definitely not fundie!

[goldbu]

1 hour ago, BiblebeltCath said:

It's about on level of Baylor as far as the fundie quotient. So, Christian, but not extreme. I'm sure there are people there who are very fundie, and others who are just nominally Christian.

I'm a Baylor alum and I agree with this. It is a sort of "feeder" school for grad school at Baylor. I know at Baylor, there is a wide range of beliefs among Christians, and plenty of non-Christians also (but Baylor is a bigger school). 

[VVV]

Ouachita is normal Christian, I think.  Not fundie.  Now College of the Ozarks, that's crazy fundy.

Fun fact:  the (then future) long-time president of Ouachita and his wife were in my parents' wedding.  They were definitely not fundie, at least not by the standards of the late 1940s when my parents were friends with them.  He is long since retired, though, and I have no idea if either he or his wife is even still living.

[FJismyheadship]

I found out that Candace Payne (the Chewbacca mask lady) graduated from there and was a Homecoming Queen there too.

I like that better than knowing Mike Huckabee is one of their alumni lol

[Jigsaw3]

Any idea about how fundie Samford in Alabama is? I get the impression it's normal, it's a Baptist college but regular Baptist, not Southern. I have a niece thinking about it for next year...

[47of74]

When I was a senior in high school something my guidance counselor said when we were considering where to go to college was that just because a school was affiliated with a particular church it didn't mean it should be the overriding factor in our decisions about where to go.

This was all back in my Catholic days.  I went to a community college after high school and then went to a local four year university that was affiliated with the Presbyterian Church instead of one of the two Catholic four year institutions.  Church affiliations wasn't really high on the list of factors when I decided where to go to school - it was more the financial aid package and the number of credits they accepted than the church affiliation.  Although if I had known I was going to switch from business adminstration to computer science I would have went to the Catholic college that was one of my two final schools as it has a really strong computer science program.

 

[goldbu]

On 5/30/2016 at 4:13 PM, Jigsaw3 said:

Any idea about how fundie Samford in Alabama is? I get the impression it's normal, it's a Baptist college but regular Baptist, not Southern. I have a niece thinking about it for next year...

It's fairly moderate, from my understanding. I have a friend whose dad is a professor there and the family is moderate to liberal politically.