What happened? How did institutions of higher education founded with such clear-eyed Christian missions, centered on moral and academic flourishing, go so far astray?
There was once a time when religiously affiliated liberal-arts institutions were just that: havens of the time-honored liberal-arts tradition that sought to shape both students’ minds and hearts in accordance with the Christian faith. This was descriptive of a number of the country’s elite institutions until relatively recently. Too many colleges and universities, unfortunately, have lost sight of both their academic and religious missions.
An analysis of three such institutions is the subject of a new report by the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal. From Purpose to Politics: The Decline of Three Liberal Arts Institutions traces the history and shifts in mission of three liberal-arts schools: Davidson College, Washington and Lee University, and Williams College.
Each of these schools was founded with an explicitly Christian mission, emphasizing the religious and academic formation of its students. Regular chapel attendance and theological study were interwoven with a rigorous liberal-arts curriculum that included courses in Latin, Greek, philosophy, and science. Davidson College’s first president, Robert Hall Morrison, believed that “religion and education should blend their influences in advancing the… interests of the rising generation.” Robert E. Lee stated that “I shall fail in the object that brought me here unless all these men become consistent Christians.” An 1860 account of Williams College comments that it “was evidently intended, in the economy of God, to subserve a religious end.”
Today, these clearly articulated visions are barely detectable within these now-modernized institutions. Each school has distanced itself from its religious roots. Williams, for example, is a secular institution and boasts of its openness to many religious and non-religious beliefs. It even has a “secular community” for agnostics, atheists, and skeptics. All the schools have climates hostile to free expression and open inquiry. They promote “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) initiatives and programming at the expense of freedom of thought. Davidson’s commitment to DEI, for example, has influenced its faculty hiring. A 2023 listing for an assistant professor in environmental and natural resource economics required candidates to describe their “approach to inclusive pedagogy and diversity in the classroom.” DEI also has a strong presence in each institution’s curriculum, which has contributed to the overall decline in curricular quality. At Washington and Lee, a course entitled “The Body Electric: Queer Theory, Film, and Text” fulfills a literature general-education requirement. W&L’s alumni organization, the Generals Redoubt, found 70 courses offered between Fall 2023 and Spring 2025 that heavily focus on DEI subjects.
What happened? How did institutions founded with such clear-eyed missions centered on moral and academic flourishing go so far astray?
The forces that led to the deterioration of much of higher education, particularly the liberal arts, began well before the 20th century. The rise in technology and science, with its accompanying focus on technical and professional training, is often pinned as a source of the liberal arts’ downfall. But these developments in themselves didn’t cause the hollowing out of subjects such as literature and philosophy. On the contrary, modern innovations often are beneficial. And some liberal-arts schools, such as Washington and Lee during Lee’s presidency, were exemplary in their incorporation of modernized curricula that instructed students in the technical arts while retaining their commitment to the inherently valuable “useless” liberal arts.
The culprit, rather, is the failure of individual institutions to remain focused on their missions and values. Over time, Davidson, W&L, and Williams—like much of higher education— succumbed to an impoverished understanding of the human person. For centuries, colleges operated on the assumption that education involved the formation of the whole person. Education taught students to be informed and capable thinkers, as well as upright and conscientious members of society. The tectonic shifts in society spurred by technological developments led to an overemphasis on skills-focused and professional education and a neglect of students’ personal, civic, and moral formation. These changes became evident in the curricula offered, including the structure and content of general-education programs.
But college leaders aren’t victims of modernization. It is their responsibility to respond to the challenges of the times and rearticulate the values on which their institutions rest. For Davidson, W&L, and Williams, this includes the Christian understanding of education’s purpose. These schools’ failure to uphold their purpose has arguably led to their emboldened adoption of left-wing political aims. People desire a deeper sense of meaning from their liberal-arts education than promises of a lucrative career. If they can’t get that from their institutions’ lack of vision and impoverished curricula, then they may settle for some sense of it through allegiance to the political whims of the day.
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The featured image, uploaded Bobak Ha’Eri, is a photograph: “Iconic buildings of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. From left to right: Newcomb Hall, Payne Hall, Washington Hall (center), Robinson Hall, Tucker Hall.” This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.