Dr. Barton on Legislative Mandates and Christian Values

You know, we have an interesting tension in our country today from a value standpoint, and of course Christian colleges and universities stand for very important values in our culture. And part of the conflict there is when you have legislative mandates that might conflict with the value of a particular institution. And I think it's very important for our college leadership at every level to be prepared to address those types of conflicts appropriately. You can't put your head in the sand and pretend it doesn't exist because we've seen over the last 50 years major changes in the acceptance of certain traditional values that Christian colleges and universities would espouse. So I think it's very important from a legislative standpoint to be aware and be involved politically; be involved in encouraging legislative responses that will support your mission and your values as an organization. And not be so dependent on strictly government resources that if those resources should be less or they should change that you're not going to survive as an institution. So it's very important that the leadership at our colleges and universities be prepared for what could be an uncertain future.