Scott McQuilkin: Embracing complexity – a civic contribution of a university

By Scott McQuilkin

In education, we focus on outcomes. At Whitworth University, there’s a lot more to those outcomes than what our graduates know, what they can do, and what vocations they’re prepared to pursue, important as those things are. We offer a “becoming” experience that is central to our purpose as a university. I ask current and prospective students, “Who will you become through these years we are together? Who will you be when you walk across the commencement stage, launched into the next phase of your life? How will you be equipped – intellectually, socially, relationally and spiritually – so that whatever space you occupy is made better by your presence? How might you bring a redemptive arc to wherever you live?”

This becoming doesn’t happen by accident. Last fall, in response to the political and social tensions roiling our country, we developed a full year of campus programming on the subject of “Democracy and Discourse.” We welcomed speakers, conducted panel discussions, hosted a congressional town hall and facilitated late-night discussions in residence halls, often led by the students themselves. We encouraged our students to bring their convictions, listen to others with intellectual humility, and engage in informed and constructive dialogue. Seeing how uncivil political discourse became on so many campuses during last fall’s election season, I was incredibly proud of how our students navigated that turbulent time without throwing anyone overboard.

I’m reminded of an election season event led by two Whitworth professors, one quite left of center, the other quite right of center. Their title: “I Hate Your Candidate, but I Love You.” These two smart, faithful faculty members argued the ideological and theological merits of their respective positions and dissected the demerits of their colleague’s thinking. And the next day they had lunch together.

In that spirit, we challenge our students to engage with diverse perspectives, invite tough questions and lean into courageous conversations in a fearless pursuit of truth wherever it can be found. Rather than simplify the hard questions and issues students confront, we embrace the complexity. At our best, we produce graduates who are curious, who are compassionate, and who are committed to being agents of grace and truth in their community.

Every year or two, Whitworth invites the Spokane community into the classroom. Through our President’s Leadership Forum events, we bring a wide range of speakers to address timely and important issues facing our country. Speakers like Condoleezza Rice (2014), Colin Powell (2018), Bob Woodward (2019), Adm. James Stavridis (2022) and, later this month, former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, offer perspectives that are bound to excite some and exasperate others. In addition, we hope they challenge all of us to examine our most closely held assumptions, consider different perspectives, and think hard about what we believe and why we believe it. As a university, we are not in the business of endorsing any particular political viewpoint. No institution, company or church will align perfectly with anyone’s full range of personal convictions – political, theological or social. We are, though, in the practice of engagement with ideas.

At Whitworth, we are called to promote learning, to develop moral character, and to grow appreciation and respect for those who hold different views, even when those differences are profound. We are tasked with empowering students to solve democracy’s most pressing problems. And so, we provide opportunities for our students to stretch their civic muscles, to hone their speaking skills, and to engage with ideas and with people who work and serve in the public arena. It would be easier, and far safer, to minimize interpersonal discomfort. But we don’t believe we’re doing society any favors by sheltering our students from topics that unsettle us.

With the majority of Whitworth graduates remaining in the Inland Northwest after completing their degrees, it matters to the Spokane community who our graduates become while on our campus. They will be entrepreneurs who build our economy, physicians and attorneys who serve our neighbors, and teachers who shape our schoolchildren. In addition to what our graduates do, we care a lot about how they do it. We expect the entrepreneurs to focus on more than the bottom line, the physicians to offer compassion as well as cures, and the teachers to impart love along with learning. In short, we want them to be well-rounded human beings, good citizens and contributors to whatever community they call home.

In those ways, and many others, a university like the one I help lead makes a civic contribution worth celebrating.

Scott McQuilkin is president of Whitworth University.