A group of more than 1,000 concerned students, alumni and their family members have signed a letter demanding a change in leadership at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, amid what they describe as the flagship Evangelical institution’s mission drift.
The letter comes after Wheaton made headlines earlier this month for deleting a Facebook post that congratulated and urged prayer for 1998 alumnus Russell Vought, who was recently confirmed to serve as the director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget in the Trump administration.
After some alumni complained on social media, the school pulled the post, claiming “the political situation surrounding [Vought’s] appointment led to a significant concern expressed online.” The school added that “it was not our intention to embroil the College in a political discussion or dispute.”
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Eric Teetsel, a member of Wheaton’s class of 2006, told The Christian Post that he was among the group of Wheaton alumni involved in drafting the letter, and that their concern about their school has been simmering for years.
“Some of us have been working together, talking about what we’ve been seeing at Wheaton for several years now, and the latest incident involving Russ Vought inspired a renewed sense that it’s time to do something,” said Teetsel, who serves as CEO at The Center for Renewing America, a nonprofit Vought founded in 2021.
The letter, which is addressed to the school’s board of trustees, asserts that alumni and parents “have sensed Wheaton’s drift for some time,” but that their concerns about the school’s direction have largely fallen on deaf ears.
“We’ve exchanged anecdotes with each other from our time on campus and from our children currently enrolled,” the letter reads. “Many of us have brought our concerns privately to President [Phillip] Ryken and to you, the trustees, hoping to have our concerns resolved privately. But there is no evidence that you have seriously heeded our concerns or been vigilant to reverse Wheaton’s drift.”
Such a fact has compelled them “to publicly air these concerns and take additional steps in the hope of seeing necessary change.”
The letter threatens to cease financial support, decline recommending Wheaton to prospective students and to publicize examples of its institutional drift.
“We are not doing this out of anger, frustration, or spite, but out of deep love for Wheaton College and the profound good it has done in countless lives, and can still do,” the letter adds, noting that the mission drift “has been subtle, creeping, but real.”
According to detractors, critical race theory, gender ideology and other left-wing philosophies have seeped into the institution that boasts the late Rev. Billy Graham, John Piper, William Lane Craig, as well as martyrs Jim Elliot and Todd Beamer as alumni.
Teetsel recalled instances during his tenure at Wheaton two decades ago that stood out to him as inappropriate for a self-proclaimed Christian college.
He remembered a communications professor who closed the door of the classroom and made his class watch a video in support of same-sex adoption. Another professor would wear a red bracelet to indicate to her students when she was menstruating, he said.
“There may not be one single instance or moment that all this can be attributed to,” Teetsel said of when Wheaton’s drift began. “I think it’s just been a subtle, creeping, pernicious drift in the same direction.” He sees Wheaton’s issues as “undoubtedly” a reflection of apostatizing trends going on in many Christian institutions.
Teetsel said he is “not at all surprised by the response” to the petition, which has amassed 850 alumni signatures as of Tuesday evening.
“I think the vast majority of Wheaton College alums who are hearing about what’s happening on campus — seeing it in the alumni magazine, seeing news stories when they break out into the open about things that are happening — are completely dismayed and disappointed by it,” he said.
Mike Swider, who served as Wheaton’s head football coach from 1996 to 2019, was among the signatories.
Other signatories of the letter who spoke to CP also expressed their dismay and concern regarding what they believe has happened to their alma mater in recent decades.
“It’s astounding how quickly Wheaton has abandoned its Christian heritage to become just another woke college,” one alumnus from the Class of 2018 said. “The Vought debacle is just the latest example of the utter failure of President Ryken’s strategy of leftist appeasement.”
A parent of a former student also laid blame at the feet of the school’s leadership.
“I am deeply concerned about Wheaton College’s decades-long drift and weak leadership,” the parent said. “The administration’s recent decision to bow to public pressure in the wake of Russ Vought’s presidential appointment reflects a troubling pattern of compromise over conviction. Once known for its strong commitment to conservative values, Wheaton’s reputation is at risk.”
Portia Cauthen White, a North Carolina resident who is a member of the Class of 1983, doesn’t blame Ryken for the institution’s problems, noting that her father was also the president of a Christian college and that she, therefore, understands “the political pressure cooker that Philip Ryken lives in.”
Before becoming Wheaton’s president in 2010, Ryken assumed the pulpit of the prominent Rev. James Montgomery Boice at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.
“I don’t hold him responsible for the stances that Wheaton has taken that are antithetical to biblical loyalty,” White said. “I like to imagine that Ryken is stemming the tide of Wheaton’s pandering to the most Orwellian dictates of respectable academia. ‘The Harvard of Christian schools’ could be more like Harvard if the Lord in His mercy does not step in and change its course.”
When reached for comment regarding the letter, a spokesperson for Wheaton referred CP to their Feb. 8 statement regarding the Vought incident, and said they have nothing more to add.
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com
