A New Curriculum of Social Activism and Academics

During a time of great transition throughout the University, the Divinity School has stayed a course of integrating quiet forms of student activism with a politically aware classroom.

"A theological education is not just studying--it's also social action," says first-year student Philip E. Stoltzfus, a member of the school's Peace Community.

And the Divinity School promotes this action in the form of two required units of field education. The units--generally seven-month-long internships that require 15 hours per week--each last for one academic year.

Students say that class discussions at the Divinity School tend to cover topics of social action, as well.

"We specifically say [in the catalog] that issues of race, gender and class need to be covered directly or indirectly in the classrooms," says Dean of Students Guy V. Martin.

And second-year student Lisa Presley, of the Gay and Lesbian Caucus, says that such sensitivity in the classroom is appreciated in the community. "In a number of courses the professors have been dealing with lesbian and gay issues positively, and the students in those classes have reacted positively," Presley says. "It's part of what helps gays and lesbians feel more accepted."

In May, the Divinity School announced that starting this fall it will offer a theology doctorate in religion, gender and culture. Many regard the program as a natural extension of the existing women's studies in religion curriculum.

Activism and academics sometimes complement each other, as when the Women's Caucus supports female scholars seeking positions at the school.

"The caucus was very much urging the dean in terms of interviewing [women for a recent position]," says Stendahl Professor of New Testament and Ministerial Studies Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza. She says the caucus sent letters to school administrators on behalf of women applicants and attended lectures by visiting women scholars.

When she was appointed in the fall of 1987, Schussler Fiorenza says, she was the first woman to have an endowed chair at the school. The author of 12 books, including In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins, she joined the faculty only last year.

Tension Amid Tolerance

Although the school's curriculum and extracurriculars foster a community of tolerance, there is also an atmosphere of tension.

"I sense a frustration," says Schussler Fiorenza of women at the school, saying that frustration stems from the dearth of female faculty members.

Schussler Fiorenza says of the number of women faculty compared to the rest of the divinity faculty, "That ratio's very much out of balance. Harvard in general doesn't have a name that is very hospitable to women--especially on a senior level."

Meanwhile, several incidents targeted at women's, Jewish and gay and lesbian groups reveal another kind of tension. During the 1987-'88 academic year, individual members of the gay and lesbian community received unsigned hate mail.

In March of this year, bulletin boards belonging to the Women's Caucus, the Gay and Lesbian Caucus and the Jewish Students Organization were vandalized.

Divinity School Dean Ronald Thiemann was unavailable for comment, but Martin says that the dean's office investigated the incident and determined that there was no administrative involvement. But the dean thought the incident was important enough for him to condemn the act in a letter to the entire Divinity School community.

Martin sent the entire school a note to "indicate that that kind of behavior was not anything that we would tolerate in this community."

But on the whole, students and administrators alike praise the Divinity School community for being consistently supportive of women, minorities and the gay and lesbian community.

"We foster being a human environment," says Martin. "Obviously, we've got a pluralistic environment, and we foster awareness of that. Issues of social justice are part of the atmosphere of the institution."