Wheaton’s Cowardice In The Face Of Russ Vought Attacks

On Feb. 7, our alma mater Wheaton College issued a Facebook post congratulating Russell Vought on his recent Senate confirmation as director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Cabinet member for President Donald Trump. The post was simple, stating the college would be praying for the alumnus, as the school has done for many other notable members in the past. We were both surprised and encouraged to see such a post, as Wheaton had not put out any public statement for Vought when he was confirmed in the same position five years ago.

Yet less than 24 hours later, after a slew of angry comments and criticism from left-wing alumni, the college caved to public pressure, deleted the post, and issued an apology.

Who is Russ Vought, and what would prompt such a cowardly reaction? After graduating from Wheaton in 1998 and receiving a J.D. from George Washington University Law School, Vought has spent his career in public service. While doing so, he has boldly stood for biblical values such as the sanctity of life and marriage — even when unpopular — and remained a church-going believer.

These stands have not come without a cost, and ironically, one was in defense of Wheaton.

Defending a Firing

During his 2017 Senate confirmation hearings for the position of deputy director of OMB during President Trump’s first term, Vought was berated by Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., for expressing what has been sound Christian doctrine for thousands of years: that believing in Jesus Christ is necessary for salvation.

Vought had taken the heat for publicly defending Wheaton’s decision to suspend a faculty member for saying that Muslims and Christians “worship the same God” — a statement contradictory to the school’s statement of faith.

Sanders refused to vote in favor of his confirmation, stating that Vought was “really not someone who this country is supposed to be about” and directly attacking his faith.

It would seem appropriate for Wheaton to appreciate, rather than scorn and disown, an alumnus who stood up for it and biblical values on the national stage.

Abortion on Campus

“For Christ and His Kingdom” has long been Wheaton College’s motto. The school of renowned evangelist Billy Graham, and missionary-martyr Jim Elliot and his wife Elisabeth Elliot, Wheaton’s name carries weight in Christian communities as the “Harvard” of Christian schools.

But we have to wonder if lately Wheaton only lives up to its motto when popular and convenient.

While undergraduate students at Wheaton, we and a handful of other students re-started the college’s student pro-life organization, Voice for Life, which had been inactive for a number of years. Given Wheaton’s community covenant every student is required to sign, which expressly states the school’s commitment to “uphold the God-given worth of human beings, from conception to death, as the unique image-bearers of God” (emphasis added), we were dismayed by how controversial talking about the evils of abortion was on campus.

One event that sticks out in our memories during our time as students includes the college censuring pro-life activist Ryan Bomberger for giving a speech titled “Black Lives Matter In and Out of the Womb,” which sparked uproar among the student body and resulted in a campus-wide email condemning Ryan for making students feel “unsafe.” 

Two weeks ago, Voice for Life had the honor of leading the National March for Life in D.C. for the first time, which the college publicly promoted on their social media. This was an incredible surprise to us, and raised our hopes that maybe Wheaton is ready to courageously stand up again for Biblical values. But those hopes have been quickly dashed by this weekend’s events.

Biblical Values

Other examples of Wheaton’s gradual drift from its values include recently adding classes to its roster in critical race theory, a divisive theory rooted in secular Marxism, and hiring a critical race theorist to its faculty in 2018. The college has been embroiled in numerous debates over free speech, invited a speaker to campus who gave a profanity-laced, sexually explicit talk on race sponsored by the philosophy department, and removed and replaced a 65-year-old plaque honoring Jim Elliot, who was speared to death along with other missionaries by an Ecuadorian tribe, because it used the word “savage,” a common term back when the plaque was commissioned.

As two Wheaton alumni and followers of Christ, we are appalled by the school’s retraction and call on Wheaton not to be swayed by the tides of popularity, but to stand firm in our faith and support alumni who do the same.

While Wheaton defended its reason for retracting the post as an effort to avoid politics, caving to the mob is exactly what made this political.

If anything, Wheaton should be unequivocally proud of having an alumnus at the White House, one who will use his position to do good in a world that needs it. And it should not be controversial to pray for him as he takes on a position which can be used to advance the cause of Christ and His kingdom.

We are confident that Vought’s faith in Jesus will shape his continued service to our country, as it always has. We will be praying for him as he uses his role to do what is right and just — no doubt facing more personal attacks for speaking the truth and living it courageously.

We hope Wheaton does the same.

Edie Guy (‘19) and Gabriela Szostak (‘21) are both graduates of Wheaton College.