By Lauren Ring
According to The Master’s University (TMU) Student Handbook on page 19, “It is a violation of University policy to possess or consume: alcoholic beverages, drugs (including medical marijuana and the misuse of prescription drugs) and tobacco products (including e-cigarettes and vapes) at any time on or off campus while ‘on contract.’”
“As a Christian University, we approach alcohol and other drug abuse with a combination of compassion, encouragement, directness, and concerned firmness,” page 57.
“I don’t think TMU is trying to control us just for the sake of controlling us. But it would be nice to know why they don’t let us drink when this school should be full of responsible, bible-believing students” said a student who chose to remain anonymous. “I’m sure there are people here who make bad choices, but what if I’m choosing to be responsible?”
Many students ask the same question, but in different ways. The Master’s University is known for being different from the normal “college experience.” But TMU is known for its interest in the student rather than the rule. So why does TMU prohibit the consumption of alcohol while “on contract?”
Brianna Harris, the dean of women, and campus pastor Harry Walls both described the prohibition of alcohol as “an essential guardrail” for students in this day and age.
The most recent statistics from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) estimate that, “about 1,519 college students ages 18 to 24 die from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle crashes.”
Julie DeVore, the resident director of Hotchkiss, who has shown her care for students throughout her career at TMU, wants students to look at the data.
“If you look statistically, you can see that alcohol is a dangerous temptation to college students, right? There are so many accidents that happen: car accidents, deaths of students who drink and drive and get murdered,” she said. “We recognize that alcohol isn’t inherently sinful in itself (even scripture talks about alcohol we can drink). But we also recognize that young students don’t always have the discernment or the self-control to think about, ‘What’s the environment I’m drinking in? How much am I drinking? How is it affecting my body? How is it affecting others? Am I with minors? Am I with people who don’t have biblical convictions?’”
DeVore continued: “This is an example and one way to think about it. It’s not our opinions, these are policies that have been made by a group of people who love Jesus and are looking to Scripture saying what is the best and most helpful guardrail for college students who are in your season of life,” she said.
The staff on campus want to protect students, first and foremost, but they also value the students’ relationship with God, their integrity and their ability to think for themselves, led by the Holy Spirit, on these issues according to what they read and Scripture.
“Our heart is actually to make you think, “What do I think about this?” DeVore said. “If you find yourself rubbing shoulders with the handbook, ask yourself ‘what do I think about this?’ and ‘what passage of Scripture helps me biblically inform the clothes I wear, the way I spend my time, or the things that I watch?’”
Whether concerning alcohol, dress code, drug use or PDA, “Our desire is for students to develop strong biblical convictions,” Walls said to the student body.
“A conviction is a biblically informed belief that you have that governs the way you live. It’s not a feeling, it’s not something you feel is true but it’s what scripture says is true, and you’re convinced of that,” DeVore said. “If you think about it, four years, compared to the grand scheme of life, is really nothing. And it’s so worth it to glorify the Lord and protect you and protect others so you can form biblical conviction about using alcohol for God’s glory and not your own pleasure.”
DeVore described how she grew up with “absolutely no alcohol,” and then came to TMU where she was again told not to drink alcohol. So when she graduated, she was faced with the decision of whether or not to approach the subject of alcohol with the same convictions she grew up with or was educated with. So, she came up with a few rules for herself when considering the subject.
“Now my parents are telling me no, and my school isn’t telling me no. So it gave me the opportunity to think about, ‘Okay, how do I want to think about this biblically?’ And so I came up with three to four convictions that guide the way I think about alcohol.”
Those four convictions are: 1) Don’t drink when you’re sad or stressed; 2) Don’t drink alone (to keep you accountable and safe); 3) Don’t drink with non-believers or people who don’t use alcohol wisely; and 4) Don’t drink with others that would cause them to stumble.
“Being at TMU made me think wow, what are my convictions about this and what would glorify the Lord and not my pleasure?”
For students, it’s easy to fall into the temptation to think that TMU is yet another Christian school trying to control its students. When, in reality, part of biblical submission is submitting to authorities. And, in this case, the authorities at TMU have created guidelines they believe will not only protect the students, but also prepare them to think biblically on the issue.
At the end of the day, DeVore wants students to think. “Think about the convictions you want to have about alcohol, and talk about them with your discipler and your friends and make sure they’re biblically informed.”
“I think there are students who just follow the rule and then when they graduate they think ‘oh I’m finally free’ and they go crazy, and they don’t have convictions anymore,” she added. “We aren’t saying for the rest of your life you shouldn’t drink. We’re saying, for the season of your life where you are young and in college, where, statistically speaking, alcohol is one of the leading causes of death – we want to protect you guys and take this opportunity to think about, ‘What are my personal and biblical convictions about alcohol?”
DeVore encourages students to go to the handbook if they have any questions on alcohol prohibition, dress code, drug-use, PDA, etc. She also encourages students to come to her or their resident directors about these rules. They will never turn away a student who just wants to know the “why” behind the lines drawn.
“It’s for your advantage and it’s for your best interest to prohibit alcohol during your college years, so that you can form biblical convictions and think clearly about it, so you can protect yourself and protect others and most importantly, honor and glorify the Lord in all that you do.”
The TMU Mane 