Life Together Under God at WLC

The Basis For Our Life Together

Christian college education means "taking captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5) It is a way of looking at life that integrates God's revealed truth with every area of learning and makes sense out of our experience. It is a source of strength and comfort. It is a moral compass. It is our way of life. The beating heart of our life together is the grace of God, the love that led Jesus to die in our place in order to make us God's people forever. The foundation for our life together is the Bible, God's timeless Word to his people. The essence of our life together is mutual support and encouragement, as well as honest accountability to each other. Together we discover the opportunities to serve and to lead that give our lives purpose. The Christian faith and our Lutheran heritage are taught in the classroom, expressed in campus ministry and lived in the WLC culture.

What You Can Expect From WLC

The staff and faculty of the college promise to meet your needs in Christian love to the degree possible. You can expect excellence in teaching and professors that are available to you outside the classroom. You can expect a rich variety of opportunities to develop your spiritual life and to express that life in roles of service and leadership. You can seek out a value-added dimension of higher education in research, internships, and experiential learning. You can expect to be treated with respect, with fairness, with honesty, and with caring.

What WLC Will Expect From You

You will be expected to give your best effort, with a cooperative spirit, in your classes and in extra-curricular areas such as athletics, music, drama, and student governance. Academic integrity means that you will not cheat on exams or plagiarize in papers.

You will be expected to respect the theology of the college and those who lead and teach here, even if you do not believe exactly as the college teaches. You will be expected not to controvert the teaching of the college or live in blatant disregard for the moral principles of the college.

You will be expected to conform your life to the values of God's Word. Specifically. . .

• God's Word reserves sexual intercourse for the marriage of one man and one woman, as his gift and for the sake of families. The Bible condemns as sin premarital sex and the trivializing of God's gift of sex in pornography, sexually suggestive behavior, or sexual harassment, as well as in homosexual acts.
• God's Word describes the human body as a temple. The underage use of alcohol and the use of illegal drugs is a violation of civil law as well as God's law. The college prohibits the use of alcohol on campus or at college sponsored events. WLC promotes physical as well as spiritual wellness.
• God's Word protects people's wellbeing. Bullying and violence, theft or destruction of property, gossip and slander are a rejection of God's will and damaging to the harmony of life together under God.
• God's Word encourages a life of integrity, honesty in relationships and in the management of financial resources. Lying and high-stakes gambling erode integrity and damage the life we enjoy together at this college.

Christian Discipline

The college recognizes that students have a sinful human nature and, therefore, may fail to live out God's moral will consistently. Christianity is about forgiveness and restoration. WLC approaches discipline, above all, as a matter of sin and forgiveness. From the dean of students to the campus pastors, the goal is for students to acknowledge their wrong and seek the forgiveness of those who have been wronged, as well as the forgiveness of God. For Jesus' sake, forgiveness is freely given.

Vital to Christian discipline is accountability. Students will see themselves accountable to God, to civil authority, and to the college's administration in accord with this statement of understanding. More important, students will see themselves as accountable to each other. In this Christian community people both give and receive correction as well as encouragement in a spirit of Christian love.

The student handbook spells out sanctions for violations of college policy, for the good of the entire community and for the personal growth of violators. Sanctions, too, are issued out of Christian concern for students. An appeals process is spelled out in the student handbook.

Students may be encouraged to transfer to another college if it becomes apparent that their convictions and lifestyle are significantly at odds with the beliefs and values of WLC. Students may be dismissed from the college when there is a blatant unwillingness to live under the will of God and this statement of understanding. The college happily works with students who may be wrestling with their beliefs and moral values. However, when a student's position hardens in opposition to the college's mission and convictions, honesty and love dictate that they discontinue their enrollment at WLC.

What WLC Desires For You

The college sincerely desires that students develop their gifts and abilities, broaden their appreciation for the wonders of God in the sciences and arts, prepare for meaningful careers and lives of servant leadership, and grow to maturity in mind and spirit. WLC does not require attendance at daily chapel or vespers or Sunday worship, because worship is a freely given response to God's grace. Still, the college unabashedly encourages students to attend worship and Bible studies in order to appreciate how fully God's truth impacts life and to experience the authentic community of shared faith. The college will repeatedly offer opportunities for students to get beyond themselves and discover the fulfillment there is in doing things for others.