Messiah College — a small, liberal arts Christian college located in Pennsylvania, just a few miles from Harrisburg — has always prided itself on its longstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion.
For years, the college had a special assistant to the president and provost for diversity affairs. But it wasn’t until this year that the school’s president, Dr. Kim S. Phipps, elevated the post to a cabinet-level position and recruited Dr. Todd A. Allen to the position.
Allen, who also holds a faculty appointment in the Department of Communication, is spearheading the college’s diversity initiatives.
“As a faith-based institution, we are committed to a holistic education,” says Phipps who has been president of Messiah since 2004 and previously served as the school’s provost. “We care about developing students intellectually, personally and spiritually, and when it comes to diversity and inclusive excellence, we believe that the commitments we have is a spiritual one, because the kingdom of God is a diverse one where all cultures are celebrated.”
Allen, who had spearheaded diversity initiatives at several other Christian colleges, was initially skeptical of doing diversity work at a faith-based institution.
“I vowed I would never do this kind of work for Christian colleges ever again,” says Allen. “Being a person of faith, I take my faith very seriously. I can get it if I’m talking to someone who is not a person of faith and I get a lot of pushback around being inclusive and accepting of others. But it adds another layer of frustration when it’s a brother or sister of faith. The irony is that most of the resistance that I’ve got has been from people of faith.”
Convinced that Christian colleges just weren’t serious about doing the hard work related to diversity and inclusion, Allen says that he was a bit cautious when Phipps — whom he had first met almost 20 years ago — began recruiting him to the college.
