Belmont University’s broadened criteria for faculty hiring represents a historic shift in its long-standing mission as a Christian university. The policy now allows for hiring of people regardless of faith, which effectively opens it up to Jews, Muslims, other non-Christians, and those who are of no faith. The move also reflects the school’s new focus as “Christ-centered.” According to university president Greg Jones, “This deepens our own sense of mission. It’s been a very big process and an important step.”
The road to this point in time is a long one, dating back nearly two decades, according to Rabbi Mark Schiftan, rabbi emeritus of The Temple. When then-president Bob Fisher and his wife wrote a book about the insights of hospice patients, Schiftan was moved to invite them to speak during a study session on Yom Kippur. “It was a full house that came to see them. But there were some undercurrents in the congregation because of Belmont’s history of not being open to engaging Jewish faculty,” he says, “But I thought this was a bridge we could build. And from Bob Fisher’s end, he knew the significance of being invited to speak to the largest congregation on the holiest day of the Jewish year.”
From those beginnings, Schiftan’s idea of bridge-building began. In fact, the two institutions are literal neighbors in the Belle Meade/Edgehill section of town. Schiftan’s enduring friendship with Dr. Jon Roebuck, executive director of The Reverend Charlie Curb Center for Faith Leadership, helped set this plan into motion. The two study together often and were partners in creating Belmont’s Initiative for Jewish Engagement. Roebuck says this latest development feels like a natural next step between the Jewish community and Belmont. “It’s time to write a new narrative,” says Roebuck, “If we want to be known as a Christ-centered university, we have to be hospitable to all.”
Roebuck says the move to broaden the hiring criteria was intentional, which is why it appears to have taken so long. “Some things are not going to happen on their own. Or if they do, they’re going to happen over years at a time. So, you do have to be intentional about how you create your culture and your identity.” He agrees it is important to cultivate lasting relationships. “I think Greg Jones, and even before him, Bob Fisher, were very excited and intentional, to use that word again, about creating important relationships.”
The timing of this development is not lost on those working to implement it. The months since Oct. 7 have highlighted the challenges facing college campuses today. Jones, who is president of Belmont, says the hiring of Schiftan as campus liaison for Jewish students was a good beginning. “After that, being able to broaden our faculty beyond what we were doing in medicine and law is very encouraging, and an important step for us that deepens our own sense of our mission of Belmont as a Christ-centered university that also is a university that simultaneously embodies hospitality and welcoming.”
As might be expected, this new approach to faculty hiring is not without some pushback. Jones says, “The faculty senate, which is our representative body, is very supportive. I think across the entire faculty, you have some who would say we went too far and others who would say we didn’t go far enough.”
Nevertheless, as with any organization, there is not a unified opinion on most topics. Sarah Gardial is the dean of the Belmont business school. She says the faculty is very diverse even across the Christian spectrum and has dealt with diversity issues prior to the new hiring initiative. “It’s very clear to me that I have more conservative and more liberal, more evangelical and more mainstream, denominational and non-denominational. There is this lovely mix. We do not see the world with one vision, with one perspective.”
Gardial reiterates the need for ongoing work to determine what it means to be Christ-centered. “We have people that don’t blink at this decision. They’re fine, they welcome it, I’ve heard from them, it’s not rocking their world in any way. We have some in the middle who say, ‘This is not what we’re used to at Belmont, so I’m going to be curious and open-minded and take a wait and see.’” She adds that there are also those on the other end who are uncomfortable: “Their discomfort is based around the concern that this will fundamentally change who we are.”
Of course, Belmont has weathered some significant changes over the years. “Having gone from the relationship with Tennessee Baptist Convention, which ended in 2007, to this big tent has given us a lot of practice at being inclusive. Even within the confines of people who would categorize themselves as Christian, the variation is tremendous.” She says the 17 years since have provided a great opportunity to work at being inclusive of people from varying backgrounds.
Dr. David Gregory is the provost of Belmont and vice president for academic excellence. He said it was important to create space for faculty to weigh in on the decision because he says the university had this one time to get it right. “We really tried to have an open and honest dialogue. We were trying to be very open and clear. We wanted a real clear definition for our campus and the community that we are a welcoming campus, that we want to love one another.”
Gregory says for Belmont, encouraging civil discourse is seen as a way to combat hate. “If you look at the situation in Israel and other parts of the world, there’s a lot of rhetoric out there, there’s a lot of hate, and we don’t want to have any part of that. We want to encourage understanding.”
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The emphasis on community extends beyond the immediate neighborhood. Arlene Averbuch is a member of the advisory board of the Initiative for Jewish Engagement. She says the move toward greater diversity among the faculty will have long-term benefits. “It will be a learning experience for the Christian students for sure. And there will be more of an acceptance of others. I think what’s missing today is understanding and to know history.”
Schiftan agrees that it is important for people to learn the history of others. Over the past couple of years, he has been involved, along with Roebuck, on bringing interfaith clergy on a trip to Washington, D.C. to visit the National Holocaust Memorial Museum and the National Museum of African American History, all part of a broader effort to continue building bridges beyond Belmont’s campus. “It’s been an opportunity for dialogue. For where we agree, where we’re different personally and professionally. Our hope is that this is a full welcome for faculty. And we really want to make an impact that this arena for civil dialogue in terms of religious differences, that we are a center for it.”