7
evangelical movement. In fact, excluded colleges
apparently sensed that the Consortium had drawn evangelical
(and other) boundaries too restrictively, openly
complaining that the leaders of Consortium schools had
created an elitist president's club. For his part, Hudson
Armerding actively lobbied to maintain distinct doctrinal
and behavioral standards for membership, even if this meant
keeping the Consortium small. In particular, the Wheaton
president opposed allowing colleges into the Consortium
that admitted non-Christian students as an evangelistic
strategy. Like several of his colleagues, Armerding also
had come to enjoy the fellowship and camaraderie that were
part of Consortium meetings.
8
Thus both theological and
sociological dynamics limited the kaleidoscopic character
of the Consortium.
The Consortium's fairly explicit fences put the
organization in an awkward position for responding to what
David McKenna terms the "threat factor" that confronted
evangelical higher education in the 1970s. Christian
colleges legitimately feared that some landmark court
decisions on church-state matters would either jeopardize
7
On membership, see Hendrix, "Consortium: 1971-1991,"
120 and 126-27.
8
Hudson T. Armerding, telephone interview by author, 17
February 2000.