(This article is based on my own observations of the school’s present situation as well as information given us through various sources including the Feb 21st student forum)

To my peers, my fellow students. Our newspaper is a small one, operating within a small community with an even smaller reader base. That being said, in this small community, Voice editors past and present have held out the hope that we could live up to our name and be a voice of the students and the EBC community. Well, we now have in our laps a situation that I feel requires your voice, and my voice as well. Hopefully you can take some time to hear it.
From what I hear, Bible colleges are in a bad way, enrolment is down, costs are up. And EBC is not saved from this negative trend. This and other problems have compounded into a financially bleak situation for our school at present. My statement of the realistic state of things does not mean I don’t hold out hope, or a faith in God’s provision, but this is a truth at present. Whether we were driven to this point by too much zeal or not enough, too much trust or not enough, trend or not, this is where we stand, and as students, it is extremely important that you give your consideration to the present situation.
Of all the things that are floating about in the realm of conjecture, there are a few things that we can call facts. First, next year will see a tuition raise of up to, and quite possibly fifteen percent. Faculty members will have to be let go. Classes will be affected to some degree, particularly, double classes will become one large class. Faculty members and staff will not see a pay raise this year. These and other things are symptoms of the present financial situation.
Does my statement of these facts make me an opponent of what is being done, or what must be done? No it doesn’t. Nor do I have any intent to make you enemies of administration. However, this is a very heavy situation and one which you, as students, deserve to be a part of.
There is, however, one important thing that I think must be remembered in all this situation, something which I think has been lost, and that is the importance of you as a student.
Over the last while, I have often heard quoted the statistic that student fees make up 58% of total college profits, amounting outside contributions to another 42%. (an arguable statistic, seeing as residence and food services costs are not listed under student contributions, which bring the numbers of dollars paid by students to over 1.2 million of the 1.8 million dollar operating budget) This statistic has been used as a proof of our intense need to bring in outside contributions to the school. That is certainly agreeable, but I feel like, in all this need to cater to donors, the students importance to the school has been lost. This statistic (42% vs. 58%) seems to take on a flavour that, if only we could get outside donations to 100%, we wouldn’t need the students any more. This is obviously not true. The students are the pulse of a school, they are the reason for its existence. This school must not be 58% about it’s students, but 100% so. In a more ancient school model a student would pay their full tuition, 100 %, and with that obligation would come the student’s privileges to choose what they wanted to learn and the methods and ways of the school itself. Is that something we should be looking back to?
Holding this understanding, I cannot say I find this thought fully reflected. I feel it is frankness that leads me to say I have not seen an advertising video or recruitment tool that holds equal appeal to a student versus the films being made by students for our council the last two years. Our student council introduction videos, made on minimal budgets by our very own Jason Edgar and Brandon Meyers, have met a great deal of student appreciation. On the other hand, uur most recent Virtual tour has received negative reviews from students, and I myself have trouble seeing it communicating to a student we would like to recruit to the school. Who then is it communicating to? I cannot answer that. Perhaps we should be considering how student participation can aid this process. Thankfully I am aware Ryan Erb held a forum to that effect, looking for student contributions. I appreciate all of you who were able to support that effort. In another area I have served on our school’s outside ministry, and I feel as though I have seen donation schemes advertised to an infinite degree beyond recruitment. There are Christian youth even in the Kitchener Waterloo area who are not aware of this college’ existence, yet prospective donors are collected province-wide.
This is also troubling when looking into other areas of our school. The faculty are the pulse of a school. It is their thoughts and ideas that will be reflected in graduating students, and spreading all over the world. These are our role-models as well as academic instructors. Yet I have seen a weariness within members of our faculty that seems to reflect a school that no longer is listening to them. I have heard quiet pleas from many that we need to bring our school back to the sense of community it once held, amongst students and teachers. This is also a place of knowledge, and yet books, our central tools of learning, are restricted as the library is one of the first aspects of our school to see budget cuts.
I was told recently that it is unfortunate that it seems institutions can never be created without politics getting in the way of the right vision. I fear this may have happened somewhere between leadership committees, boards and contributors. We see this political push reflected in our school in many ways. Donor rules for example. Those rules which students scoff because they see not goodness, but legalism reflected in their existence. Though I will still respect them, I have trouble supporting rules that I know are in place to keep donors happy, rather than support a Christian lifestyle, I wince as I hear goals and ambitions set about money and numbers, rather than growth, community, and godliness. I fear business, and politics, are moving in, and it is the goal of students and faculty, and staff to devote prayer that we never lose sight of what we feel God has called us to do. To educate and be educated to the glory of God to go out into the world and serve him. I feel it is not wrong that as a student of EBC I should like to say, “This school is 100% about it’s students and this school is 100% about God.” I should like to Join the ranks of educators, Plato, Aristotle, Luther, Calvin, Lewis, people who saw the importance of bettering others so that they may keep alive truth, right thinking, reason! These are leaders who saw the importance of education, not just schools. This institution cannot and must not keep their heads in thoughts about money. Yes, it is a necessity, yes we must use it wisely, yes God provides it, but have we been going about this the right way anyhow? We’ve already understood the students are the school’s greatest source of income, one which is not being reached out to. The central issue here is not money. This is about you, dear student, and your desire to learn the things of God.
Let me close then, with what I hope will be the ultimate purpose of sharing what I have with you. I will remind you that I am not the enemy of the school. I am not Che Guevera seeking to bring down the establishment. Many of you will say that these thoughts should be brought to administration. They have and they will. But I feel the need, as a member of your Student Council, as well as the Editor of the Voice, (and let us try to live up to our slogan) to remind you, yes you, to give this issue your thought and attention. Ask questions. Listen to the facts. Make sure that you, the student, the reason this school exists, and your Christian education, are in the right place. Don’t just lay back, do what you need to do to get by and prove your own belittlement in this institution. Stand up and think. Think in the face of this problem.
I ask God that this school be blessed as we move ahead into a rocky time. May he guard us and watch over us as we the students, along with the faculty and staff, lend our thoughts and prayers to this school. God Bless you in your studies, may you grow in your love of God as you grow in your understanding of him.

Jordan Vetro: Student Publications Editor, Student’s Council.