The Class of COVID-19: Fraternity, Faith, & Friction

This Christian university’s commencement speech tells more than the speaker intended

Regent University’s graduation ceremony was unprecedented. For the university itself, the Class of 2020 was its 40th graduating class and its largest class to date representing over 2,300 scholars. Nope, I didn’t wait to hear 2k+ names called — one benefit of the format was the ability to bail as soon as desired. Because I’m pretty confident that few celebrating families sat at the edge of their seats anxiously awaiting the official conclusion before abandoning the computer screen and popping the champagne cork (yes, at 9:30 AM. Remember, only God can judge me), I feel that it’s important to take another moment to discuss the difficulties this class faces and the debatable value of the advice these particular graduates were left with.

Super Quick History:

Regent is a Christian institution. Founded by former Southern Baptist minister, televangelist, and conservative political commentator, M.G. “Pat” Robertson, the school was founded to promote “Christian Leadership to Change the World,” which remains its motto today.

Thanks in large part to the school’s head start on distance learning (Regent first debuted their online M.A. in Organizational Leadership way back in 1997), its collection of alumni…