Just a few small corrections are in order for what is an otherwise exceptional retelling.

One is that the chapter actually did get it's charter back later that same year I was president. That we got it back was in no small part due to the help I received from my father, the lawyer, who helped me write an appeal to the SGA regarding its ruling. That's when I learned how to write a "brief." I can still vividly remember sitting at my desk, at my computer, underneath my lofted bed, on the first floor of Watts dorm (#36, Ned Erickson was my roommate). I remember cradling the phone between my chin and shoulder as Dad and I strategized over the best way to format and word the appeal. When I handed it to the SGA President (who, although not in the IV chapter, was so embarrassed that the SGA had done what it did, BTW) he was very impressed and confidently left my presence to present the brief to his cabinet (which had the authority to revisit the issue).

Before that moment, though, and before the vote, my dad told me,
"Don't let the bastards grind you down."

I've always been particularly proud of my dad for telling me that. It's what I needed to hear at the moment, and I dust that quote off in my head periodically when the situation calls for it. (Maybe we need to begin a thread of memorable parental quotes?)

While the chapter didn't get it's charter back when Kellsey was president, the chapter, and the chapter president (Kells) went through the whole thing again the next year! This time, though, the SGA eventually decided not to take our charter away. Of course, they put Kellsey through the wringer before that happened. So nice of them.

Finally, I have a great deal of respect for Dr. Kuykendall, more than just "wary." I still disagree with his decision not to provide leadership during a time when he could have brought a sensible and nuanced voice to the (what I thought was) sophomoric discussions going on in the SGA. In some ways, I can see what he was doing in letting us duke it out, but I still think it was the wrong decision. That the Lord redeemed the decision and brought good from it, does not, in my mind, justify the decision itself.

That being said, in every other aspect of our relationship, I love the man dearly! Sean McGrew and I went to lunch with him periodically throughout our Junior & Senior years and really enjoyed those lunches. Dr. Kuykendall wanted me to go into the pastorate as well. He thought IV was "a young man's" thing to do, but not a lasting career choice. (I guess this is the one other thing we disagree about!)

I think, though, that he will eventually appreciate the vitality & theological acuity that IV graduates bring to his PC(USA) churches, even if that "eventually" is retrospectively from heaven.