I love Milligan College. I love our campus, our faculty and our student body. But lately, I have been disappointed in our behavior.

Wednesday evening, I was very annoyed with what Hart’s resident director, Abby Ott, told us. As all students living in the dorms heard (or should have heard) about an apparent problem with the use of profanity, trash in the halls and students disrespecting each other’s property, I could not help but think that what we really have is a problem with maturity.

The problem is not only in the dorms, though. I have noticed a rise in gossip, teasing and inappropriate language all over campus this year. I cannot help but wonder why at a Christian school we would be talking about each other so maliciously, using language unacceptable in nearly all social settings and generally disregarding our neighbors.

I have heard many students say, “Not all the students are Christians here, so we cannot really hold them to Christian standards.” Honestly, I believe we can. Milligan does not conceal its Christian roots. No one can say they had no idea before enrolling they would be held to Christian values. And they had plenty of alternatives to Milligan.

That being said, the Christians on our campus, myself included, must look at our own actions and ask, “How do we represent Christ in our words and actions toward each other?” I really doubt Christ would advocate crude remarks regarding certain parts of the male anatomy on white boards or teasing another student for their appearance.

As I have already mentioned, I love our school. The main reason I love it here is the sense of community. I love mornings when the entire campus seems to be migrating in one direction; I love seeing both my neighbors in class wearing the same “Beat King” t-shirt; I love going to a midnight movie at Bonnie Kate and knowing every person in the theater.

So it breaks my heart to hear girls in the cafeteria cut down another girl for her hairstyle or choice of clothes; it breaks my heart to hear two guys calling another guy “fag;” it breaks my heart to see tables divided by race or style or denomination or gender or age. Secular culture divides us enough – we should not help them. We are the body of Christ.

Bottom line: we are in college. We expect to be treated as mature adults, so we should start acting like mature adults. Better yet, we should start acting like mature Christian adults.