I went swing dancing last night at the Century Ballroom up here on Capitol Hill, which I discovered is a popular scene with the Mars Hill twentysomething crowd, since it's pretty much the only good, clean fun to be had late at night. I met a girl, though, who was there surreptitiously. She was bustin' a move despite the whispered fact that if word of her dancing got back to administrators at her college, she would be in serious trouble. Disciplined for dancing? By a college? Turns out the salacious swinger is a student at the Christian Northwest University, a 1,240 student school in Kirkland where dancing is banned because "a significant number of evangelical Christians view social dancing as a questionable activity." Can't resist the temptation of a God-given passion for the dance? That's alright, "Some forms of choreographed movements in academic or collegiate activities, under the advisement and supervision of University personnel, however, may be acceptable." Homosexual practices are also banned, but the handbook doesn't make any caveats for that.
It's not like I haven't heard that some folk still consider dancing a punishable affront to morality -- I have a friend who goes to a Christian college that bans dancing. But that college is in Texas. I had no idea such a stringent scholastic stronghold exists 20 minutes from Capitol Hill.
"A lot of churches that we're affiliated with have frowned on or forbade a variety of activities," explained Northwest Vice President of Marketing Merlin Quiggle (yes, real name) when I called the school today, "Going to movies, bowling, dancing, wearing make-up, but as times change and cultural mores change, some of these become more palatable and some don't." Bowling? Upgraded to morally acceptable. Dancing? Still not digestable, apparently. But some dancing is fine, like at last week's talent show where two girls performed dances. The school makes a distinction between solo dancing (for art of performance, okayed as the aforementioned "choreographed movement in academic or collegiate activities") and social dancing, which is (as Quiggle put it) "in the dark, probably aided and abetted by alcohol and designed for proximity between bodies."
It all comes down to the role of a college, says Quiggle, and Northwest approaches in loco parentis more "actively" than, say, Evergreen State. "We're not in the Dark Ages on this," he explains, noting that well-known Midwestern Christian school Wheaton College recieved mainstream praise but some church scorn when it struck down its dancing ban two years ago.
But isn't college a place where young adults are supposed to be learning for themselves how to make smart, responsible decisions and choices on their own, rather than having their lives be guided by a set of rules that replaces the restrictions of living with one's parents? That's the logic Wheaton gave when it struck down its ban:
"Students need to learn how to make responsible choices," said Sam Shellhamer, vice president for student development. "We want to make students learn how to think critically, be discerning and learn how to make wise choices."
Although Northwest students can't decide whether to dance or drink, argues Quiggle, they still learn about responsible decision-making by choosing how they spend their money and time. They can choose how much to eat in the dining hall, for example. "If you want to waste your time and drink 18 cups of coffee, you can," says Quiggle.
My main question, though, is what happens to students who do participate in back-alley dancing. I know my Texas friend has secret behind-closed-dorm-doors dance parties -- would she or the Century Ballroom's salacious swinger be expelled? Quiggle says neither would probably be punished very harshly but, more importantly, most students don't want to dance at all. At least a third of the school is men, after all, who have little or no interest in dancing. And the female students don't really care. "Most of the students come from a context where they didn't dance and don't miss it," says Quiggle, "Students are too engaged in academics or preparing for a life in the ministry to have a strong sense about what they're missing." There's lots to do on campus -- kids don't even notice the lack of dancing, wine-tasting and poker tournaments because there's athletics, a music program and three chaples a week to fill time and energy. He says that, as VP of Marketing, he often meets with students about how to improve the school. Students have never mentioned the dance-ban to him.
More than anything, I want to attend a Northwest campus underground rave. And change my name to Merlin Quiggle.
"O douleur! o douleur! Le Temps mange la vie/Et l obscur Ennemi qui nous ronge le coeur/Du sang que nous perdons croit et se fortifie!"
