Wheaton College in political, religious crosshairs over congratulating Trump appointee

Wheaton College has become embroiled in the national debate about the actions of President Donald Trump.

The prominent Protestant Christian college is catching grief over a social media post the school made Feb. 7 congratulating Russell Vought, a college alumnus, on his appointment as director of the federal Office of Management Budget.

After some alumni protested, the college took down the post. That led other alumni to accuse the college of bending to the will of “woke” liberals and abandoning the college’s historical devotion to Godly beliefs and principles.

The timeline

On Feb. 7, the college wrote on Facebook that it “congratulates and prays for” Class of 1998 graduate Vought.

When alumnus Tyler Streckert saw it, he thought, “Oh boy, this is going to be a big deal.”

“Many people are going to be dissatisfied with this,” added Streckert, a Wisconsin resident with bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Wheaton College.

What does not sit well with Streckert and other alumni are Vought’s political stances, including his role as the Trump administration moves to fire federal workers.

Vought is one of the architects of the Project 2025: Presidential Transition Project political movement that has been called a conservative playbook for changing American government. Vought, specifically, wrote one of the chapters in “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.”

A day after its initial post congratulating Vought, the college took it down and issued an explanation.

“The recognition and prayer is something we would typically do for any graduate who reached that level of government,” the second post reads. “However, the political situation surrounding the appointment led to a significant concern expressed online.

“It was not our intention to embroil the College in a political discussion or dispute. Our institutional and theological commitments are clear that the College, as a nonprofit institution, does not make political endorsements. Wheaton College’s focus is on Christ and His Kingdom.”

The removal upset other alumni, and both sides have written open letters to the college expressing their views.

Streckert worked with about 14 other people on a letter they sent on Feb. 10. They wanted to lay out their biblical and theological rationale for why they believed the original post did not align with the mission of the college, he said.

Toughly 1,500 people have signed it as of Monday, including people who graduated from the college as long ago as 1952, according to Streckert.

The letter states: “Our Wheaton education taught us that to serve the hurting and broken in our world is to serve Christ himself (Galatians 5:22-23, Matthew 25:31-46). It is precisely because of our commitment to these values that we find Vought’s vision for government, as outlined in Project 2025, to be antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to the mission of Wheaton College — and moreover, we are concerned by the college’s quick and public proclamation of support in social media posts on February 7th, 2025.”

The letter writers were especially concerned about the Trump moves to gut the U.S. Agency for International Development. That’s because “many” Wheaton alumni work for organizations that rely on foreign aid to help people, Streckert said.

“Service is part of the college’s mission … to be the hands and feet of Christ,” he added.

Critics of the college’s decision to remove the congratulatory post have launched a website called forwheaton.org.

“Our complaint is that Wheaton has repeatedly capitulated to the spirit of our age — placating bad actors while sidelining those who bear a more faithful witness,” an open letter published on the site reads. “We see this in the relentless centering of race and the elevation of voices who promote unbiblical pedagogies, like critical theory; the unjust and unbiblical adjudication of alleged violations of the (college’s) Community Covenant; the de facto capitulation on sexual ethics through the uncritical appropriation of LGBT terminology and identities; and the general tendency to stifle those who bring conservative viewpoints.”

People are using the college’s unrelated Facebook posts, such as one about its history of sports and clubs, to continue the debate.

“Terrible decision to cave to the woke Marxists and all their hate. Bad bad precedent,” one reads. Others urge people to stop giving money to the college.

Another quotes what Vought said about hoping federal workers feel like they are now villains. The poster asks if that is the kind of person the college should support.

A spokesman for the college declined to answer questions Monday, saying its Feb. 8 Facebook post is its only response.

Requests for comment from the White House and Vought had not been answered as of Tuesday.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20250225/news/wheaton-college-in-political-religious-crosshairs-over-congratulating-trump-appointee/