What Does Christendom College Offer This Community Versus What It Takes?

How does our community benefit from having Christendom College in our county? It started with 85 acres but now claims 200 acres for their campus and there may be more property not connected to the campus. When I was looking at their website I saw that they want to expand. Can that be done on 200 acres or will they want to enlarge the campus? In some areas that would be a minor issue, but the county has a large chunk of land that is not taxable. The Shenandoah National Park, the George Washington National Forest, the Jefferson National Forest, the Andy Guest State Park, however much of the Remount was given to the zoo, and the Inland Port.

These six areas represent a large amount of the non-taxable land in the county, but they provide a monetary return. Then we have the property belonging to the Town and the County, our multiple churches and the local non-profits. These don’t bring in as much money, but they actively participate in our community. They often provide entertainment, and other community events as well as outreach programs.

The college has grown into a $35 million campus with a brand new $40 million chapel and a $28 million endowment fund. They use our roads and when needed our emergency services. Since the college does not pay property taxes do they at least make generous donations to our local first responders. When they built that new chapel did they make an effort to hire local workers? Other than concrete were any of the materials sourced locally? Last year when I looked over their website I noticed that students with health issues were directed to Winchester. This year the students are directed to our local health care providers. Kudos for that and an extra bonus point for providing the correct address for the hospital. Is that it? Is that our only benefit? Because that is a poor exchange for their cabal of enclave adherents taking over our government and robbing us of our library.

The library has received some very generous donations to help with the cost of fighting this attack. Some of those donors do so because the core members of the cabal have been trying to run roughshod over local merchants for years. I don’t know how long they have treated fellow members of St. John’s Catholic Church to the same kind of arrogant behaviors. It could be anywhere from 10 years to 40 years of being “not Catholic enough” to suit this bunch.

When they found a list of books online that another group was demanding be removed from their local library this bunch just had to join in: monkey see, monkey do. They tried direct demands to the library staff, but were repeatedly answered with the information that they needed to complete the request-to-reconsider forms. Others joined in to help

fill out hundreds of forms. They were probably surprised when the library followed its policy, set up the committees to review each book and then answered each and every form. Samuel’s is not a religious organization, so it adhered to its commitment to be neutral territory welcoming all members of the county no matter what faith the residents do or do not practice.

Next the cabal tried to take control of the budget already approved by the Board of Supervisors. When that failed they got people elected so that they could take over the Board of Supervisors and from there control of the library. Samuels started as a subscription library but agreed to become the public library for the county if supplied with financial support. It now operates as a non-profit subject to IRS rules. It is an active member of our community and deserves our respect and support.

On the other hand the enclave cabal wants a library that answers to them and has only books in the catalog that are within the limits of their rigid guidelines. Other residents of the county would have no say. The other residents who helped fill out forms have been a useful tool, but they are not Catholic. Behind closed doors the Pope probably isn’t Catholic enough for this bunch. The county does not owe this holier-than-thou enclave a library. They obviously have deep pockets or access to deep pockets so raising $20 million to fund a library for their enclave should be no problem. Wasn’t the college able to pay off the $40 million loans for their new chapel in less than 3 years.

There was a tidbit last year on the college website that floored me. A member of the college staff is on the Warren County Sexual Assault Response Team. My first thought was “why?”. My second thought was “just how big a problem do they have?”. This year they have included the information that reports of sexual misconduct are handled through the disciplinary conduct process which is focused on violations of the student code of conduct. They encourage students to contact local law enforcement if they feel a crime has been committed. If a student filed a report that her laptop had been stolen would she hear the words ‘tell the police IF you feel a crime has been committed”? These young women come to this college expecting to find a safe and protected environment, but when their most private and intimate possession is attacked – is stolen from them how can you use the word IF? I realize that many victims of sexual assault don’t want to deal with law enforcement in what many consider to be another violation. Perhaps a better wording would be something like: when the student feels ready to deal with the justice system then she should contact local police.

Have any of these felons been expelled? Did they at least get a spanking when they got home? How many were locals released back into our unsuspecting community? Did their families deal with the problem by hopping on the age-old tradition of blaming the victim?

In the meantime the enclave cabal is busy protecting the children of the county from books!

If the college wishes to continue to grow then maybe it’s time to do a better job of partnering with the local community. A good place to start would be to put an end to this unwelcome attempt to take over our library, town and county. The college may not be able to control this cabal, but deliberately or not it is the genesis for this idea of an

enclave. Over 40 years didn’t the families of the college staff and Trustees make use of Samuels? The only question asked of them was whether they were residents of the county. They were treated with respect weren’t they? It is time to repay that respect. Go visit Samuels and give them a donation. A picture of the event would be appreciated.

The college purchased property that would allow its students to avoid outside corrupting influences. This is what the college and its adherents are entitled to command but nothing more. Dreams of a Catholic enclave may be intoxicating, but the county, town and other public agencies do not belong to the college or its minions. Either separate or join our community as equals not as dictators.

Barbara Hunt
Front Royal/Warren County, VA

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