At Howard, Putting Faith in Diversity

New Dean Pushes for Multiculturalism in Effort To Rebuild and Revamp Storied Divinity School

One word hangs, framed, over the desk of new Howard University Divinity School Dean Alton B. Pollard III: "Whosoever." The word is obscured slightly by a swirl of rainbow colors, which is just how Pollard likes it, because it makes you question what's on his mind.

The Bible verse the word is taken from, John 3:16, is usually interpreted to mean that God loved the world so much that he gave his only son so that "whosoever" believes in Jesus will live forever. But in typical fashion for Pollard, a playful academic, he views the word as embodying God's love for the entire world -- referring to all of God's children, no matter one's religious beliefs.

The sign is something of a metaphor for the direction Pollard, who was installed yesterday as dean, wants to take the 141-year-old divinity school. As divinity schools, including those at historically black schools such as Howard, are redefining their mission, Pollard is among the leaders pushing for more multiculturalism, including more students of different religious backgrounds, and a reevaluation of how things have been traditionally done.

And he is bringing change to Howard at a welcome time.

Although the divinity school and its chapel have a history of illustrious supervision -- including Howard Thurman, a philosopher and adviser to the Rev. Martin Juther King Jr., and Benjamin Elijah Mays, a civil rights leader -- the divinity school had been without a permanent dean for five years before Pollard arrived this year. He and other faculty members say past university leaders ignored the school, which sits on a separate site, in Northeast Washington, and its enrollment shrank from 300 to 200. Faculty members complained of being overwhelmed, and the building fell into disrepair. Students came to the main campus last year to picket. And someone anonymously started a Web site called "hu-shame."

It took the protests, two search committees and litigation after the offer to one candidate was rescinded, but Pollard was finally hired. Pollard is known for his writings on sociology and black religion and was most recently director of Black Church Studies at Emory University's Candler School of Theology.

Today "morale is at a high" because of him, said Cheryl J. Sanders, a professor of Christian ethics at Howard for 25 years.

He has made connections with the university's new president, Sidney A. Ribeau, that the faculty consider promising, and has launched ambitious goals, including hiring more faculty, creating a PhD program and rewriting the curriculum for the first time in 20 years.

"That's a generation!" a wide-eyed Pollard said in an interview this week.

A gentle looking man who wears dashikis (a purple and black one on this particular day) and laughs easily, Pollard nonetheless invokes urgency. His address Thursday to a convocation urged the school to look seriously at some challenges. Its relationship with the city's churches has become frayed and distant, he said, and black divinity schools -- like divinity schools in general -- are at a crossroads, with many young strivers seeing "ministry" as meaning more than a divinity degree and preaching. He also said many people around the world still consider Christianity an "imperial and oppressive force."

He is working with faculty to make the curriculum more inclusive and interdisciplinary. He wants to create joint degrees with the law, medical and business schools and encourage divinity students to do their required fieldwork not only in churches but in such areas as community organizing or health care -- to be more activist and more involved in the community. He said his son has a divinity degree and works at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Influenced by Afro-centrism, Pollard also plans to weave more understanding of the African diaspora into the curriculum, faculty members said.

"We want to be an intellectual hub of theology that's hospitable and affirming to the African diaspora as well as the African American tradition," said assistant professor Kenyatta Gilbert, whose focus is African American preaching.

Pollard beams as he talks about the school's recent struggles. They're why he came, he says, because he's had it easy studying and teaching at large divinity schools such Emory and Harvard. And Washington, with its high-energy idealists, is a perfect place for a challenge.

"I love it," he said. "If you don't have intensity, what are you doing here?"