Biola’s chapel requirements are a source of contention among students. Many love chapel, while others see it as pointless or boring. Some don’t mind attending chapels and conferences, but wish they weren’t a requirement.
For seniors in their graduation semester, however, the chapel attendance requirement is more fluid. They are not technically excused from fulfilling the requirement, but they will not be penalized if they don’t.
Current chapel requirements
For most students, failing to either physically attend or complete make-ups for the number of chapels missed results in a semester of chapel probation — in other words, a grace period. This is followed by a semester in which they can only enroll in 12 units of classes if they fall short a second time.
In previous years, two-time chapel requirement offenders were not allowed to enroll in any classes at all following their second violation. According to the Chapel Accountability webpage, however, that requirement has been temporarily changed while Chapel Accountability reconsiders some policies.
Seniors' ability to choose
So will the seniors for whom chapel attendance is, for all intents and purposes, only optional, still choose to attend chapels and conferences? English major Sara Brio says yes. A transfer student from a secular junior college, Brio sees the chapels as an encapsulation of the very reason why she came to Biola.
“I got so tired of hearing everyone, teachers and students, using the F-word all the time, and hearing about how someone had smoked pot over the weekend,” she said. “Coming to Biola was very refreshing. I just love looking around chapel while I’m sitting there and knowing that while everyone’s there because of the requirement, they’re also there because they chose to come to Biola and to profess Christianity. We’re all learning to become a better community.”
Brio said that she even appreciates chapel being mandatory.
“My love of chapels alone would not be enough to get me out of bed to go sometimes,” she said with a laugh. “The requirement forces me to go to be in a space where I can learn, even if I don’t necessarily want to be there.”
Attendance at conferences
Her feelings about Torrey Conference and Missions Conference are a bit more mixed. On one hand, she appreciates the relevant insights she has gained from past speakers. On the other hand, she finds conferences to be exhausting and therefore less likely to draw her to attend.
“It’s actually more stressful than a normal week,” she said, “because I’m not even in classes for as much time as I’m in conference sessions.”
She said she still does, however, plan to attend Missions Conference, because its format and schedule are far more varied.
Chapel as a part of Biola
Psychology major Eric Ford also said that he, too, plans to still attend chapels and conferences next semester. First, he says, is out of acknowledgment that chapel attendance is simply part of being a student at Biola.
“I’m paying good money to be here, so why not just get the most out of Biola that I can?” Ford said.
Secondly, Ford is also one of the leaders of Journey, a men’s Bible study on campus, and also feels compelled because of his position to set a good example by attending chapel regularly.
Furthermore, the Torrey and Missions conferences actually provide something of a supplement to his major.
“[Psychology] is very self-reflecting and individually-focused,” he said, “so I wouldn’t have thought as much about the greater body of Christ if I hadn’t had Torrey and Missions conference to help me get outside of myself.”
Attendance based on speaker
Andrew Oxenham, a humanities major with an emphasis on philosophy, has very different thoughts on the influence of Biola’s chapels and conferences, saying that who is speaking is very likely to affect whether he’ll attend.
“For the most part, while I do care about the opinions of people around me, I don’t give much credit to people speaking into my life who have no direct line into my life,” he said. “I’m also not as likely to go listen to someone, if it’s not required, who has not been recommended to me or is not well-known in the academic world.”
Chapel as a forum to discuss
Oxenham also feels that most chapel and conference sessions do not offer deep enough teaching. He attributes this primarily to the fact that the chapels must address students who, he believes, come mostly from backgrounds that don’t teach the deeper truths of the Bible, or how to think critically.
“It’s not that I hate chapel as an institution,” Oxenham clarified, “because it gives us a forum to discuss thoughts and opinions with others. But I do plenty of that even when I’m not required to … But if you’re the kind of person who is not actively taking an interest in the world around you, analyzing why people think the way they think and why they do what they do, you definitely need to go to chapel.”
