Published: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 in The Whitworthian.

If I were to walk out into the middle of The Loop and scream at the top of my lungs that Whitworth offers an excellent and competitive liberal arts education, I probably wouldn’t get much argument. A lot of weird looks from the people trying to watch Frisbee, maybe, but most Whitworth students will agree that we get a pretty marvelous bit of information dumping while we’re here.

There is, however, one glaring area where Whitworth is not competitive: entertainment production. And by that I mean we don’t have good classes, let alone majors, in the fields of film production or video game design.

Whitworth’s stated goal is to train the mind and heart, and to shape leaders who will affect our culture in powerful ways. And in many ways, it achieves that goal. But the lack of an entertainment production department is a major oversight.

No one will deny the incredible impact film has had on our nation, and video games are shaping up to have similar effect over the coming decades. But Whitworth is strangely aloof on this issue. We have a smattering of classes on TV production, and some computer science classes touch on game design. But overall, if you’re looking for a place to launch a Christ-centered career in the entertainment industry, Whitworth isn’t the place to do that.

Admittedly, to have effective programs in those areas–particularly film production–requires top-notch facilities in which to teach them, and those aren’t cheap. It would be a significant investment.

But I believe it would be a profitable investment, both for Whitworth and its students. This is one of those cases where if you build it, they will come. I myself would probably have been a film convert were such a major offered here.

It wouldn’t be a major revolution on campus. A film production department could effectively be tacked onto our excellent theater program. Game design is a natural evolution of computer science.

And while money is certainly a concern, Whitworth has the means to raise money for important additions to campus. A new science building is going up; we’ll see a new gym and theatre building in the coming years. A powerful argument can easily be made for the importance of these programs, and if presented correctly I have a hard time believing the money wouldn’t come in.

As Whitworth is developing a new strategic plan and looking to the future, determining how to best equip students for impacting our world, it is critical that all methods of cultural change are considered.

Film production and video game design would be brilliant additions to Whitworth’s curriculum, and would attract a whole new student demographic. It has been said that to change the world, one only has to write its songs–entertainment has a powerful effect on culture, and Whitworth should be on the forefront of the effort to engage that culture for the better.