Fellowship Hall

Redeemer celebrates 25 years of God's faithfulness

By Marian den Boer

It takes about 25 years for an institution of higher learning to establish its reputation academically,” says Dr. Justin Cooper, president of Redeemer University College which is billed as Ontario’s premier Christian university.

“We are getting our stride. Our students have been accepted in over 75 different graduate schools in Ontario, across Canada, Great Britain, the U.S. and Australia. They have consistently done well. As well, 95 percent of those seeking employment have found it within six months.”

In the fall of 2007, Redeemer University College celebrated 25 years of God’s faithfulness.  “All our high points were answers to prayer,” observes President Cooper as he ponders Redeemer’s relatively short history.

In 1982, the school began as Redeemer Reformed Christian College with 97 students in a first-year program taught by eight full-time professors. They met in the former Bell Cairn grade school on Beach Boulevard, Hamilton. Now the degree-granting school, boasting 850 students and 45 tenured faculty, offers a four-year Christian liberal arts and science education in ever-expanding facilities on a 90-acre campus at 777 Garner Rd., Ancaster.

Dr. Justin Cooper

Redeemer alumni will tell you that a caring, knowledgeable faculty is the school’s main asset. “It was a very rich learning environment,” recalls Wendy Fennema, one of Redeemer’s first 97 students in 1982. “The professors really cared. They tried to get to know the students.” She compares her experiences at Redeemer with one at McMaster where she took a course in children’s literature. “At McMaster there were 320 students in one class with the professor up at the microphone. All the marking was done by four teaching assistants. There was no communication with the professor, no feedback.” She remembers each professor at Redeemer with fondness. “Because it was smaller, we were like a huge family.”

Suzanne den Boer, a 2005 Redeemer graduate, echoes Wendy’s appreciation for the faculty, “I really enjoyed most of my professors, especially those in my two majors, and found them quite willing to give assistance to their students. My favourite courses were either Biblical studies or church history, but I also really liked my upper-level Lewis and Tolkien, and Shakespeare with Dr. Doug Loney and Victorian literature and British novel with Dr. D. Bowen, my faculty adviser who talked to me often.”  

The professors were very dedicated,” emphasizes Wendy. President Cooper agrees, “Most of the original professors still teach for us, either full or part-time.”

The 1982-83 Board of Governors: (back row, left to right) Arend Kersten, Leo Smit, May Drost, Ineke Bezuyen, Dick Kranendonk, Joop de Voest, Cheri Buiter, John Cook, Bill Barneveld and Justin Cooper. Front row: Rev. John De Jong, Stiny De Jong, Adrian Guldemond, Nick Van Duyvendyk, Bert Bakker, Rev. Henry De Bolster, Henk Aay, Jim Vreugdenhil. Absent: Gary Van Eyk, John Van Rooyen, Dr. Albert Wolters, Rev. Adrian Dieleman, Hans Van Manen.

Dr. Cooper himself was actually the first on board in 1982 as assistant professor of political science and acting dean. “I had a sense of calling. I was incensed that Christ was not recognized in higher education.”

Redeemer is certainly changing that. Jake Belder, who came to Redeemer in 2002, reports, “At some point in the course of study at Redeemer—in fact, probably at many points—you will hear a professor quote one of Abraham Kuyper’s thoughts: ‘There is not one square inch of creation about which Jesus Christ does not say: that is mine. This is very thought-provoking (and hopefully action-inducing) for any Christian. The implications of this Biblical perspective are extensive. That is why Redeemer is such a great liberal arts university, because this is a point of view that someone from any discipline can work with, be it philosophy, kinesics, or sociology. There is no divide between what is Christian and what is not. Everything in this world belongs to God. To be sure, things have been distorted because of sin, but everything is redeemable. That is what they teach us, and that is what students are equipped to do when they graduate and move on and out into the world. That is what has shaped me, and that is what makes Redeemer University College a good school.”

Joshua Eriksen, who after several years at Redeemer is transferring to McMaster to graduate in political science, comments that even two or three years at Redeemer truly helps to give any student a solid foundation academically in the world today. “Redeemer is the last and lone classical clerical college in Canada that stands up to defend Christianity in the academic sense....I mean a classical clerical college in the sense that it would be Ontario’s version of the Jesuits’ French Catholic College Jean-de-Brebeuf in Montreal except this is run by Reformers in an English Protestant tradition.”

Growth did not come without trials and challenges.

Rev. Henry de Bolster

President Cooper puts it this way, “The Lord used a small group of Dutch immigrants with a vision for Christ in higher education to turn things upside down, or rather, right side up.”

In 1974, several Dutch immigrants began discussing the possibility of a Christian college in Ontario. In 1976, they organized the Ontario Christian College Association (OCCA) with a board and 104 members. The association came up with a Statement of Basis and Principles which declared the Bible as its supreme standard. The statement reads in part, “...the teachers and students of the college should endeavour to discover God’s laws and the structures of the creation so that the students may effectively take up their specific responsibilities and vocations in a way that will further the coming of the Lord’s Kingdom.”  

In 1977, a representative of the association met with Ontario’s Ministry of Colleges and Universities, only to be informed of the Robarts Policy which stated no new free-standing, secular, degree-granting institutions could be established in the province. The government suggested the way around this would be to affiliate with an existing university. Upon investigation, it was discovered that no existing university would agree to accredit courses in arts and sciences taught from a Christian perspective. According to Ontario universities and the government these were secular courses.

The OCCA was disheartened, yet far from giving up.

Receiving the charter at Queen's Park - from the left; Sam Cureatz (MPP, Durham East), Bert Bakker (legal counsel for OCCA), Robert Welch (Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy), Dick Kranendonk (development director for OCCA), Rev. Henry de Bolster (president, OCCA), Justin Cooper (executive director, OCCA), and George Ashe (MPP and sponsor of the charter)

In 1987, the Association of Universities and Colleges in Canada (AUCC) approved Redeemer as a member allowing them to confer a Bachelor of Christian Studies recognized by the AUCC as comparable to a B.A. or a B.Sc. This was good—but not good enough. “It was a matter of justice. A Bachelor of Arts is an academic degree, not a secular degree,” points out Redeemer’s founding president.

For 11 years Redeemer persistently pleaded their cause in turn before Liberal, NDP and then Conservative governments. “Whenever we met with government, we always first prayed together,” says De Bolster who spearheaded much of the effort. Finally in 1998, the Harris government gave in. Redeemer could call their degrees what they were: Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science.

In 2000, Redeemer’s name changed to Redeemer University College. In 2003, they were able to offer a Bachelor of Education degree and in 2004, Redeemer was accredited by the College of Teachers. 

When asked if Redeemer’s focus has changed in its 25 year history, President Cooper notes that Redeemer is still focused on providing a Christian liberal arts and science education with a teaching and research emphasis. He adds that the Reformed focus is broadening to serve a student body from 45 denominations. “Less than half of the present study body is of Reformed persuasion. Redeemer serves mainly Reformed, Baptist, Pentecostal, United Reformed and Catholic students.” Professors are currently encouraged to articulate ideas from a scriptural foundation rather than in technical ‘Reformed’ jargon.

Cooper observes that Redeemer has become more spiritually vibrant. “Evangelical students have brought an emphasis on personal holiness and prayer.”

1982/83 STUDENT COUNCIL: Front row; Pam Drost (secretary), Harry Zantingh (president), Bruce Bos (vice-president), Chris Lieverdink (treasurer). Back row; Tammy Boer, Gerald Kuntz, Pete Van Egmond, Annette Oosterhof and Rose Lip.

What does the future hold for Redeemer? “We are looking toward offering a Master of Education in the next 8-10 years,” says the president. In faith he looks forward to seeing Redeemer University College become a full-fledged university with a range of graduate degrees.