It’s no surprise that leftist extremists in public universities have gone to extremes to maintain their tax-funded echo chambers, isolating and removing conservative faculty and students, while demanding the public gives them money for their agenda.
That’s the nature of leftist ideologies. And if lawmakers don’t like that, they can impose funding plans that encourage neutrality.
But now that has invaded at least one Christian school, and a constitutional expert, Jonathan Turley, whose advice at times has guided congressional actions on constitutional issues, is warning that there it is up to donors to encourage a course correction with their cash.
The situation has developed at Point Loma Nazarene University, where reports describe how a dean, Jason Cha, has preached about how the belief of “in Christ alone” supports “white privilege.”
Turley pointed out, “Faculty and administrators in control of higher education are the most intolerant and orthodox in generations. They have purged departments of conservatives and libertarians while creating an ideological echo chamber.” But, he said, “This is a private university, so it depends on donors and alumni to change the culture by withholding support.”
“If faculty members want to maintain echo chambers for their own viewpoints, they should seek private donors to sustain such intolerance and orthodoxy. … For a school established as ‘a simple Bible college,’ it now seems determined to be something quite different. What that is remains a matter of faith best left to the faculty, the students, and the alumni. As for Dean Cha, the faculty of Point Loma Nazarene University has every right to pick their leadership, and donors have every right to base their contributions on those choices.”
A report at the College Fix explains Cha’s agenda is causing concern among alumni.
Cha’s 2023 “dissertation” at Azusa Pacific was titled, “Raging Waters of Whiteness: Addressing White Evangelical Racism in Higher Education.”
It claimed to examine the “lived experiences of diversity professionals addressing whiteness at Christian colleges” through frameworks including “critical race theory, critical white studies, and evangelical postcolonial studies.”
CRT, of course, is the set of racist teachings that instruct being white is racist and identifies whites as oppressors. It claims society promotes the interests of whites at the expense of others. And it claims neutral U.S. laws actually product racially discriminatory outcomes
“Cha became PLNU’s dean of students in March 2025. In this role, he oversees several areas of student life, including multicultural and international student services, new student engagement, and residential life,” the report said.
Two of his critics are PLNU alumni Lidiya Harvey and Isabella Simmons, who say his hiring reflects the university’s broader progressive direction, the report said.
They posted an Instagram document charging Cha told students if their identity was “in Christ alone” then they are guilty of “white privilege.”
Their page shows Cha wearing a “Jesus Wasn’t White” T-shirt.
“It also shows a picture from the 2026 presentation by Cha focused on ‘white people engaging racial justice,’ as well as a speech he gave in 2020 titled ‘Whiteness as Witness: Re-conceptualizing Diversity in Christian Higher Education.'”
The College Fix reported Cha wouldn’t provide a comment on the statement about “in Christ alone,” and referred to a university statement that claimed Cha’s views are within the context of a Christian education.
Spokeswoman Lora Fleming said, “We do not believe that selected quotations or academic concepts, removed from their broader context, provide a fair characterization of Dr. Cha.”
Harvey told the College Fix her main point was that Cha “isn’t just a professor exploring an academic theory in one classroom,” but someone “actively helping shape student life, events and panels, campus culture, leadership, and formation.”
Further, Harvey published another criticism of Point Loma, charging the school had invited to campus a “poet,” “who imagines Jesus as ‘agnostic and horny.'”
Harvey said, “What are we doing here, @plnu?”
Simmons told the Fix Christian identity does not erase race or racism, but said “our identity in Christ is a blood-bought reality given equally to every believer. That is not a minor disagreement, but a theological question about who gets the final word on reality: Christ and His Word, or an unbiblical ideological framework that reinterprets Christianity through its own categories?”
Divinity Schools have shown the same radical shift to the left as other schools in higher education. That was evident this week at Point Loma Nazarene University, where Dean of Students Jason Cha warned students that saying “in Christ alone” is a sign of “white privilege.” https://t.co/fudrgU1vXJ
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) October 13, 2026
Why this blatant elevation of “diversity” over Jesus at Point Loma Nazarene University? Why explicitly contradict Jesus’ declaration: “I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life” John 14:6? It’s time to remove and replace Dean of Students Jason Cha with someone passionate for evangelism per Jesus’ command “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel”! https://t.co/SVPD5llWkg
— David L. Hagen (@DavidLHagen) October 13, 2026
Turley explained, “Cha has long been an outspoken critic of what he views as ‘white privilege’ in religion and the need to prioritize ‘racial justice,’ including past presentations on ‘Whiteness as Witness: Re-conceptualizing Diversity in Christian Higher Education.'”
He noted, “The university was previously under fire over reports that it has held such sessions as ‘decolonizing yoga’ and refused to recognize a Turning Point USA chapter.”
He said while it’s important to have “academic freedom and free speech” in academia, “today’s faculty have engaged in open bias and intolerance in hiring faculty. The faculty and administrators in control of higher education are the most intolerant and orthodox in generations. They have purged departments of conservatives and libertarians while creating an ideological echo chamber.”
