Letter from the Editor
written by Eliot Cox photo by Betsy Burrow
Ithink it’s odd that leadership is among the pillars of Pepperdine’s mission statement.
Purpose is a life-source, service builds moral humility, but leadership? Leadership, as it appears to me, is the precarious road between responsibility and power.
Some people are great leaders and some are terrible, but most people never have any chance to lead. I, for one, am generally dubious of the people who want to be leaders, because I suspect they are often driven by pride and power.
But regardless of who we get, we need people to step up, since every system of people needs leaders.
When I started writing editorials for the Graphic in the fall semester, I wanted my work to encircle a thematic focal point to anchor my arguments. I chose Pepperdine’s mission statement because it appeared to me to be the rules of the game we play.
Even if there was discrepancy between visions for the university, that mission statement preexisted all our disagreements.
My first op-ed highlighted the importance of purpose and resolving loneliness, using the writings of Viktor Frankl because of how they inspired me. Later down the line, I wrote about service in the form of a thank you letter to Pepperdine’s workers.
In my head, I was building up to leadership. I touched the topic with other articles, but I found it was too involved, too complicated to interrogate without a lot of effort, reporting and care.
Leadership, still in my head as a theme, was not what
I initially presented for this Special Edition. But while the initial theme did not survive the edits, the product of that meeting was, before anything else, a reporting angle: Five Years In.
In essence, what is Pepperdine like five years into Jim Gash’s presidency? What has happened in those five years?
Those questions are too complicated and weighty, however, to leave them in the hands of editorials. Instead, what is necessary is reporting on the stories in as clear and informative a way as possible.
So here is the labor from talented reporters and stories concerning what it is like for the administration, faculty, students and churches five years into Jim Gash’s tenure. Alongside several reflections from the senior class members on how Pepperdine has changed during their time as students, these stories will hopefully clarify something necessary about leadership that an editorial from some egotistical senior would fail to show.
Lastly, a recommendation: never stop asking questions.
Sincerely,
Special Edition STAFF
WRITERS
Tony Gleason
Associate Editor
Shalom Montgomery
Pixel Editor &
Assistant News Editor
Amanda Monahan
Life & Arts Editor
Gabrielle Salgado
Managing Editor
Faith Siegel
Life & Arts Copy Editor
Henry Adams
Assistant Life & Arts Editor
Creative Director DESIGN
Betsy Burrow
PHOTO
Mary Elisabeth Photo Editor Guinevere Hesse
Staff Photographer
ART
Sarah Rietz
Art Editor
COPY
Libby Hill Copy Chief
Lila Rendel
Sports Copy Editor
Administrators Reflect on the Gash Presidency
5Years Later
written by Tony Gleason & Shalom Montgomery
art by Sarah Rietz
On Monday, March 4, 2019, former Caruso associate dean Jim Gash stepped into a crowded Elkins Auditorium, a room full of expectancy and standards, and officially commenced his time as President.
Gash is now wrapping up his fifth year as President of Pepperdine University. Throughout his tenure, he has faced the global pandemic, multiple wildfires, tragedy and victories.
“My goal in taking the baton was doing what my predecessors had done,” Gash said. “And the idea is each time a president gets the baton from his, or her someday, a predecessor, then the goal is to continue to climb the mountain.”
As a young kid, Gash said he was constantly around Pepperdine because not only did both of his parents attend and meet at Pepperdine, but it was also where his dad became a Christian. Gash wanted to go to Pepperdine, but chose to attend Abilene Christian University (ACU) to continue playing football.
After Gash received his bachelor’s degree in Finance from ACU, he enrolled in Pepperdine’s law school, where he graduated in 1993, Gash said. It was his experience at the law school that he said made him want to remain a part of this community.
“My goal was to continue to climb that mountain so that students like you and like my kids and like the ones that are here — you know my three kids who went to Pepperdine — the ones that are here just feel like, well, this place is everything I want for a university. It inspired me spiritually,” Gash said.
What were Gash’s promises?
Gash entered his term with three main promises: to propel Pepperdine’s faith, fundraising and footprint, according to his speech given to the Pepperdine community in March 2019.
Gash’s first promise was faith. One of his major faith-based initiatives was launching the Hub for Spiritual Life, which connects the Pepperdine community through “worship and spiritual care,” according to its website.
Gash said his goal for the Hub was to magnify the students’ interaction with spiritual leaders, worship and more.
“We launched the Hub for Spiritual Life maybe a year or so into my presidency to focus intentionally on enhancing the student experience in addition to what the students are receiving in the classroom,” Gash said.
The Hub then introduced several new programs, such as Student-Led Ministries. It also created the Office for Community Belonging,
which was a needed new addition to the university’s spiritual framework, Gash said.
“Everything that we do there is grounded in who we are as a Christian institution,” Gash said.
The Worship Summit — an annual event that began during Gash’s inauguration week — has since become a fixture of Pepperdine’s spiritual life. In addition, Gash introduced the new position of Vice President for Spiritual Life, which is held by Tim Spivey, to ensure that faith remains central to the student experience.
“The idea of having a group of leaders on campus who were dedicated to ensuring that students had every opportunity to experience what it looked like to be part of a faith community and calling them into that faith community,” Gash said. “Someone who every day woke up with the goal of ‘how do I help our community be a more vibrant spiritual life or have a more vibrant spiritual life at Pepperdine?’”
February, Pepperdine graduated from an R3 Carnegie standing to an R2 research institution, which stamps the exponential growth Pepperdine has made on the academic front, according to the University.
While there is a level above R2 — that being R1 — Gash said R1 schools are typically much larger universities like UCLA or the University of Michigan, and Pepperdine is not looking to become an R1 school because it would not allow for professors here to personally engage with students.
“[R2 is] an objective set of criteria that says you’re academically excelling, not just in the classroom, but in producing important scholarship that influences academics, influences the world,” Gash said.
money,” said Tim Perrin, senior vice president of strategic implementation.
Gash said he views the creation of The Mountain as fulfilling his goals for fostering a tight-knit community, encouraging school spirit and providing more-than-adequate facilities for Pepperdine’s athletics.
“We aspire to be outstanding in everything we do,” Gash said.
Furthering Pepperdine student community life has been another area Perrin said Gash has succeeded in, even with the difficulties the communities have faced in recent those, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the crash in fall 2023 and most recently, the Franklin and Palisades fires.
Everything that we do there is grounded in who we are as a Christian institution.”
Jim Gash President
The progression of Gash’s goals
Gash’s second promise was fundraising. He said he set a bold goal of doubling the university’s annual donations by the end of the decade, aiming to increase contributions from $34.8 million per year to $70 million per year.
“Our donors have stepped up and we are now averaging more than $70 million per year from the beginning as opposed to at the end of the decade,” Gash said. “This is a tribute to our team. Every part of the steering team, the leadership team, they’ve accepted my challenge of ‘you are all fundraisers.’”
Fundraising, he said, is not just about money but about sharing Pepperdine’s vision in a way that inspires donors to contribute to the university’s future.
“We don’t just have a team of fundraisers,” Gash said. “We’ve got a team of storytellers who say, ‘this is who we are’ and a team of people who inspire donors who have resources and say, ‘I want to leave behind a legacy. I want to make the world better than before I got here.’”
Lastly, Gash promised both an academic and international footprint. This past
As mentioned previously, one of Gash’s major goals when he first came into Pepperdine was increasing its fundraising, which Executive Vice President Phil Phillips said the University has excelled at during Gash’s tenure.
What Gash has accomplished in terms of fundraising is important for the University because it allows Pepperdine to expand, said multiple sources.
Another initiative from Pepperdine’s administration during Gash’s tenure has been the creation of The Mountain at Mullin Park, which will include a new athletic arena, headquarters for Resilience-Informed Skills Education (RISE) and many places for student recreation, according to Pepperdine’s website. The Mountain is set to be completed by late 2026.
Phillips said Pepperdine would not have been able to accomplish creating The Mountain had it not been for Gash’s excellence in financial planning.
“The ability to have these capital improvements that we’re trying to make that are going to make campus better and richer and more meaningful for students is all the things we’re trying to do, it takes
Specifically, Perrin said it’s been a goal through the creation of the RISE program and Gash’s presence on campus to combat mental health challenges for young adults.
“President Gash’s commitment to being accessible, to being available,” Perrin said. “He answers every email. He’s happy to be with students. He wants to be present. He wants to get to know the student, and his openness and transparency and willingness to engage in these hard moments.”
As a result of Gash’s commitment to raising money and furthering spiritual life, Political Science Professor Robert Williams said Gash has taken a step back in some areas where previous presidents were more involved.
“He’s delegated a good bit of the day-today operations of the University to other people, particularly on the academic side and in the general administration of the university,” Williams said.
During his speech to the Pepperdine community in 2019, Gash said one of his goals for Pepperdine was to grow with connections and in the standings in the higher education realm. One place Perrin said this was accomplished was by the creation of the College of Health Science, which will start accepting students in fall 2025.
The College of Health Science will offer a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, entry-level Master in Nursing and Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology, according to the College of Health Science website. SPECIAL EDITION SPRING 2025 | 5
photo by Mary Elisabeth
“Our new college — the College of Health Science — which is so missional, so central to the university’s efforts, and that is only going to expand our opportunities to serve in the kingdom and to be of influence, and to grow our reputation as we fill those important needs and health care in Southern California and beyond,” Perrin said.
Despite this milestone, the opening of a new school was not part of the University’s main plans at the start of Gash’s tenure, Gash said.
“When the pandemic came, it became clear, first, that there was a need in, not just in California, but around the country,” Gash said. “And second, there was an opportunity for Pepperdine to step forward in mission-centric ways to prepare our students to be mission-centric healthcare professionals.”
Phillips has been a member of the Pepperdine community in some capacity since 1984 and he said what the University has achieved during Gash’s tenure is the most he’s seen done in this short of a window.
“I’m in my 31st year working here, and I went to law school here, and I went to undergrad before that,” Phillips said. “So I’ve seen really great work done at Pepperdine in the administration for decades — we’ve never been doing this much that I remember, at least in my career.”
With all that has been achieved, Williams — who has also been at Pepperdine for over 30 years — said he’s noticed Pepperdine has been more clear with its political standings since Gash took over.
“The university has definitely taken a turn to the right politically under President Gash,” Williams said. “We see this in the speakers that he brings to campus, and we see this in the kinds of issues that he’s chosen to talk about publicly.”
Despite the advancements made in Pepperdine’s education, the University has found itself falling ranks every year since 2021, according to U.S. News & World Report.
Future plans for Gash’s tenure
Pepperdine has six different locations for students to study abroad — Buenos Aires, Florence, Heidelberg, Switzerland, London and Washington, D.C. — and 95% of Pepperdine students study abroad, according to the International Programs website.
Despite the already high volume of students who study abroad, Gash and Perrin both said expanding the International Programs is one of the University’s main priorities for the coming years.
“God willing, we’re going to be expanding into Asia very soon on a permanent basis, expanding into Africa for study abroad, on a permanent basis,” Gash said. “I’ll be with students this summer in Africa on a study abroad trip there in Uganda.”
As of the 2023-24 academic year, Pepperdine was ranked No. 12 in the study abroad category of “Academic Programs to Look For” by U.S. News, according to Pepperdine’s website.
“Continuing attention to the international experience and opportunities for students to study abroad, making sure that we have campuses in the right places where students want to study is really important to us,” Perrin said.
The acquisition of the Château d’Hauteville in Switzerland officially began before Gash’s presidency but was finalized under his tenure, and he said he and his administration are continuing to work to develop new study abroad opportunities for future students.
The university’s international expansion
also extends to Pepperdine’s legal and humanitarian work. Through the Sudreau Global Justice Institute, the school has worked to improve legal access and justice systems in Uganda and East Africa, according to its website.
“We started off helping one country, Uganda, starting with one group of kids and one prison,” Gash said. “And now it’s the entire country, and then it was East Africa, and now the entire continent. 23 African countries have said, ‘Can you help us expand access to justice for our people?’”
Looking ahead, Pepperdine will co-sponsor the first-ever International Religious Freedom Summit throughout Africa, a partnership between the university and the Kenyan government set to launch in June, according to Gash. He said this event is part of a broader effort to establish Pepperdine as a leader in global Christian education.
“I want every kid like you who grows up in Atlanta or anywhere else who says, ‘You know what? I want an excellent education in a beautiful part of the world that will inspire me academically, that will encourage me and inspire me spiritually,’” Gash said. “I want every kid to say, ‘Well, my first choice, of course, is Pepperdine.’”
Tony Gleason
Tony Gleason is a senior Journalism major from Danvers, Mass. This is his sixth semester at the Graphic, where he has worked as a writer, assistant, editor and social media manager.
Gleason said his favorite memory at Pepperdine is the moment he realized he ended up where he is supposed to be, and his favorite spot on campus is the newsroom couch.
Shalom Montgomery
Shalom Montgomery is a sophomore Political Science and Economics double major from Atlanta, Ga. This is her third semester at the Graphic, where she has worked as an editor and writer.
Montgomery said her favorite memory at Pepperdine is spending time with the Pepperdine community at Winter Wonderland, and her favorite spot on campus is the back of Stauffer Chapel.
A Look Back: Gash’s
September 2019
Jim Gash is inaugurated as the eighth President of Pepperdine University.
October 2023
December 2024
August 2023
Franklin Fire erupts in Malibu Canyon.
Château d’Hauteville opens as the Switzerland International Program campus.
Four Pepperdine seniors lost their lives in a PCH crash near Carbon Beach.
Gash’s Time as President
March 2020
Students pack up after being told they had to leave campus at the start of the COVID-19 lockdown.
June 2021
Students return to campus for the first in-person classes after the COVID-19 lockdown.
January 2025
The Mountain parking structure opens, completing the first leg of The Mountain construction.
December 2021
President Gash hosts students for baptisms at the Brock House.
April 2025
The Mountain construction continues, with the outline of the future arena clearly visible.
Seaver Faculty Senate: Faculty Advocate For Shared Governance
written by Amanda Monahan & Gabrielle Salgado
art by Sarah Rietz
For several years, Seaver College faculty have voiced their concerns about shared governance at Pepperdine.
The Seaver Faculty Senate (SFS) serves as a way for professors to voice their opinions and spark change, said Colin Storm, SFS Communication Division representative and assistant professor of Communication. SFS committee members use the senate as a way to voice their opinions on academic, administrative and professional matters, according to the SFS constitution.
“I think in that way, Seaver Faculty Senate serves as sort of a melting pot of voices from around campus,” Storm said.
History
SFS started as the Seaver Faculty Association Executive Committee, said Loretta Hunnicutt, SFS treasurer and professor of History. The Seaver Faculty Association Executive Committee consisted of a president and a representative from each academic department. The new structure allows for more members and more voices.
“We [the Seaver Faculty Association Executive Committee] thought that perhaps wasn’t representative enough of the faculty when you’re talking about seven people representing 250,” Hunnicutt said. “And then we also, we just thought, the more voices, the better.”
The Seaver Faculty Association Executive Committee transitioned to SFS in 2020 when Maire Mullins, professor of English
and former Seaver Faculty Association president, pushed for a larger committee, Hunnicutt said.
The larger executive committee size made the Senate more representative and powerful, Hunnicutt said. The new model allows faculty members to work more directly with administration as well, as SFS meetings now have a representative from the Dean’s Office attend each meeting.
Hunnicutt said the transition to the SFS model was a healthy one.
“I’ve been very pleased at what I’ve seen of how many more people are involved, how much more active it is, and there’s a lot more involvement,” Hunnicutt said.
A faculty association still exists at Seaver College, however. The association consists of all current faculty members, whereas SFS consists of the executive committee members.
Though SFS is now an official senate as opposed to a committee, 14 committees for faculty still exist. These committees — which range from the Committee on Women Faculty to a committee for scholarships for high-achieving students — are all overseen by SFS. Storm said he has served on three committees in his time at Pepperdine.
SFS most closely works with the Seaver Dean, said Chris Doran, former SFS president and Religion and Sustainability professor.
“It [SFS] is mostly a way of structuring faculty opinion and the voice and advocacy work so that you can work with the dean of the college,” Doran said.
SFS consists of four branches: officers, division representatives, at-large representatives and fixed-term faculty representatives, according to the SFS website.
The number of members in each branch varies, according to the SFS website. There are four officers: president, vice president, secretary and treasurer. Each Seaver division has one representative. The division representative branch also includes a library division representative. On top of that, there are four at-large representatives and two representatives to represent fixed-term faculty.
Storm, who serves as the representative for the Communication Division, described himself as a liaison between his division and SFS.
“Any concerns or thoughts that my colleagues have here, my job is to relay them to the Senate and vice versa,” Storm said.
Terms for president, vice president, secretary and treasurer last two years, Doran said. There are no term limits for these positions, meaning a faculty member can hold an executive position for as many terms as they are elected.
Why Faculty Joined
Faculty members join SFS for a variety of reasons, multiple sources said. One of the biggest reasons faculty decided to join SFS is the idea of shared governance.
“The idea of shared governance is that the faculty have some jobs to do, and they’re sharing governance with administration,” Doran said.
Storm described faculty governance as faculty having a voice in decisions that are made by the University. Joanna Stimmel, German professor and SFS fixed-term faculty representative, said this played a big role in her joining SFS.
“We all want to have this shared governance and this is the real example of
shared governance,” Stimmel said.
Storm said he spends most of his time on campus in the Center for Communication and Business (CCB), up the hill from main campus. He said he rarely visits main campus and finds SFS to be a connecting point for him and his colleagues.
“I will be the first to admit that I feel pretty distant from main campus, and so this is one way that I try to help bridge that literal geographical gap between us,” Storm said.
Further, Storm said he is very passionate about faculty governance.
“I really want to make sure that we have a voice at the table when it comes to the direction of the university — not only in the here and now, but also in the future,” Storm said. “I think that is a spot where we have the opportunity as faculty members to shape the university in the way that we think it should be shaped.”
Mere weeks after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the shutdown of universities across the world, Doran said he decided to run for SFS president.
“I had a few talks with the previous president and I had a few talks with some mentors in mind,” Doran said. “I just felt sort of that there was an opportunity for me to serve in ways that I had not before.”
Doran led SFS through COVID-19 at Pepperdine and the “reopening” phase — an unprecedented time across the world, especially for someone stepping into a new leadership role. However, he said he found his background in theology and ministry played a key role in this new position.
“I was able to minister to a lot of people who were going through really heavy things during the summer of 2020 and into the new school year,” Doran said. “And so, I think I got an opportunity to, you know, be sort of an unofficial chaplain to a lot of folks, and create some programs for mental health awareness for faculty and spiritual health and growth for faculty that I’m pretty happy about.”
While SFS aids with the idea of shared governance, the definition of shared governance remains unclear for some at Pepperdine.
Some faculty members question whether their voice is actually heard.
“If we want to have a voice, there is a place to have the voice,” Stimmel said. “Another question is, will the voice be heard?” Pepperdine’s accreditation comes from
the Western Association of Schools and Colleges — also known as WASC, Storm said.
WASC monitors over 5,000 schools — including Pepperdine — to assure they are working toward improvement and providing high-quality education for students.
A concern WASC has voiced about Pepperdine is shared governance and whether or not it exists at Pepperdine, Storm said.
“The faculty are not the only ones who have had this concern,” Storm said. “Our WASC accrediting organization… has recommended that Pepperdine become better in shared governance.”
The spring 2025 WASC visit took place virtually from March 19 to March 21, with the next visit not taking place until spring 2031. During the spring 2022 visit, WASC recommended Pepperdine create a definition of shared governance; one of the recommendation subcommittees that took place during the most recent visit discussed this.
Faculty Concerns
SFS serves as a listening ear for faculty concerns. The senate meets once a month, and the conversations within these meetings vary, Hunnicutt said.
“We pass resolutions, we debate things and try to represent as many voices as possible,” Hunnicutt said.
Within the transition to a senate model, Hunnicutt said something SFS wanted to do was have more collaboration. As a result, a representative from the dean’s office is usually present at the monthly meetings.
“Most recently, it was the selection of the dean,” Hunnicutt said. “We wanted to make sure faculty had a voice in that, and so we advocated for that, and really encouraged people to attend the presentations of the candidates.”
Doran said that while only SFS members are allowed to speak during SFS meetings, any faculty members are welcome to attend.
Dean Selection
The dean search and selection has been a more recent concern for faculty members. When it comes to selecting the next undergraduate dean, the administration makes the decision. However, faculty members are allowed to voice their opinions.
“There was an opportunity for all faculty to write into the committee or write into the provost individually,” Doran said.
Faculty input in the dean selection process is an example of shared governance, Storm said.
“We recently hired a dean, and so it’s really important to have faculty voice in the decision making process toward selecting
that dean,” Storm said.
However, Doran said administrators had the final say in the dean selection.
“The provost made it very clear early on that he would make the decision,” Doran said.
Faculty members have a stronger voice when it comes to selecting a divisional dean, Doran said. Seaver College includes eight divisional deans. Only seven of the divisional deans have a similar selection process.
For seven of the divisions, the search process is straightforward. Applicants submit their name for consideration and go through a typical hiring process, Doran said. Faculty members then are welcomed to share feedback on who they would like the next divisional dean to be.
Even though the Seaver dean makes the final decision, faculty input is highly considered, Doran said.
“I’ve been here 18 years, so at least the last two [Seaver] deans that I can think of, off the top of my head, have been very willing to hear the input of folks,” Doran said.
The eighth division — the Religion and Philosophy Division — has a slightly different selection process, Doran said.
The reason for the different selection process comes down to the university’s bylaws, Doran said.
The bylaws of the institution allow for the Board of Regents to weigh in on the divisional selection for Religion and Philosophy Division, Doran said. Additionally, the Board has a say in hiring, firing and promoting any faculty member or candidate in that division. He went on to say the Board of Regents’ participation in the Religion and Philosophy divisional dean selection in Spring 2024 caused some alarm in faculty members.
“That just caused a lot of confusion, and it caused a lot of, I think, concern about the Board getting to sort of weigh in whenever they see fit, rather than participating in a timely process,” Doran said.
Donna Nofziger, professor of Biology and SFS president, shared faculty concerns with President Jim Gash regarding the divisional dean selection. Gash responded to the concern in an email, which Nofziger shared with all Seaver faculty.
According to Gash’s response in summer 2024, the Board of Regents’ Faith and Heritage committee, based on their interpretation of the bylaws, has the ability to
“oversee... the selection of the members of the religion faculty and staff.”
Doran said he was on sabbatical when the divisional dean search was ongoing. However, he said he remembers talking to his colleagues about the confusion and wished they had been informed sooner about the Board of Regents participation.
Now, one year later, Doran said the divisional dean selection process in the Religion and Philosophy department remains unclear.
This process was troubling for Doran, and he said he has decided to no longer sit in on hiring committees until a clear definition of the bylaw is provided.
“The Board decided not to give us any clarity and further clarity on what that would be,” Doran said. “And so to me, that’s very troubling that we can’t get to sort of the basic clarity on how often or how frequently or how intensely the board is going to be involved in decisions and deal with promotion, hiring, firing.”
How to Join SFS
Any current Pepperdine faculty member who is interested in joining SFS is encouraged to reach out to the committee, Storm said.
“There are a lot of faculty members here with a lot of different opinions and a lot of different needs and perspectives,” Storm said.
Aside from more connection between administration and faculty, another key reason for switching to a senate model was to allow for a variety of positions to meet the needs and desires of the variety of faculty members present at Pepperdine, Hunnicutt said. In the past, she said there were restrictions on serving depending upon whether or not a faculty member was on the tenure track.
“That was another thing we wanted to do with the senate model, was provide for as many different types of faculty to serve as possible,” Hunnicutt said.
All are welcome in SFS, and anyone who is interested in joining will almost certainly have a seat open for them, Hunnicutt said.
“So, you know, in theory, you have to get elected, but in practice, if you’re interested in serving, you’re probably going to get a job,” Hunnicutt said.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Amanda Monahan
Amanda Monahan is a sophomore Journalism major from San Francisco, Calif. This is her fourth semester at the Graphic, where she has worked as an editor and writer.
Monahan said her favorite memories are the times she met her lifelong friends, and her favorite spot on campus is the CCB lawn.
Gabrielle Salgado
Gabrielle Salgado is a senior Journalism major from Corcoran, Calif. This is her eighth semester at the Graphic, where she has worked as the Managing Editor and Digital Editor.
Salgado said her favorite memory at Pepperdine is hiking up to the cross with her friends, and her favorite spot on campus is the patio on top of the BPC.
Leadership Structure of Pepperdine Board of Regents
At the top of Pepperdine is the Board of Regents. “The Board of Regents is the legal governing body and chief policy board of the University,” according to the Pepperdine website. Composed of partners, executives and various presidents from companies and organizations across the country, members of this board direct the University by shaping policy and working with the administration. Among their responsibilities is the selection of the University’s president. The Board itself is governed by the University’s bylaws.
President & Cabinet
The President is the chief operating officer of the University. With the help of his steering committee — which functions as his cabinet — Jim Gash’s office provides “key oversight for the University,” according to the Pepperdine website. The office oversees all six of Pepperdine’s colleges: Seaver College of Liberal Arts, Caruso School of Law, Graziadio Business School, School of Public Policy, Graduate School of Education and Psychology and College of Health Science. The deans of each school and libraries report to the Provost, a member of the president’s steering committee.
Departments
Departments, such as Human Resources or Student Affairs, administrate and serve students from every school. The head of every division and program reports to the deans of their specific school, while the heads of every department report to a member of the President’s office. For example, employees of the Hub for Spiritual Life report to the Vice President of Spiritual Life.
Students
Divisions
Each school is divided into different programs and divisions. For the graduate schools, each program functions separate from one another, directing students toward a specific graduate level degree. For example, Graziadio’s MSOD and MBA program function distinctly despite being in the same school. Seaver College’s academic divisions, composed of administrators and faculty, design their own academic programs and students who complete those programs receive the program’s degrees.
Students from each of Pepperdine’s schools comprise the student body.
Seniors write reflections on Pepperdine
written by Eliot Cox
The Graphic asked seniors to reflect on their time at Pepperdine by answering the prompt: During your time at Pepperdine, how have you experienced Pepperdine change culturally, academically or otherwise? What is your opinion about these changes? Do you have faith in the future of Pepperdine?
The following are their responses.
Matthew Sedlock
Over my four years at Pepperdine, I’ve witnessed a wild transformation rooted in spirituality. Coming in, I had never been part of a spiritual Christian community outside my family, so I was nervous pulling into NSO, unsure of what attending a Christian university would be like.
But I sought community and felt immediately welcomed. I went to The Well every
week, met fellow believers, and bonded over our shared faith. Yet, spirituality still felt like a quiet undercurrent in other parts of campus. It was easy to grow stagnant. In the Biology department, I struggled to find others who firmly believed in Jesus, and I’m sure other students felt the same in their own fields.
However, over these four years, God has grown ministry on campus, planting seeds through over 11 student-led ministries reaching all corners of campus—including Global Medical Missions Alliance (GMMA), which connected me to Christians in the science division. The Well is packed out every week with people hungry for the Lord. I see the desire for the Lord in these different student-led ministries that meet every week to worship, pray, study Scripture or just talk about God. I even hear it in individual conversations on main campus: I’ve heard people preaching the Gospel, I’ve seen people praying together and I’ve met with so many people, from freshmen to seniors to just talk about what Jesus is teaching us in our individual lives. The Lord is moving on Pepperdine’s campus, and it is becoming hard to miss it. I can confidently say that while the desire for the Lord was strong on campus my freshman year, it has only increased, and there’s no denying that it will continue to increase. I’m sad to leave this community but excited to hear how God will move at Pepperdine in the coming years.
photo by Guinevere Hesse
photo courtesy of Matthew Sedlock
Lydia Wolford
One of the most apparent changes I’ve experienced has been in our national ranking. When I applied, Pepperdine was a top 50 school; now, it barely makes the top 80. On top of that, its acceptance rate has increased to 50%. Despite that, our tuition has continued to skyrocket almost every year. When we all walk across the commencement stage in May, we will be receiving degrees that are much less valuable and yet cost so much more than when we signed our acceptance letters.
Another change I’ve seen at Pepperdine is a much more apparent conservative alignment. Through presidential appearances on Fox News and spotlighting speakers such as Jordan Peterson, Pepperdine is highlighting the views of one side of the political spectrum while removing the other from the conversation altogether. There must be space for competing thoughts and healthy discussion in any academic setting. Being a Christian university doesn’t exempt Pepperdine from that.
Stephen McDaniel
My time at Pepperdine has been an overwhelmingly positive experience. Guided by faculty who are as loving as they are brilliant, I’ve grown more confident in my faith and developed a passion for the subjects I study. When I think about the future of Pepperdine, there are some things I am quite excited about. International Programs will continue to be excellent and Waves Church has created another community for students to engage in their faith. These two programs represent what has made Pepperdine successful: its prioritization of students.
Unfortunately, despite these successes, the University seems to be drifting in a different direction. The student community has been hurt by the administration’s decision to place their priorities over the students’ well being. This is central to my pessimism about the future. It seems the students are no longer the University’s top priority and have taken a backseat to power and ideology. I have noticed how the President’s Speaker Series has degenerated
from a meaningful, academic inquiry into an opportunity to maximize fundraising potential. I have uncomfortably participated in Pepp Gives, which in truth should be called “Pepp Receives.” I have seen the University pursue political alliances because it gives them power, though it alienates half of their student body. I know fundraising is critical to every institution, but at Pepperdine my professors and mentors have taught me that a good life is not about money and power. In my freshman seminar, I learned about vocation. Over four years, my professors have taught me what mine is, as they each do for their students year after year. I am convinced that this mission — leading young adults to a place where their greatest passions meet the world’s greatest needs — is what Pepperdine at its core is about. “Purpose, service, and leadership” are not meant to ring hollow. My only hope is that Pepperdine will return to being a place for students first and a place for business second.
Christianity heavily emphasizes how every single person was made in God’s image, not one more important than another, and how we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Pepperdine’s current trajectory seems far from this. Some ideas and identities are prioritized and validated, while others go unheard and unseen. This is to the great detriment of the University in both an ethical sense and an academic sense.
Pepperdine has a lot of good going for it, but it is falling behind in so many aspects, such as accessibility and diversity education. This seems to be reflected, at least in part, in our national rankings. If Pepperdine wants to continue being a competitive University that is more than superficially founded in the love of God, it needs to be better. I have faith that Pepperdine can make the changes required to make this campus as exemplary as it aspires to be; it is merely a matter of choosing to do it.
photo courtesy of Lydia Wolford
photo courtesy of Stephen McDaniel
Xaree Reyes
Every college has a different culture and Pepperdine is no different. When I first started at Pepperdine in 2021 there was a huge culture of relationship and community. I perceived that the incoming classes were originally excited to get involved but the Pepperdine culture of independence and separation pushed many of them to find people they “fit in with” and stop exploring new connections.
The spiritual influence has also changed over the years. Small groups were incredibly publicized and important when I started my first year. As the years have gone by, Pepperdine has become more religiously focused in a performative type of way. It is no longer about creating those individual connections but creating a gathering and performing.
Academically, Pepperdine has changed. A GE should not be harder than a 400-level class. Maybe that means that upper division classes need to be “harder”
Lindsay Hall
In the fall of 2021, I began my Pepperdine experience. Knowing no one else ahead of time, I ventured into my new dorm with my mystery roommate whom I met online, went to classes with new acquaintances, and ate among strange faces. Somehow over the course of four years, those same people have become my best friends; all bonded together by the culture that Pepperdine cultivates. The word that immediately comes to mind when I think of Pepperdine is: community. A community of people who are passionate about similar things, yet love each other despite their differences. Throughout my time here, this culture of community has only grown stronger. From fires to the loss of dear friends, our students and faculty understand the necessity of leaning on one another. Whether it’s daily hangouts with those I’m closest to or a simple coffee catch up, I know that my Pepperdine colleagues will always hold a very special
or maybe that means that GE’s should be “easier.” Classes that should not be difficult are and classes that should push you are too easy.
Getting to my last year has made me realize I will never be in the same place as these people again. Everyone, good or bad, is a part of the person I am today and I couldn’t be more grateful. We have all gone through triumphs and tragedies together and each of those experiences shifted the culture. For better or for worse we have all been placed in this bubble called Pepperdine and have watched it change the same way each of us as individuals has changed since we first started college. And yet I can think of some things that never change: running to catch the bus, the beautiful sunsets, the endless stairs and the quiet weekends.
place in my heart. I am confident that we go to school in a very special place. We have continued to grow outside of our personal boundaries and extended help to our L.A. neighbors in need and the greater community. The Sudreau Global Justice Institute fights for global human rights. Pepperdine University is on a mission to better its students’ lives as well as the lives of anyone who may need help. I am confident that God has His hand over this place and everyone apart of it.
photo courtesy of Xaree Reyes
photo courtesy of Lindsay Hall
In my time at Pepperdine, I believe the university has changed significantly. Pepperdine has culturally shifted toward right-wing politics in a very tangible way that is obvious to anyone not in the club. Look no further than the top of the Pepperdine food chain with the President of Pepperdine and his President’s Speakers Series. My first President’s Speaker Series I attended in my freshman year highlighted authors writing to heal racial divides and my likely final President’s Speakers Series will highlight a misogynistic, transphobic, right-wing political commentator who works for one of the largest conservative media organizations in the entire country. This same speaker’s series has hosted Liz Truss and Kevin Stitt, political figures whose views would hardly be classified as moderate. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community at Pepperdine, I am frequently disheartened by President Gash’s open support for these figures who wish to see my community largely
Myers Mentzer Walden Hicks
When I first came to college, I thought it was going to be a place of competition. I was expecting students to be competing against one another, but since being at Pepperdine, I have learned it is a place of collaboration rather than competition. While the thread of collaboration has always been present during my time, I don’t feel as though unity has always been present. However, in the last couple of years, during some of our darkest days at Pepperdine, I believe unity was brought forth. A cultural shift had happened, not just in trauma, but in hope. We had experienced loss together, and it was no longer about who was right or wrong, but rather the fact we were all in it together. Since these moments have passed, unity has superseded, and continues to grow amongst us. Our unity is not to be confused with uniformity. Our unity brings us together, accepting and acknowledging
erased from American life. Pepperdine’s embrace of right-wing political thought feels like a despicable heel turn for a university I used to believe cared for all its students and its Christian heritage. I worry for the future of Pepperdine. Our cultural shift toward right-wing politics will continue to shape our reputation outside of our immediate campus. I worry about the questions I will receive as an alumni. “Do you support the speakers your school hosts? Are you a Christian nationalist like some in your community? Do you care for marginalized people or fight for climate action?” As a future alumni, I hope to look back on my experience at Pepperdine as a wholeheartedly positive experience, and I know I will look back more fondly with time. But as a graduating student of this community, I hope to see concrete change from Pepperdine’s administration moving forward and an outcry from students who want that change.
our differences that make us stronger, no matter what. To conclude, I’ve seen our students champion a spirit of unity that has allowed us to become greater collaborators and have hope in the future of Pepperdine.
photo courtesy of Myers Mentzer
photo courtesy of Walden Hicks
Students Seek Truth Through Veritas
written by Eliot Cox
art by Sarah Rietz
Through a pandemic and a restructuring of on-campus spiritual life, students leading Veritas have needed to balance different visions for what the club is and what it could be.
From its conception, Veritas functioned uniquely among clubs, with an advisory council and a large endowment. But over the years, the way the university managed Veritas changed structurally, giving students the keys to shape it to be what they wanted.
But after the COVID-19 pandemic, students and staff differed on the purpose of the club. Within these differences, conflicts emerged that fundamentally impacted the direction of the club.
Regardless, a range of people at Pepperdine, from current students to alumni, to staff, said they value the club.
“Veritas — it offers a unique perspective that other campus ministries don’t,” Chancellor of Pepperdine Sara Jackson said. “I think it has a very unique niche, and I think a lot of people don’t understand that.”
What Veritas is
The Student Organizations Handbook defines clubs as a group of 10 or more students, officially recognized by the Office of Student Activities, who “voluntarily gather for a common purpose.” Departments such as the Office of Intercultural Affairs (ICA) oversee clubs, and specific faculty members advise clubs.
Some of the clubs are overseen by the Hub for Spiritual Life and are designated as Student-Led Ministries (SLMs). Despite this special designation, these are still clubs, which gain funding and are under
the policies of the Inter-Club Council (ICC) and Student Affairs.
The Hub inherited some of the SLMs when it opened in 2021, while creating others in the years following. Veritas is one of the former.
Although it is unclear when Veritas began on campus, the first Forum took place in 2009, according to previous Graphic reporting.
Veritas means “truth” in Latin. The SLM web page describes it as “a student-led ministry committed to pursuing truth through conversation. We welcome people of all backgrounds so that we can encounter truth together.” Among the organization’s mottos is “Seek Truth.”
People familiar with Pepperdine may recognize the name Veritas from several places. Perhaps they are aware of Veritas Yoga, a studio in the Malibu Country Mart. This studio is not connected to Pepperdine’s Veritas club, which puts on the Forum every spring, nor is it connected to the national Veritas organization.
Veritas is a discussion-based club that holds conversations regarding a variety of philosophical questions through a Christian lens.
The club is also known for the Forum it hosts every year, where they bring in a notable speaker who gives a talk on a topic related to the Veritas mission, with a Q&A session that follows.
Veritas is for the student who may or may not have been raised Christian or was exposed to the Christian faith who has serious questions about Jesus’ godhood, scripture’s authenticity and creation, Jackson said.
As a club, it is connected to the Religion and Philosophy Division, Jackson said.
Several of the professors on its advisory council were from that division, according to a document sent to the Graphic.
Pepperdine started its chapter of Ver-
itas with an active advisory committee comprised of donors, parents and faculty who funded guests, their airfare, along with food and giveaways, Jackson said. A fund honorarium also exists.
Planning the Forum’s speaker gradually transferred over to the student Veritas Club, Jackson said.
Veritas before 2022
Veritas was brought onto campus by a group of parents and donors interested in its mission, including Deanne and John Lewis, the latter of which is a member of the Board of Regents, Jackson said. They saw Francis Collins give a talk at CalTech and were inspired to bring the club to Pepperdine.
The club exists for the sake of discussing difficult theological issues that arise during the academic study of religion and philosophy.
“They [the parents] just had a heart for the student who was seeking and struggling,” Jackson said.
Initially, a large, active committee of faculty, parents, students and administrators funded and organized the Forums. Part of this was done through the creation of an endowment.
Pepperdine started its chapter of Veritas with an active advisory committee comprised of donors, parents and faculty who funded guests, their airfare, along with food and giveaways, Jackson said. A fund honorarium also exists.
Jonathan Koch confirmed he is the current and only faculty adviser of the club.
“Then it morphed into the students really forming a club and taking ownership, which was what we wanted,” Jackson said. “It was completely grassroots of students owning it and choosing what they felt like would be the best topic and format for the student body that year.”
One of the students who joined and participated in Veritas was Seaver alum Zachary Coleman (‘22). Coleman said he went to Veritas his first year, served on the executive board his second and served as co-president for his last two years at Pepperdine before he graduated in 2022.
“When I joined Veritas, it was because a lot of the people I aspired to [be like] were in Veritas,” Coleman said.
But there was also an established community with a different temperature of conversation.
“A lot of the discussions were very, I would say, cold and maybe kind of insensitive,” Coleman said. “Very intellectual
and not very heartfelt.”
But, as with many student organizations, leaders of Veritas had no choice but to change how the club functioned during the pandemic, due to generally low attendance on Zoom, according to Coleman.
“It was primarily me and the other leadership and maybe like one to two actual members that would consistently go,” Coleman said. “What I will say is that professors were very enthusiastic to participate in that year.”
In club meetings that year, a professor would give a talk and the attendees would discuss it, Coleman said. Coming back after the pandemic, the style of the
conversations changed due to the nature of the group.
“In my senior year — just because of the different group we had — we had a lot of deeper, more heartfelt discussions,” Coleman said. “So that was kind of an interesting change that I thought was unexpected, but I think was good for the group.”
Post-pandemic, the numbers of attendees consistently ranged from 10 to 25 per session, including leadership, multiple sources said.
During the pandemic, the way the Forum was managed gradually changed. This change coincided with the creation of the Hub for Spiritual Life.
“When I was a freshman and sophomore the student leadership pretty much planned the whole thing for the Veritas Forum, or at least most of it,” Coleman said. “And then, when I was a senior, we basically didn’t plan any of it. Like we did some minor logistics things.”
When the school returned to in-person activity, the students did not pick either the speaker or the date of the Forum, Coleman said. It is unclear why this change of management occurred as it did.
At the end of Coleman’s tenure as co-president, he said he recommended Gabriel Claypool to the Hub to be the next president of Veritas. Claypool was an active participant in the club.
Claypool invited a friend, Alex McAvoy, to join, because he could not do the presidential role himself, Claypool said.
At the beginning of the year, McAvoy and Claypool were the only members of the executive board for Veritas. Later, they brought on students Justin Holtsnider (‘24) and then first-year Ayva Kacir.
However, sometime during the early months of their leadership, Claypool and McAvoy said they learned that there was an endowment for Pepperdine’s Veritas Forums. The Veritas team worked with the help of staff to access those funds to help the club.
As of October 6, 2022, the principal total of the endowment was over $100,000, according to documents sent to the Graphic.
the time, checking up on us constantly, but that was only after we started uncovering all the funds,” Claypool said.
Deeming Veritas a SLM was not something that either Claypool or McAvoy necessarily approved of, according to them. Opposing visions were among their reasons.
“They were trying to resuscitate things, remove it, remove the nature of Veritas and the purpose of Veritas from being an academically driven, philosophically driven force that is just supposed to cultivate questions and thinking about the world around us,” McAvoy said. “It’s not a ministry.”
Down the line, when people started coming to the meetings we would get maybe like 10, 15, almost 20 people, which, from when we started, was incredible to see the growth.”
Its executive board shrunk from four to two at the end of 2021-2022 academic year, likely due to the small size of the club.
Leadership in Veritas in the 2022-2023 Academic Year
Now alumni of Seaver College, McAvoy (‘24) and Claypool (‘24) became co-presidents of Pepperdine’s Veritas chapter in the fall semester of 2022. It was a personal undertaking for them and, since the club had very few members during that time, they were interested in trying to lead the club in case it could gain traction.
The club nominated them because they were among the very few people who actually showed interest in the club at that time, Claypool said.
As co-presidents, McAvoy and Claypool worked to grow the Veritas meetings. During this time, their team grew to handle the changing load of responsibilities as more people attended.
“Down the line, when people started coming to the meetings we would get maybe like 10, 15, almost 20 people, which, from when we started, was incredible to see the growth,” McAvoy said.
Alex McAvoy Alumni of Seaver College
But the endowment was in a stock account and only a very limited percentage was available to the students per year, Claypool said.
The endowment was stored in the Office of the President, rather than the Hub for Spiritual Life, according to Claypool.
The stipulations on the endowment are broad, as the language said the endowment is meant to cover the cost associated with the Veritas Forum, Son said. While the club uses some of the money to help with food and marketing for the club sessions, the majority of it goes to the Forum.
Before they gained access to the funds, there was not a strong relationship between Veritas and the Hub, according to Claypool.
“This whole time, spiritual Hub didn’t have really anything to do with us,” Claypool said. “Since we were so small, they didn’t care.”
During this time, then-Director of Student Ministries Cameron Gilliam oversaw the SLMs, and worked with Nicole Son, who now oversees them. Pepperdine no longer employs Gilliam.
“They [staff members from the Hub] started checking up on the meetings all
Both Claypool and McAvoy were Philosophy majors. During their tenure, the Instagram handle for Veritas’ page labeled it as “Pepperdine’s Christian Philosophy Club.”
Despite those opposing visions, there was not initially animosity between the student leaders and the Hub, according to McAvoy.
“I was so enthusiastic about starting off with the Hub, because at the same time I also had a leadership position with the Catholic Student Association,” McAvoy said.
But over time, McAvoy said she felt her Catholicism was out of place within the Hub, which leans non-denominational.
“They were all kind of doubtful of us, or hostile toward us, because we had these faith backgrounds that they didn’t necessarily agree with and weren’t really compatible with the ministry that they were trying to put out there,” McAvoy said.
Feeling out of place did not help calm tensions between the student leaders and staff. Other complications arose when the club’s Vice President attempted to plan an event other than the Forum.
Claypool and McAvoy brought on Justin Holtsnider later on in the school year. Along with helping plan events and participating in the club, he also wanted to establish a large-scale event called the Agora.
“We were taking students back into the time of ancient Greece, where they could discuss with leaders or thought leaders of
our day in a very open and philosophical dialogue,” Holtsnider said.
In light of that intention built on Ancient Greek dialogues, Holtsnider named the event “the Agora,” which means “gathering place.”
In what would have been a multi-day event, Holtsnider reached out to and hoped to bring many popular speakers, including William Lane Craig, Jordan Peterson, Robert Barron, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Alex O’Conner and Richard Dawkins.
But due to the high-profile nature of many of these speakers, the venue, and other costs, the price for the event skyrocketed.
“We were looking at about a million dollars in the end that needed to be raised,” Holtsnider said.
But as he approached both the national Veritas organization and the Hub with the event, both groups met Holtsnider with opposition, since they were doubtful of the Agora.
“The reason that was officially given was that it was too controversial, and it wasn’t something Pepperdine would be interested in,” Holtsnider said.
Due to the costs and his connection to Veritas, Holtsnider wanted to use the endowment funds, though the Hub would not let him access those. The event never happened.
Another complication occurred in concern to compensation for the club’s presidents.
Generally, club presidents are not paid for their work with the club. This was also true of Veritas, where Coleman and later presidents were not paid for the work.
However, Hub staff members were in conversation with McAvoy about how she would get paid for her role in Veritas, according to emails McAvoy sent to the Graphic. These emails include confusion around the use of Pepperdine Work Program (PWP) and Federal Work Study (FWS), and about which ones applied to McAvoy.
“At the end of the day, we couldn’t get paid,” McAvoy said.
The strained relationship eventually cracked after the Forum, which was held on March 10, 2023, when it was time to select the executive board for the next year.
After what was perceived by McAvoy to be a largely fruitless meeting regarding leadership, she met with a Hub staff mem-
ber who told her that they believed she would not be a good shepherd of the faith, McAvoy said.
But McAvoy felt this was unfair, since she did not see shepherding as a part of the role of Veritas president.
“I never saw myself as a minister or as a shepherd,” McAvoy said. “I’m not here to propagate the Word of God. I’m here to foster intellectual conversations about the concept of a God.”
Regarding McAvoy’s positions in both the Catholic Student Association (CSA) or Veritas, the Hub offered her a choice between either one, but said she could not stay in both, Claypool said.
ICC’s Club policy and Hub’s SLM policy differ slightly in regards to whether a student can be a president in one or more organizations.
For ICC, a student can be a president or on the executive board of two different clubs, according to an email from Danielle Minke, director of Student Activities.
Regarding the Hub’s clubs, a student cannot be the president of two different SLMs, but can be on the executive board of two different SLMs, according to Son.
The choice to recommend leadership of SLMs does fall under the purview of the Hub.
McAvoy, though still interested in participating on the executive board of both clubs, was not planning on being President in both, according to McAvoy.
Due to broken trust and her not feeling as if she was being shepherded, McAvoy said she decided to decline leadership in both clubs.
How the Hub treated McAvoy and the options that they offered her heavily impacted Claypool’s likewise decision to leave Veritas.
“It’s like, well, she worked hard to get all of this,” Claypool said. “Like, she worked, worked, and everybody saw it.”
Holtsnider succeeded them, but after his departure, Andrew Morgan (‘24) and Julie Tingleff (‘24) were co-Presidents of the Club. They were succeeded by the current President, Madison Luc, who is a previous Graphic staff member.
Veritas, currently
Some of Pepperdine’s staff members, including Jackson and Son, said they are impressed with the current leaders of Veritas.
“But I feel like the leaders, they’ve just done a really great job of kind of talking about those difficult things,” Son said. “We need to do things just with so much grace and in a very constructive way, and also just giving a lot of space for different students to share what they thought about it.”
They also took an active role in planning the Forum, which started as early as last summer, Son said.
The Veritas Club held The Forum on March 18, and it focused on Christian friendship, according to the Pepperdine Veritas website.
Veritas has also seen its best attendance in years, Son said.
Several people said they are pleased with its recent success, including Chancellor Jackson, who considers Veritas very important.
“It’s [Veritas] just a beautiful combination of Christian mission and academic excellence,” Jackson said. “Pepperdine needs it.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eliot Cox
Eliot Cox is a senior Philosophy major from Newbury Park, Calif. This is his second semester at the Graphic, where he has worked as a writer and editor.
Cox said his favorite memory at Pepperdine is playing pool as a first-year and his favorite spot on campus is wherever the sunset is visible.
ON CAMPUS CHURCHES OF CHRIST
Waves Church University Church of Christ
Established in 2023
Instrumental Worship
Service: 5 p.m., Elkins
Contact
Taylor Walling
Jenn Gash
Established in 1970 A cappella Worship
Service: 10:15 a.m., Stauffer Chapel
Contact
Eric Wilson
Falon Barton
What is Pepperdine’s Church?
written by Henry Adams & Faith Siegel
art by Sarah Rietz
University Church of Christ Malibu (UCC) had been Pepperdine University’s sole on-campus Church of Christ for over 53 years, but that changed when Waves Church began in Fall 2023.
The announcement of Waves Church’s establishment was made during a Sunday morning worship service at University Church in June of 2023. Waves Church officially opened about two months later Aug. 20, 2023. Although University Church maintains its identity as an intergenerational congregation and Waves Church mostly targets college students, the question of what Pepperdine’s church is remains.
And the answer is complicated.
“We’re all on this campus, we are all worshiping the same God and believe in the same savior and are doing the work,”
said Alan Beard, a founding member of Waves Church. “We have two different approaches, and I think part of the benefit of the Church of Christ tradition, and of Waves Church at Pepperdine and UCC, is that it allows two different groups of people to try to accomplish the goals using different approaches.”
The Role of University Church
University Church of Christ Malibu was founded in 1970, before construction began on the Malibu Campus. Prior to meeting in Stauffer Chapel or Elkins Auditorium, the congregation met in the basement of the then L.A. County Courthouse in Malibu, according to reporting by the Christian Chronicle.
Since its inception, University Church has hosted weekly Sunday morning services with a capella worship. The lack of instruments is traditional among Churches of Christ, according to Keith Huey, a Religion professor at Rochester Christian University, an institution historically
affiliated with the Church of Christ tradition.
The Church of Christ is an autonomous, conservative wing of the American Restoration movement with “no organizational structure larger than local congregations,” according to the late Thomas H. Olbricht, distinguished professor emeritus of religion at Pepperdine University. Instead, churches of Christ are commonly led by a group of elders within each church, according to the blog Church of Christ Perspectives.
University Church was once the sole institution of spiritual life programming on campus, long before the existence of the Center for Faith and Learning or the Hub for Spiritual Life. In 1983, an average of 150 students were regular members of the church, according to previous Graphic reporting.
“There was a time where if you were Church of Christ and you worked at Pepperdine, you were kind of expected to come to the University Church,” UCC Lead Minister Eric Wilson said.
But that role has changed as spiritual life responsibilities spread to other organizations across campus, Wilson said, praising the decision but noting its unintended consequences for University Church’s reach.
A recent example is how The Well, a weekly worship service night that includes musical instruments hosted in the Amphitheatre that began in fall 2012, was moved under the Hub for Spiritual Life in fall 2021. Originally, The Well was sponsored by University Church and run by the campus minister at the time.
Today, undergraduate attendance for University Church has declined to around 10 to 15 students per week, which may reflect the trending decline of Church of Christ-identifying students, both at Pepperdine and nationwide. According to fall 2024 Office of Institutional Effectiveness Census data, 5.3% of undergraduate students identified as affiliated with the Church of Christ, down from 13% in 2017.
There was a time where if you were Church of Christ and you worked at Pepperdine, you were kind of expected to come to the University Church.”
Eric Wilson Lead Minister
Due to the decreasing number of Church of Christ-affiliated students and their subsequent decreased donations to University Church, Wilson said UCC leadership tends to prioritize programming for faculty and staff families as much as they do students, rather than orienting their mission around student engagement.
Despite that, University Church ran a student-focused ministry starting in fall 2021 called The Table. This ministry was an evolution of House Church, a smaller-scale evening of worship and biblical teaching, which met at now-retired Senior Executive Vice President Gary
Hanson’s on-campus home.
Throughout the school year, The Table met in the backyard of Brock House on Saturday nights. Funded through a combination of donors and church funds, it consisted of a free meal, instrumental worship by the band Well Collective and a short sermon by either Campus Minister Falon Barton or Wilson. Barton, who handled most of the planning, said an average of 100 students attended each week.
Waves Church was founded summer 2023. A month later, The Table was officially discontinued for the 2023-24 school year after its anonymous Texas-based donor informed University Church leadership he was withdrawing from funding the ministry, Barton said. She said University Church was unable to secure alternative funds for the ministry to continue because of the late-notice change.
The Founding of Waves Church
The Faith and Heritage Committee, within Pepperdine’s Board of Regents, voted unanimously to establish Waves Church at its June 15, 2023, meeting, according to the Christian Chronicle.
The Faith and Heritage Committee oversees and manages the practices and policies of the University in regard to religion and spiritual life to ensure a continuation of a relationship between Pepperdine and the churches of Christ, according to a letter sent by Gash to the faculty in the summer 2024.
Alan Beard, vice chair of the committee, and his wife Sharon Beard, dean of students, were asked by the Board of Regents to lead the formation of Waves Church, Alan Beard said. Waves Church does not have an oversight council and operates autonomously from the Board of Regents.
President Jim Gash and Alan and Sharon Beard first informed University Church’s Pastoral Care and Oversight Council of the new church in a Zoom meeting, according to Steve Rouse, former council member and Psychology professor, who was on the Council at the time. The Council shared the news with University Church’s ministers in the days that followed, shortly before the announcement went public.
The University Church congregation learned of Waves Church’s establishment in the form of a letter from the Council,
which also included a letter from Alan and Sharon Beard. On June 25, 2023, Lucy Perrin, a Council member at the time, read Beards’ letter aloud to the congregation, according to the Christian Chronicle.
Some congregants were surprised by Waves Church’s sudden establishment and its particular identification as a church rather than an additional ministry.
“When it was read, a lot of congregants responded with a lot of anger, partially because … there was this history [between] the people who were planting Waves Church, with University Church, like, ‘Why would it be done like this?’” Barton said.
Alan and Sharon Beard’s letter clarified Waves Church’s intentions as the soon-tobe “second Church of Christ on campus,” citing their personal connections with University Church and meetings with University Church leadership.
“We don’t seek to compete with the University Church and come into this missionary effort seeking to reach the thousands of Pepperdine students who currently have no church home in Malibu,” the Beards wrote. “We will seek to plant seeds and build Christian community as we ask God’s blessing in bringing a greater number of students into the fold at both University Church and this new church.”
Barton was told about The Table’s cancellation within a month of Waves Church’s announcement.
Sharon Beard said the two were unrelated, pointing to the differences between The Table and Waves Church. She said The Table was a Saturday-night worship service, while Waves Church is a Sunday-night church service.
“There is absolutely no evidence pointing to anything other than timing,” Sharon Beard said.
The Beards are part of Waves Church’s founding team, along with Lead Minister Taylor Walling and his wife Courtney, according to the Waves Church website. Alan Beard first expressed his interest in Walling as a potential minister in late June 2023, Walling said.
At the time, Walling had been preaching at a nondenominational, multi-campus megachurch called The Hills Church in Fort Worth, Texas, for nine years. For years, Alan Beard had known Walling’s father, Jeff Walling, director of the Pepperdine Youth Leadership Initiative, and Taylor Walling was familiar with the
Pepperdine community, Alan Beard said.
“Everyone told us we couldn’t get him–that he was ungettable–because he was known as a really talented minister and preacher, and he was already at one of the biggest churches in the entire fellowship in Dallas,” Alan Beard said.
However, Walling took the risk; over the next two months, he and his family moved from Texas to Malibu to support Waves Church, Sharon Beard said. The gambit paid off, and the church has gained hundreds of student attendees. Many students, including senior Kellan Woodward, admire Walling’s preaching.
Woodward, who attends both Waves Church and University Church, grew up at the Hills Church and said he was excited to hear Walling preach in Malibu.
“I’ve actually loved Taylor’s messages, especially his way and form of preaching,” Woodward said. “As soon as he came, I was like, ‘Yes! Some good ol’ Texas preaching –it’s coming back.’”
Waves Church began its first year in Stauffer Chapel, Walling said, but this year, they moved to Elkins Auditorium out of a necessity for more space. An encour-
aging average of about 250 students regularly worship at Waves Church, with attendance numbers reaching as high as 330 on one Sunday night, Alan Beard said.
Though the church has grown exponentially thus far, it has retained a small staff, with only two paid employees: Walling, who has a full-time salary and paidfor on-campus housing, and Connections Director Jenn Gash, daughter of Jim Gash, who is paid part-time. Jenn Gash coordinates volunteers, leads small group efforts and occasionally preaches, among other duties.
Waves Church’s expenses, covered entirely by donations, are split between these paychecks and the Sunday evening meals.
“Zero dollars from the university,” Alan Beard said. “A hundred percent of the money that is in the budget for Waves Church has come from existing members or alumni supporters who believe in what we’re trying to do.”
President Gash, first lady Joline Gash and Jenn Gash attend both Waves Church and UCC regularly. Vice President for Spiritual Life Tim Spivey regularly attends Waves, but not University Church.
Waves Church and University Church: Side by Side
While both churches emphasize community, Waves Church is catered to a different demographic, according to the Beards’ announcement letter. Waves Church saw a specific opportunity in the declining number of Pepperdine students who attended church, the Beards said.
“We saw it as a mission field, because there were thousands of students on this campus every week who weren’t in church anywhere on Sunday, and we thought it was a worthwhile pursuit to try to reach those students and give them a church community to call their home while they’re here,” Alan Beard said.
In the Beards’ initial letter to University Church, they aimed to quell congregants’ potential worries about competing for the same on-campus audiences.
“Regarding differentiation [from University Church], we will not have a youth ministry or children’s ministry or any other ministry,” Alan and Sharon Beard wrote. “We will exclusively focus on ministering to students.”
Waves Church began with a student-exclusive view, a mission that contrasted University Church’s multigenerational community, but its goals have since changed. During the 2024-25 academic year, Waves Church established weekly children’s programming called Waves Kids, Walling and the Beards said.
“We didn’t start with that [Waves Kids]. We didn’t expect to start doing [a kids ministry], but all of a sudden, we ended up with a fair number of families who either moved into town or started coming on Sunday nights,” Walling said. “And, all of a sudden, it was like OK, there’s like over a dozen kids in this auditorium right now. We might want to try doing something.”
Over the past few decades, University Church’s congregation has become less student-heavy and instead largely consists of Pepperdine faculty and staff. This switch-up from Pepperdine’s usual campus student-faculty ratio feels welcoming in its uniqueness, said junior Landyn Phillips, youth ministry intern at University Church.
“The most important part of UCC for me, especially in this stage of life, is how intergenerational the community is,” Phillips said. “There’s people of all different phases
of life. So, like from the very beginning, I was welcomed by other students, and then ministers, and some older people, professors – they all made it very clear that I was welcome as part of their community.”
An audible difference between congregations comes in University Church’s a cappella worship, a Church of Christ tradition, and Waves Church’s more contemporary instrumental worship.
Woodward said he sees the beauty in both types of worship, as he feels like he is singing in “one voice” with the congregation at University Church, but feels more individually connected through instrumental worship at Waves Church.
A distinct aspect of Waves Church is its weekly post-service meal, catered from local Malibu restaurants. Students like Woodward and sophomore Aidan Sunkel, a guitarist on Waves Church’s worship team, speak highly of Waves Church’s regular community dinner.
“It’s just a great representation of what Jesus wants for us, not just as Waves Church, but as a community of Christians,” Sunkel said. “Like, come together and eat together, sit with people you haven’t met yet, and this is a family.”
In an effort to grow, Waves Church’s founding team has tabled at events and connected with Greek Life, athletics and Pepperdine staff and faculty, according to Walling. Signs across campus also advertise Waves Church’s Sunday night service.
Jenn Gash also sends out weekly newsletters and manages the church’s Instagram, which posts about once each week. Both utilize photos taken by volunteer student photographers.
Though one may see students wearing t-shirts or hats representing Waves Church, Walling said these items were from a one-off giveaway in fall 2024.
“The goal and intention for that was not to create merch that was for sale – it was a way to celebrate hitting one year [of Waves Church],” Walling said.
Waves Church’s instrumental worship, prominent advertising and lack of an oversight council make it stand out from the Churches of Christ traditions.
“I don’t even know what denomination they [Waves Church] would describe themselves as, if any,” Sunkel said. “And that’s the thing, I think they’re nondenominational.”
While University Church and Waves Church have their differences, Alan Beard said their contrasting approaches do not foster negativity.
“I don’t question their motives or goals, they just have their way of doing it,” Alan Beard said. “They have total autonomy –who am I to come in and tell them that they should do things my way?”
Student attendees said they appreciate the increased on-campus variety of different times, styles and communities.
“The fellowship is always different, the people are different, the worship is different, and so it’s a blessing to get loved on by all the different kinds,” Woodward said.
They have total autonomy – who am I to come in and tell them that they should do things my way?”
Alan Beard Member of the Board of Regents
The Role of Administration
Several Pepperdine senior administrators attend University Church regularly, including President Jim Gash, who served on the Council before his presidency. But the number of Pepperdine administrators in positions of leadership at the church has decreased over time, Wilson said. By 2023, Tim Perrin, senior vice president for strategic implementation, was the only remaining administrator on the Pastoral and Oversight Council.
In an interview with the Graphic, President Gash said he financially supports both on-campus churches. He said his donations at University Church haven’t diminished since the start of Waves Church.
Some at University Church, including Phillips, said they feel Waves Church’s support from the Board of Regents and administration are in part due to politics.
“The nature of a church being tied to an institution is very political – wheth-
er that’s, like, money, positions of power, that’s what makes it so complex,” Phillips said. “And so I think people with money and power at Pepperdine have seen members of UCC express beliefs or lean different political ways than they like, and that’s where Waves Church comes in, and the big, gung-ho endorsement of Waves Church from the people with money and power at Pepperdine.”
Beyond the Pulpit
Both of Pepperdine’s on-campus churches are politically and theologically diverse, in part due to the nature of the Churches of Christ tradition’s lack of creeds. Both regard women and men as equals in leadership positions.
“Taylor is adamant about not having any political affiliation, at least for the church to not have any political affiliation,” Sunkel said. “Because, at the end of the day, it’s a community of believers, not a community of Americans. We’re Americans nominally speaking, but that comes after being children of God.”
Over time, University Church’s ministry staff has become more progressive, according to Lead Minister Eric Wilson. Wilson grew up in the socially liberal United Church of Christ, which has openly advocated for issues such as abortion rights and LGBTQ+ civil rights since as early as 1969.
Wilson said labels like “queer-affirming” and “LGBTQ+ affirming” reduce what he believes Jesus calls him to do, which is to love neighbors, the least of these, and one’s enemies.
Barton and Youth and Family Life Minister Joel Foster, both of whom were hired for their roles in 2021, express similarly progressive views. Barton said she is particularly passionate about environmental justice, which led to the implementation of reusable communion cups at University Church last year. Barton and Foster each have small pride flags around their on-campus offices.
For the 2021-24 iteration of University Church’s Pastoral Care and Oversight Council, the congregation nominated and affirmed Rouse as a Council Member.
To attain this leadership role, a church member must be nominated by 20% of the congregation’s members, accept the nomination and be affirmed by 80% of members
who fill out a ballot. Voters do not have to be current attendees of the church as long as they became an official member in the past.
Rouse, who also advises the student-run GSA (Gender Sexuality Alliance) Crossroads, identifies as bi, which he describes as similar to bisexuality but more encompassing of his identity as not solely sexual. He said the first time he spoke to a large group of people about his sexual orientation was during a Zoom event in fall 2020, and by 2024, he had become “much more visible” in conversations about LGBTQ+ issues.
He was the only running Council member from the 2021–2024 iteration who wasn’t reaffirmed last summer. His wife, Stacy, is a current Council Member.
Wilson said he is open to discuss his political views with anyone who asks. He said he avoids making partisan political statements while preaching.
“As a minister to a community who is uber-diverse in their stances and leanings, what my objective is is an attempt to help facilitate a space where people are formed and shaped in the likeness of Christ Jesus,” Wilson said.
Regardless, Waves Church and University Church of Christ Malibu are alike in that neither church takes an official stance on social issues, including LGBTQ+ affirmation.
“I think that the calling we have to be loving to each other is not served by dividing ourselves up with labels, politically,” Alan Beard said. “And so I would never want the church to be used as a place for politics.”
The Hills Church in Fort Worth, TX, where Walling previously preached, has a statement on their website defining marriage as only “between one man and one woman.” Prior to April 2019, the website stated that church members should “resist any and all same-sex sexual attractions” and described same-sex acts as “intrinsically disordered.”
Walling echoed these beliefs in a May 19, 2024 sermon at the Simi Valley Shepherd Church titled “Avoiding Sexual Immorality,” where he states, “He [God] said this [sex] was a gift intended inside a covenant marriage between a man and a woman.” In an interview with the Graphic, Walling declined to comment on his personal stance on same-sex marriage.
He is part of the decision-making process to approve wedding requests in Stauffer Chapel, which resumed in 2024 under limited circumstances after a fiveyear pause. The Graphic obtained a copy of the internally used Stauffer Chapel wedding policy.
For a wedding to be approved in Stauffer Chapel, applicants must meet a series of criteria that restricts marriages to Christian alumni who have an active involvement in the Pepperdine community. Requests must be approved by both Wilson and Walling, who serve as representatives of the two churches, and follow “all rules and regulations of Pepperdine University,” according to the document.
Neither Alan nor Sharon Beard clarified their personal stances on same-sex marriage. It was unclear whether Waves Church or University Church leadership would allow a same-sex marriage in Stauffer Chapel.
The Future
Barton said no one can predict the future, especially for University Church, a community that aims to follow the Holy Spirit’s movement.
“What I do know is this is a congregation that really loves each other, really loves Malibu, really loves Pepperdine and we have a lot of people who are part of our congregation who have been part of it for decades,” Barton said.
Alan Beard said he expects students to make up the majority of Waves Church.
“Our approach is still ‘preach the gospel, tell about Jesus, create Christian community, and honor God and the kingdom through it,’” Beard said. “And if we stay with that, then we’ll grow. At some point, maybe we’ll stop growing, and when that day comes we’ll have to assess whether we’re doing the right thing.”
Henry Adams
Henry Adams is a junior Journalism major from West Chester, Penn. This is his second semester at the Graphic, where he has worked as a writer and editor.
Adams said his favorite memory at Pepperdine is studying abroad in Heidelberg, Germany, and his favorite spot on campus is Alumni Park.
Faith Siegel
Faith Siegel is a junior English Writing & Rhetoric major from New Boston, Mich. This is her fourth semester at the Graphic, where she has worked as a copy editor and writer.
Siegel said her favorite memory at Pepperdine is her year spent traveling abroad in Heidelberg, and her favorite spot on campus is Stauffer Chapel.
