Oklahoma Christian University signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Oklahoma Department of Corrections on Aug. 19. The memorandum holds Oklahoma Christian to an agreement where they will offer classes at the Mabel Bassett Correctional Center for both the inmates and Oklahoma Christian students.
Chief Academic Officer, Jeff McCormack, said he has been planning such a ministry since he stepped into his role. He said since he proposed the idea in January 2021, everyone has agreed to the project.
“Most times there are pauses, pushbacks, concerns – I have yet to have anyone say to me, ‘I don’t think we should be doing that,’” McCormack said. “Everyone’s pretty much bought in. I’ve had faculty ask, ‘What can I do?’ They see the value of this.”
According to McCormack, there will be 15 students in the first course taught by Distinguished Professor of Mass Communication, Philip Patterson. The program will offer an associate of science degree with emphasis on business. COVID-19 has delayed the start of the program, but McCormack said he hopes students can start taking classes soon. More courses will be added as the program continues.
The program will follow an inside-out model, where both lower and upper level students from Oklahoma Christian’s campus travel to the facility to sit in classes with the incarcerated students. McCormack said the University is already thinking about what curriculum and materials will be needed for the program as well as winter and spring semester classes.
McCormack said this project is something he has looked forward to.
“Of all the different initiatives I’m involved with on campus, there’s nothing that goes beyond my level of excitement of going into the prisons and teaching the incarcerated how to change their lives,” McCormack said.
Oklahoma’s incarceration rate is significantly higher than the United States’ average. Oklahoma has the third highest incarceration rate and the highest incarceration of women in the United States. McCormack said he met a female inmate during his tour on the facility’s campus who inspired him to continue.
“I met a young lady, and she asked what we were doing there, and I shared with her our vision; she got teary eyed and asked, ‘Can I be a student?’” McCormack said. “I thought, ‘This is the right place for us to be.’”
All inmates will be vetted to determine if they are candidates for the program, as even inmates who are not eligible for parole are candidates for the degree program. The inmates must follow guidelines in and outside of the classroom to continue the course of study. During class time, the students will learn in the visitation room with guards to protect everyone’s safety.
Assistant Professor of Bible, Alden Bass, has experience teaching in a prison, and he said he hopes to teach with Oklahoma Christian’s prison program. He said teaching with St. Louis University’s prison program made him ponder the significance of his courses.
“Teaching the same material to relatively privileged students at a college university and these men at a state facility was really interesting,” Bass said. “You have to ask ‘why does this matter’ for Bible and theology. It’s quite a different question for people in these two different life states.”
Bass said he hoped his Theological Foundations course gave the inmates insight into the Bible and Christianity.
“I hope the class I offered gave them a framework of meaning for understanding the Bible and the Christian worldview,” Bass said.
Senior English/writing major, Sarah Beavin, participated in the UnAware Project, a collaborative peer-reviewed journal by Oklahoma Christian students and juvenile delinquent students at the Southwest Oklahoma Youth Academy Charter School (OYACS). She and her peers were allowed into the detention center at the end of the semester to meet the students they had peer-reviewed. Although the project was only one aspect of the class and not an entire course, Beavin said the project helped her understand life from a different perspective.
“It helped me to really hear from someone who has different issues than we have,” Beavin said “It was like being transported to a new world.”
Beavin said she thought the experience would help the inmates see themselves differently.
“I think that this gave them something positive, and I think it would help them to really believe in themselves to see what they are capable of doing so they can make better choices once they got out,” Beavin said.
Above all, McCormack said this project is an extension of the Christian mission to those who have given up on their future.
“I want to continue to advance what this is about; this is about creating hope,” McCormack said. “There’s hope for the future and Oklahoma Christian is involved in bringing that hope to us.”
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