Shortly after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a Conservative activist, on Sept. 10, an Instagram and Substack account, @hold_plnu_accountable, which posts experiences of anonymous sources at Point Loma Nazarene University, was born. The page’s anonymous founder began posting messages they had received from students about topics ranging from PLNU’s views on sexuality to the theological debates that had started in classes.
The alumnus who started the page said the account began out of frustration. The founder requested anonymity because they do not want the attention, but rather focus on the student testimonies, they said.
“The actual spark that pushed me to take action on my frustrations was how PLNU handled the Charlie Kirk situation,” the anonymous alumnus said in an email interview. “My frustration was not that they didn’t honor him or do something big. PLNU didn’t need to have a Conservative celebration. Rather, it was their refusal to even say his name, dancing around the subject, and only saying his name after receiving extreme backlash from students and parents.”
However, the page’s posts are not related to Kirk. Instead, their Instagram feed is filled with black-and-white text blocks with statements many say are distortions of the truth.
Haylee Haarr, a fourth-year finance major, said that these one-line quotes from students need more context, beyond what’s written in the caption or on Substack.
“I think a much better approach to these people having these opinions would be to ask the professors specifically about why they said that,” Haarr said. “And if they didn’t agree with it, be like, ‘OK, well what were your thoughts like exactly on this?’ Instead of just posting it online without any [response] from the [professors].”
Another student, who requested anonymity for fear of being judged on campus, said they believe the account is necessary to acknowledge PLNU’s faults.
They said they think that PLNU should address “the obvious liberal views and opinions that they force upon students.”
They said that they’ve had to write essays based on liberal views to get a good grade, and believe that PLNU thinks that having other opinions is unacceptable.
The alumnus behind “Hold PLNU Accountable” said, “We cannot be naive and unite with everyone who calls themselves a Christian.”
“We should desire proper unity, but also proper division,” they said.
Haarr believes that “Hold PLNU Accountable” is an unhealthy form of division — the opposite of the unity Jesus prayed for.
“It feels like it’s kind of attacking in the post,” Haarr said. “It doesn’t feel like a constructive thing. It feels like we’re almost tearing apart each other from the inside. And that’s kind of exactly what the enemy wants. He wants us to be divided, but we need to, as Christians, come together and grow stronger together and work through those differences in a godly way.”
Seamus Pilette, a third-year philosophy and business administration double-major, echoed this.
“God’s will is a perfect and everlasting love of all of his creation, of all of his people,” Pilette said. “God does not want division. God did not want for Lucifer to rebel or for the fallen angels to become demons. That is not why he created them. He created us as beings of love.”
Pilette continued that it’s not Christians’ place to condemn people. He said that Christians’ jobs are to live like Christ.
“[Christ] called all to the banquet table,” Pilette said. “He washed the feet of unworthy people. He dined with Judas, the one who he knew had betrayed him … and Christ continues to love him. The ever-loving God does not change his opinion on us because of what we do. Christ loves us, and he wants his children — all of humanity — to be united in love, understanding and compassion.”
Brad Kelle, dean of PLNU’s Reuben Welch School of Theology and Christian Ministry, said that he was upset that the account’s comments “seemed to represent misunderstandings or even distortions, with a tone of hostility and personal attack instead of Christlike reconciling conversation.”
“I was saddened that many comments had the flavor of condemning those who thought differently about how to understand God’s nature, God’s work in the world and the practices of Christian discipleship,” Kelle said in an email interview.
“Division is never the way of Jesus in our world,” Kelle said. “As 2 Corinthians 5 states, reconciliation (bringing people together) is at the heart of God’s work in the world, and God has asked us to carry out the ministry of reconciliation. Whatever doesn’t look like an effort at reconciliation doesn’t look like the gospel.”
Haarr believes that what “Hold PLNU Accountable” is doing is equivalent to cyberbullying.
“Tearing the professors apart — anonymous post by anonymous post — is not the way we’re going to make changes,” Haarr said. “Go up to your professors and ask them these questions in person. Ask why they said that to fully understand where they’re coming from.”
Kelle emphasized the importance of talking to professors about their concerns or misunderstandings.
“Professors here want to share the journey of becoming Christlike disciples,” Kelle said. “A student with a question or concern should reach out directly to their professor and ask to hear more about why something is part of a course and how they might think about it from their own background, especially if their background is different from what is being presented.”
Olivia Roberts