Campus Crossroads

When Alison Peckinpaugh goes to a party, she's not dressed like most of the other girls. She's not holding a beer and she won't end up in bed with some random guy at the end of the night.\nWhile these circumstances are not typical of all party-goers, many students can claim they've done one of these three things sometime in college. But Peckinpaugh won't claim any now she's begun her "walk with Christ."\nPeckinpaugh, a senior and member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, is one of many religious students at IU who don't take part in the favorite activity of the stereotypical college student -- getting wasted. Instead she prefers to spend her time with the Campus Crusade for Christ -- a Christian organization on campus. And while she is a typical college student in many other aspects, the way Peckinpaugh lives her life sets her apart from many of her peers.\n"If I was to describe one goal of my life it would be to get to heaven and take as many people with me as possible," she said.\nPeckinpaugh tries to live her life for God each day. She said a relationship with God is a hard thing to have because it's difficult to fully understand "Him here on earth." She prays numerous times throughout her day because this way, she knows how God wants her to live her life. \nBut there are a lot of people who don't agree with Peckinpaugh's lifestyle. She said while most people aren't offended by it, it's not something they'd choose for themselves. \n"It's been an interesting situation for me to try to learn how to best position myself where people know what I stand for, what I believe in and who I am," she said, "while also being sure not to impose my beliefs."\nComing to IU as a freshman in 2000, Peckinpaugh said she wasn't too secure in who she was. Like everyone else, she wanted to fit in. She ended up compromising many of her beliefs that year because of the new pressures that came along with college. But now, four years later, Peckinpaugh said she's grown up.\n"I have a lot more strongly adhered to my beliefs now," she said. "And I feel like I can lead a Christian life and present myself how I want to rather than how everyone else around me says I should be."\nAnd Peckinpaugh found a place to fit in on campus that year when she joined a sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta. Peckinpaugh said when she first started to take her "walk with Christ" very seriously, she closed herself off from other people, including some of her sisters. She didn't exactly know how to respond to the differences between them.\n"They got this impression that I was too holy to be in their lives or that I didn't understand them," she said. "I realized people are never going to be attracted to God if I'm this person looking down on them."\nPeckinpaugh said while she has many friends who aren't Christian, she tends to hang out with mostly Christians because she said she is able to have deeper friendships with those people. \n"I wish I didn't always hang out with Christians because being around them is easy," she said. "Just like everybody else is around people like themselves, it's just the easy thing to do because you have similar interests."\nWhile hanging around Christians at IU might be easy for Peckinpaugh, dating is not, as she is currently in a relationship with a fellow Crusade member. Peckinpaugh said she would never date someone who isn't actively Christian. And like avoiding the drinking scene, Peckinpaugh said it's difficult to remain sexually abstinent in a college environment.\n"It's a hard thing to do because if you're trying to live your life in a way that's pleasing to God, He clearly says 'don't have sex before you're married.'"\nPeckinpaugh said while she is physically attracted to her boyfriend, she appreciates knowing their relationship is based on something deeper. \n"I think a lot of relationships in college end up not working because they started doing all that kind of stuff so early that it hindered them from getting to know anything else about the person," she said. \nBut what's even more difficult than dating, sometimes, is "going out." Peckinpaugh describes herself as an outgoing person and does normal college things like go to the bars, sorority functions and house parties. However, she said, people notice that she's not acting what most students would call "normal."\n"It's obvious when you go that you're not dressed like everyone else is dressed, you don't have a beer in your hand, you're not dancing all over guys or hitting on them -- you stand out like a sore thumb," she said. \nWhenever she is at a party, someone asks her "why aren't you drinking?" Although she said she believes it is okay to drink now that she's 21, she rarely has a drink and never drinks to get drunk. \n"I personally have chosen most of the time not to drink because, even though Christianity does not associate drinking with being bad, I don't want somebody who does see that connection to be put off from Christianity because I'm drinking alcohol," she said. "When Jesus was on earth, he hung out with all the people that the world thought were unholy. So I don't think you should cut yourself off from people who are drinking because they're the people that need God the most."\nPeckinpaugh said she doesn't feel uncomfortable attending a university that accepts things most Christians wouldn't normally agree with, such as homosexuality. \n"Most of the things the world approves of Christians wouldn't necessarily agree with, so it's something you face all the time," she said. "But at the same time I just want to do my best to stay focused to what I know as the truth than what everyone around me is telling me."\nPeckinpaugh views a person's individuality as one of God's gifts, and she would never come down on someone for their sins because she sins in her own life every day. While the thought of transferring to a Christian college has entered her mind, she said would only go if she changed her major to ministry.\n"Being on this campus has changed my life drastically," she said. "You are exposed to people that are not like you. And that has strengthened who I am so much because I am constantly bombarded by, 'Why are you the way you are?'"\nAlthough Christianity might be the most common religion on campus, there are students with strong beliefs in other faiths as well. But even people like Muslim Student Union President Nathan Ainslie, who practices a different religion, said he and Peckinpaugh still have their similarities. \nAinslie, a senior who converted from Catholicism to Islam in high school, also does not drink alcohol and abstains from sexual activity. He said while it is his own decision, he's not on a mission to stop everyone else from doing the things they do.\n"I see it as being incompatible with my personal beliefs," Ainslie said. "And if I didn't feel compelled to follow my own beliefs, I would probably be drawn into it."\nAinslie said it is challenging to lead a religious life on campus because often times he can't relate to other students. For this reason, he said, most of his friends are Muslim. Ainslie said being religious separates him from other students in a lot of ways.\n"College is a crossroads," he said. "Parents are no longer dragging you to church. You make your own choices. So in that way, being religious sets me apart."\nCampus Minister Rev. Rebecca Jiménez agrees with Ainslie that college is a place for students to decide how to live with their faith. \n"In college you're faced with the task of developing your mind cognitively so you can critically think," she said. "Likewise, that should be what you're doing with your faith, as well, because it's a stage in spiritual development."\nJiménez said she doesn't feel it's difficult for students to lead celibate, religious lives on campus because IU is large enough they can find like-minded groups for encouragement.\nPeckinpaugh hasn't decided yet what she wants to do after college. She hopes to study in Greece, Ireland or London this summer to finish up her degree in business. And while she may be unsure about her future, she does know one thing for sure: God will guide her. \n-- Contact campus editor Christina Galoozis at cgaloozi@indiana.edu.