Evangelical Political Culture Beyond Denominational Control: A Case Study of Wake Forest University

Abstract

This paper argues that Wake Forest University’s 1986 separation from the North Carolina Baptist State Convention did not end the influence of white evangelical political culture on campus. Using a qualitative case study of disaffiliation debates, presidential speeches, student newspaper coverage, race and DEI reports, and conflicts over speakers and sexuality, the paper demonstrates how that political culture continued to shape institutional authority, racial memory, and public moral messaging. Compared with openly partisan campuses such as Liberty University, Wake Forest University presents itself as more moderate and more pluralistic. Yet the university’s responses to controversy, management of racial memory, and public signaling on culture war issues still protect long-standing white Christian constituencies. The paper, therefore, argues that Wake Forest University is best understood as a post-evangelical Institution.