WELS institutions have a peculiar tradition of denying their unionistic, Pietistic background by being gross, vulgar, and sadistic.
As one faculty member tried to explain to the seminary students, "Getting drunk does not disprove that you are Pietists."
At Northwestern College in Watertown--now absorbed into Martin Luther College--hazing the freshman class could be perverse in the extreme. The freshmen were forced to simulate anal intercourse with the Runner on His Mark statue, the one which comes to life in the famous video posted below.
That did not happen with every single class, because some upper classmen had some maturity. But it did happen more than once. Cool guys laughed. Anyone who objected could be sure of four miserable years at NWC and a continuing reputation in the synod.
The president of NWC dissed one WELS pastor by offering the ultimate institutional put-down: "He didn't like GA." That was remembered with scorn, 20 years later.
NWC's response to those who criticized freshman hazing was illuminating - those who objected should be removed at once.
That seems to be why NWC moved their Runner statue from the Watertown campus to the New Ulm campus. They did not want to leave their bronze friend behind.
One of the homes being rented by male MLC students was notorious for the disgusting behavior of its residents. I won't go into details, but arrests on various charges were in order. I wrote it up in my doctrinal newsletter, which was emailed. Someone picked up the phone and called the right people. The Animal House in New Ulm became Mr. Clean's home in a matter of hours.
So it is possible to do something, but it takes senior laity in WELS. The church workers are only going to snicker.
The attitudes created in hazing carry forward into church careers. That is why church worker adultery has been covered up so adroitly. When SP Gurgel was asked by a journalist about one case, he asked people, "Do you tell?" A pastor and a DP both asked me, "Did you tell the journalist?" The answer (No) is irrelevant. But that is the way things are dealt with - discover the source, pound the source, excommunicate the source.
WELS is paying a price with one court case after another, involving church workers. I will put them together in a WELS Most Wanted post in the future.
Slick Brenner used to say, "WELS is facing a Day of Judgment."
Two students went to the dean at The Sausage Factory, to register their objections to GA, the secret hazing ritual at Mequon. The dean defended hazing. Both students felt the need to leave the seminary. WELS gurus always say, "You have to sit down and tell your objections to that person, face to face, or you are in violation of the Eighth Commandment, Matthew 18, and much, much more." And when someone does that...finito.
