CIU Shining Lights on Both Sides of the Broad River

CIU Shining Lights on Both Sides of the Broad River

Timothy Wolff celebrates after earning his master's degree in Teaching English as a Foreign Language/Intercultural Studies

CIU graduate Timothy Wolff celebrates. Among his favorite memories is a prank pulled on him as an R.A. when all the guys on his hall made a pact not to answer any of his questions for a day. "I basically had no friends for a whole day," Wolff remembers with a laugh. (Photos by Alicia Heatherly)

“It is time for us as faith-walkers, now more than ever, to let our lights shine in a dark world – and especially this place we call home, The United States of America.”

That was the charge to the December graduates on the main campus of Columbia International University. The commencement address was given by South Carolina State Sen. Darrell Jackson, a CIU alumnus who is also pastor of Bible Way Church of Atlas Road in Columbia.  

After Jackson reviewed surveys showing a decline in religious interest among Americans, he warned the graduates to focus on what he considers the real solution to increased secularism.

“We are the hope of this world,” Jackson began. “Not Donald Trump, not Hillary Clinton, not Congress, not the legislature at the state capitol, not Sen. Jackson, but perhaps Pastor Jackson.

“I’ve been around politics long enough to have never been able to witness one politician that has done anything to save a soul. But you can,” Jackson concluded.

You can hear Jackson’s commencement address on CIU’s podcast page.

Meanwhile, a couple hours later, directly across the Broad River from the main campus, 13 student-inmates who are serving long-term prison sentences graduated from CIU’s Prison Initiative. At the ceremonies at the Kirkland Correctional facility, a dozen of the student-inmates were awarded Associate of Arts degrees, and one, a bachelor’s degree. The student-inmates will be assigned as chaplain’s assistants throughout the state prison system.

The CIU Prison Initiative graduation drew Columbia media attention. See reports from WACH Fox 57 and WIS-TV.   

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