Lessons Learned, Sometimes Not What We Expect

[Gregory Matthews]

Popular thinking may suggest that non-SDA educational institutions may be biased against SDA beliefs and practices that do not conform the common norm and that SDA institutions should be biased in favor of such beliefs and practices.  Sometimes this is true.  And at other times reality may inform us differently.  I will suggest that we have a historical example of these issues working out in beliefs and practices that is of value. 

 

Dr. Mervyn Hardinge graduated from the Loma Linda University School in 1942, and promptly joined their staff as a teaching professor in anatomy.  After a brief period of teaching, Dr. Hardinge enrolled in Harvard University's program in their school of Public Health.  As he began to prepare for his thesis he decided to compare the nutritional status of vegetarians with that of non-vegetarians.   No one had ever done this before and Dr. Frederick Stare, acting for Harvard University approved.  When he finished his classwork, Dr. Hardinge returned to LLU to teach and work on his thesis from Harvard.

 

Shortly thereafter, the Dean of the School of Medicine ordered Dr. to change the subject matter of his thesis, on the basis that it would embarrass the denomination if it was determined that vegetarian diets were less healthy that non-vegetarian diets.  Dr. Hardinge refused on the basis that the denomination should be the first to know if this were true.  The result of this was that Dr. Hardinge continued his research, but the SDA Church refused to assist him in obtaining research subjects.

 

 

A breakthrough finally occurred when the Pacific Union Recorder finally accepted an advertisement for research subjects.  Following that, and near the end of his research, LLU did give him some travel and resear4ch support.

 

Hardinge successfully defended his thesis and Harvard granted him his doctorate.  The result was that the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published his doctoral findings.  This resulted in publication of more of his work in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association (JADA).

 

The American Dietetic Association (ADA had previously stood at the forefront of the opposition to accreditation the LLU School of Dietetics on the basis that it taught a vegetarian type diet.  With continued publication of Dr. Hardinge's work the ADA invited two staff from LLU To present at their 1973 meeting on the value of a vegetarian diet.  With the passage of time, Dr. Register, of LLU, became world recognized expert in vegetarian diets .  In 1982, Dr. Kathleen Zolber, also of LLU, was elected President of the ADA.  Due to the influence, beliefs and practices of Dr. Zolber  the AD changed it practice of holding committee meetings on Saturday to other days of the week and in addition, made changes in the beverages served at such meetings. 

 

There is much more that can be said.  But, I will leave that to you to discover.  It is all reported in the following article:

 

Patricia Johnston, "The Push for the Forefront in Nutrition," SPECTRUM, Vol 43, Issue 1, pages 22 - 30.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More to follow, only if you read the more in the above article.

[Gail]

Good for him for sticking it out! If his findings came out differently, wouldn't that have been a more transparent witness and help to the church?