The debate: Has Northwestern College in Roseville strayed from its traditional roots?

A debate dogging the quiet Christian campus of Northwestern College has the president apologizing, some alumni calling for his resignation and everyone doing a lot of praying.

A group of students and alumni has accused Northwestern President Alan Cureton of weeding out conservative professors and trustees to help push the campus toward “postmodern” theology. A protest group on Facebook has drawn more than 1,200 members.

Scholars, Christians and alumni around the country are watching to see whether the controversy at the Roseville school once led by evangelist Billy Graham will reach the heights of those at such places as Baylor University in Texas, where years of infighting led to that president’s resignation.

Northwestern denies any shift in its Bible-based focus and attributes the hubbub to a small group of disgruntled alumni. Trustees say they have investigated the charges, Cureton has apologized to those involved and said it’s time to “put this often un-biblical process to rest.”

“I think we’ve reached the point where we have done everything we can to resolve the differences,” said trustee Arnold (Bud) Lindstrand.

Northwestern espouses a “Christ-centered” philosophy, including the belief that Christ will physically return to Earth during his second coming — a belief at issue in this recent controversy. Billy Graham was its president from 1947 to 1953.

Cureton, 55, came to Northwestern in 2002 and gets credit for building the number of students (more than 3,000 now), degree programs and radio stations operated by the college’s media arm.