Graduation season is upon us. As a literature professor at a Christian university, I’m often invited at this time of year to family dinners celebrating students’ academic achievements—and not long after, I’m sometimes invited to their weddings, too. “Ring by spring” culture, while no longer as pervasive as it once was, is still alive and well. And though it’s most visible at faith-based institutions, the basic dynamic isn’t unique to them: put young adults in close proximity for four years, and some of them will walk away with diplomas and rings.
Were she alive today, Jane Austen might find the modern American university a fitting setting for one of her novels. Campuses are often equal parts social drama, romantic tension, and economic reality—a perfect cocktail for courtship, or at least intriguing complications. But in recent years, politics have slipped into the storylines, realigning the…
