GRAND RAPIDS — Cornerstone University is lifting a ban on faculty and staff alcohol use that has stood since the institution was founded 68 years ago.

President Joe Stowell told Cornerstone’s 279 employees at a staff meeting Friday that alcohol abstinence — a component of a lifestyle statement that had to be signed every year — is being dropped because a three-year internal study concluded it is “biblically indefensible.”

“Given scripture’s lack of a prohibition against use of alcohol in moderation, we are releasing our faculty and staff to discern what is best for them concerning its use in their personal lives,” said Stowell, in his second year as the university’s president.

The change doesn’t apply to students, who remain banned from using alcohol.

Faculty and staff are being told to avoid using alcohol in any setting where students are present. Cornerstone will continue to ban alcohol on campus and at all university-sponsored events, Stowell said.

“There were no gasps from the room because I think this is something we were ready to hear,” said Michael VanDyke, an English professor.

“It seems like a good move forward for Cornerstone that the administration trusts us to use our judgement.”

VanDyke said lifting the ban “won’t change who anybody is.”

Cornerstone was founded as the Baptist Bible Institute of Grand Rapids in 1941. Its name was changed to Cornerstone College in 1994 and to Cornerstone University in 1999.

The change may reflect the institution’s growth from its Baptist roots to include Christians from more than 30 denominations.

Cornerstone dropped its ban on student dancing in 2004.

“Times change,” said one instructor, who asked not to be named. “In the church I grew up in, it was considered a sin to play cards or to wear makeup, although the Bible doesn’t talk about that, either.”

Other evangelical Christian colleges that have lifted bans on employees’ use of alcohol in recent years include Bethel University and Northwestern College in Minnesota, Trinity International and Wheaton College in Illinois and Biola University in California, said Bob Sack, Cornerstone executive director of marketing and promotions.

Four other West Michigan Christian colleges — Aquinas, Calvin and Kuyper in Grand Rapids and Hope in Holland — do not ban employees from drinking alcohol.

Cornerstone’s study, started under former president Rex Rogers, also looked at a ban on employees’ use of tobacco. It decided that ban should stick.

“Habitual use of tobacco is a major hazard to personal health and the health of others,” Stowell said.

“As such, it undermines our biblical responsibility to be good stewards of the physical body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit.”

Cornerstone also reviewed its ban on gambling, but no conclusions have yet been drawn, Sack said.

The restrictions stem from a belief that certain habits throw up roadblocks in a Christian’s efforts to live a life worthy of Jesus Christ.

E-mail Kym Reinstadler: kreinstadler@grpress.com