Wheaton College congratulated alumnus Russ Vought on social media for his confirmation as director of the White House Office of Management and Budget over the weekend, but deleted the message after backlash from what appears to have been a small group of progressives.

The now-deleted post said that Wheaton College “congratulates and prays for” the senior Trump administration official, who graduated from the flagship evangelical school in 1998. Wheaton College later issued another post saying that “the recognition and prayer is something we would typically do for any graduate who reached that level of government,” but claimed that “the political situation surrounding the appointment led to a significant concern expressed online.”

“It was not our intention to embroil the college in a political discussion or dispute,” continued the new post, for which comments were disabled. “Our institutional and theological commitments are clear that the college, as a non-profit institution, does not make political endorsements.”

The backtrack, which seemingly came after a handful of progressives voiced concern about the congratulatory post, was criticized by leading conservative organizations and figureheads, including other evangelical institutions, members of Congress, and prominent alumni.

Eric Teetsel, the chief executive of the Center for Renewing America and an alumnus of Wheaton College, wrote that he was “pleasantly surprised” when the school requested prayer for Vought, who has defended the Christian faith during his time in the public spotlight, and noted that “his is arguably the most significant government post an alum has ever held.”

Teetsel nevertheless added that “this morning, in an act of cowardice, the college kowtowed to a small number of progressive alums who went into an unhinged rage in response to the post.”

The conservative policy leader observed that “nothing about their behavior was biblical or resembled the values Wheaton purports to stand for, and by deleting the post and apologizing the school has yet again compromised instead of standing firm for what is good, right, and true.”

Wheaton College has indeed been criticized for a leftward trajectory in recent years despite their previous reputation as a conservative evangelical institution. The school unveiled a new plaque in 2021 for alumnus Jim Elliot and other missionaries who were killed in Ecuador by a native tribe in 1956, replacing the descriptor “savage Indians” with the phrase “indigenous peoples.”