Weekly Briefing: Students Want This Religious College to Change Its Anti-LGBTQ Policy. Its Board Says No.

A conflict in Seattle between student activists and a Christian college's board reaches a new level. ADVERTISEMENT [Weekly Briefing Logo]( Did someone forward you this newsletter? [Sign up free]( to receive your own copy. Student activists want their college to change its anti-LGBTQ policy. Its board says no. Student activists at Seattle Pacific University are done with their sit-in. They were camping outside the president’s office to protest the university’s employment policy, which they say harms the LGBTQ community. The private university, which is affiliated with the Free Methodist Church, hasn’t changed its policy, so the activists are changing their tactics. The students say they plan to file a lawsuit next week that accuses the Board of Trustees of committing a “breach of fiduciary duty” by upholding a policy that says employees cannot participate in extramarital or same-sex sexual activity. Students say the policy negatively affects the university’s reputation and the degrees they will graduate with. The Seattle Pacific students pushed back (see photo above) against norms that they see as out of touch. The college’s leaders, meanwhile, need to square students’ demands with the wishes of board members and alumni who want to preserve the campus’s Christian identity. In January 2021, Jéaux Rinedahl, an adjunct professor of nursing, [sued the university]( accusing it of failing to hire him as a tenured professor because of his sexuality. Seattle Pacific’s [policy]( states that employees should refrain from “cohabitation, extramarital sexual activity, and same-sex sexual activity.” In a statement on [sexuality]( the university says, in part, that “it is in the context of the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman that the full expression of sexuality is to be experienced and celebrated and that such a commitment is part of God’s plan for human flourishing.” In 2021, students and professors protested outside the president’s home to show their support for Rinedahl and against the policy. Meanwhile, student groups and faculty members wrote letters to the board asking it to replace the university’s statement on sexuality with a statement that affirms the rights of people in the LGBTQ community. But in April 2021 [the board said]( it would not change the statement. This past January, the university created a LGBTQ working group comprising professors, trustees, and staff members. The group came up with three options for how Seattle Pacific could handle the statement and its employment policy: - Option 1: Keep the statement on human sexuality and the employment policy. - Option 2: Change both documents to “affirm” the LGBTQ community. - Option 3: Cut the mention of “same-sex sexual activity” from the employment policy, and keep the section about extramarital sexual activity. In May, the board [said]( it would make no changes. It cited a new Free Methodist Church resolution that says that a university that changes its policies to hire employees with a lifestyle “inconsistent with” the church’s teachings on sexual conduct could not maintain its affiliation with the church. In April, our Jack Stripling wrote about another religious college going through a similar struggle. In that case, a professor at Calvin University, in Grand Rapids, Mich., [officiated at a same-sex wedding]( and lost his untenured faculty position. In March, a professor at Oklahoma Christian University said [he had been fired]( inviting a gay guest speaker to his class. Seattle Pacific now joins that list of Christian colleges unwilling to change their policies on sexuality. Some students say their friends have transferred because of the policy. An administrator in the university’s career center even advised students to clarify on their résumés or cover letters for job applications that they don’t support the university’s anti-LGBTQ policies. [Read our Isha Trivedi’s story here](. ADVERTISEMENT Lagniappe. - Learn. Rubbing alcohol stops bug bites from itching. Apply sunblock before you get dressed because your clothing will shift during the day. Those are a few tips from [this Twitter thread]( that I revisit every summer. (Twitter via Helen Rosner) - Read. Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain is stepping down after a series of scandals. 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