To our Her Campus SPU community,
We love and support you and stand firmly against the board of trustees at SPU. The LGBTQ+ community deserves to take up space and get hired at our university. We strive for a school where our community is not just tolerated, but fully accepted, welcomed, and loved. Unilaterally depriving us of queer leaders, representation, and visibility is unacceptable. While the Board of Trustees may not grant us visibility, guess who is? King 5 News, Kiro 7 News, Real Change, Fox 13 News, and even NPR! We are a force to be reckoned with and will not take no for an answer. Here are some thoughts and personal statements from yours truly, Her Campus SPU.
Dear Board of Trustees,
We love our campus dearly, but right now we hate the institution. SPU’s campus is beautiful and more diverse than you know. Some of you may be alumni, but SPU has changed dramatically since you walked this campus. We as a campus are more loving, more understanding, and more empathetic than we were 20+ years ago. As the campus changes, policy needs to change too.
You keep saying that we have a historical tradition backing 130 years with the free methodist church. That doesn’t move students like you think it does. You know what other kinds of discrimination was held up by longevity arguments like that? Slavery and other forms of racial injustice, arguments agaisnt women, etc. Just because something has been going on for a long time doesn’t mean that it’s the right thing to do. You are misusing religion as a justification to keep your personal agenda in place.
No matter your personal preferences or interpretations of scripture, Seattle Pacific University should be a safe space for affirming forms of Christianity to flourish. You claim that this is an “ecumenical” university, meaning that we accept all types of beliefs and understanding of Christianity. Only allowing the staff, faculty, and students to mold to YOUR interpretation of the Bible is immoral and contradictory to your claims. You can’t be both ecumenical and homophobic, it’s inconsistent.
You say that “change is happening too fast”, you have had YEARS to learn as human beings and understand people who are different from you. This is not a brand new issue at SPU, this is just our breaking point. We have dealt with your shit for too long. Something I have learned from classes at SPU (the very institution you claim to represent) is that resistance never appears timely from the point of view of the oppressors. In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ‘s letter from Birmingham Jail, he condemns White clergymen for believing the civil rights movement was untimely. When has any historical movement occurred without the oppressed demanding justice? As he states, “Justice too long delayed is justice denied”. There’s never a timely moment to revolt, so we must continue to disrupt until you either understand or are abolished of control.
Here are some anonymous personal statements our club members have compiled:
Dear ____,
Apathy.
It hadn’t hit me yet. Not until today, May 26, when I sat in those bleachers and listened to you speak. This week I have mostly been focusing on my classes and responsibilities, keeping my mind occupied and my hands busy. But hearing you “answer” our questions and concerns finally broke through the denial in my brain. Congratulations! Your apathy has reached my heart.
I say apathy instead of hatred, though my peers may feel free to disagree, because I get the sense that the Board of Trustees doesn’t want to hate its students and faculty. Hatred is a horrible thing to hold inside you. Hatred would be against God’s calling. But apathy is more easily disguised.
The truth is, you don’t care about us. You have heard our testimonies, our shouts, our 80% disapproval rate, our carefully made arguments. Our tears. And yet you still care more about maintaining a tradition for the sake of tradition than the mental, physical, and spiritual health of your students and faculty. You do not care about us. That is the truth of the matter, whether or not you have the courage to admit that to us, yourselves, or God.
I highly doubt the Board of Trustees is actually going to read this, and even more so doubt that my words would reach them if they did. Therefore, I am changing the “you” to whom I am addressing. I want to speak to my peers who are experiencing this putrid apathy alongside me. Because even if the Board doesn’t care, I still do. I love God, I love you, I love what we are fighting for. Against my better judgment, I love SPU too.
I hope to let you know that I am not giving up on love. I refuse to let apathy win.
Blessings,
A Christian Bisexual Student of SPU
Dear BoT,
I am deeply disappointed that you could be so wrong about what true Christianity and true compassion looks like. How can you push us to engage the culture and change the world, when you don’t even do this on your own campus? We are the ones engaging the culture and changing the world. We are using our minds, voices, and bodies to fight against your homophobic power. You are using your control to maintain hegemonic normative power structures.
Haven’t you noticed that you are the only ones who want to uphold this policy? Haven’t you wondered why so many students, faculty, and staff support the LGBTQ+ community in accordance with Christianity? Have you taken a step back and wondered if maybe you’re in the wrong? Our entire theology department is affirming and understands how these identities overlap. You should stop by and listen to our professors, people who study these topics for a living!
I am personally not queer, but I care a lot about my many friends who are. Are you really that elitist that you would deny them jobs here just because of who they want to kiss? You allow them to pay to go here and improve your progressive optics, but you would never in a million years pay them to be here? That’s so messed up.
Until you change your hiring policies and allow the community on campus to be reflected in leadership decisions, I will spend my energy as an alumni ensuring that my family and I will not donate a single dime to this institution. And trust me when I say I have had dozens of family members attend this institution for generations. You may think this will blow over once the loud voices are gone, but we are furious and will continue to be furious after we leave. And even so, many underclassmen are angry as hell and will continue to fight alongside us loudly until we have leadership that reflects SPU’s true nature as a diverse campus.
Have you met Gen Z?
Fix this mess or SPU will crumble,
Sincerely,
A pissed-off senior
Dear BoT,
When I applied to SPU, I had no clue about the homophobic statement on human sexuality. When it came to my attention, my heart sank; I was sick to my stomach. It caused my first panic attack in over 5 years (thanks for that by the way!).
My first thought was to retract my commitment. The one thing that kept me attending was the promise to provide a safe and affirming environment, and you have done everything but provide that. Students and faculty here are the only people who have made me feel accepted.
The main source of invalidation comes from you. You have made me question my validity. You have made me question my worth. You have made me cry myself to sleep wishing I was different.
But I’m done letting you hold power over me. I know my worth, I know that I’m valid, and most importantly, I know God loves me no matter what.
In your letter addressing your decision, you claim that you are still committed to supporting the LGBTQIA+ community, but if you really supported us, you would appeal your homophobic policies.
My mom showed me a Facebook post from one of her friends, explaining how her daughter was so excited to go to SPU, but after your decision, she retracted her admission. As a student, my first instinct should have been to be sad that we have one less student joining us in the fall, but my reaction was the opposite. I was relieved for her. I was relieved that she would not have to go through the hurt we have gone through. I was relieved that she would be able to choose a college that actually provides an affirming environment. Most importantly, I was relieved that she will never have to hear your empty promises to provide a safe environment for LGBTQIA+ students.
I’m done letting your homphobic ideologies hold power over me. I’m done crying because of you. I’m done wishing I was different. I am a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community and you can never change that. If me being attracted to other girls is that upsetting to you, I suggest you resign and find a new line of work.
With that said, I truly hope you understand how disappointed we are in you. Students are disappointed in you. Faculty is disappointed in you. The community surrounding SPU is disappointed in you. God is disappointed in you.
I truly hope you change your decision so that you can actually provide what you promised: a safe, affirming environment.
Sincerely,
A girl who doesn’t like boys (deal with it)