Spaulding asked to resign

Spaulding

Conflict Transformation Program (CTP) faculty member Patricia Spaulding submitted her resignation this week in response to the administration's request because she was in a relationship with a woman.

President Loren Swartzendruber declined to comment on Spaulding's resignation, saying only, "I cannot speak to any human resources matter that's being dealt with internally."

But Swartzendruber did respond to questions of general hiring and firing procedures. He said EMU does not consider sexual orientation to be a criterion for hiring decisions, but that sexual relationships outside of marriage, including homosexual relationships, are in violation of EMU's Community Lifestyle Commitment (CLC).

Swartzendruber said if EMU received written notification that an employee is not in compliance with the CLC, "We would make that a point of conversation with the employee."

"They would certainly be given an opportunity to change their lifestyle," he said, adding that if the employee and the administration could not come to an agreement, "it could become grounds for dismissal."

According to Spaulding, that is what happened.

"I was called to [CTP co-director for administration] Ruth [Zimmerman]'s office in the first part of October, and she said that some people from my church had gone to Loren and told him that I was living with a woman," Spaulding said. "At that point, I was told I had a choice. I could find somewhere else to live and stay here or, if I chose to stay with her, I would need to leave."

She was already looking for another job, she said, and was planning to resign after the Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) in June of 2005. So, instead of moving out and completing the year at EMU, she chose to stay with the woman who has become her partner.

"We were committed to each other and there was no way that I was going to move out and pretend we were not in a relationship to work six or eight more months," Spaulding said.

"We are sorry to see Pat Spaulding leave our employ," said Zimmerman. "We have very much appreciated her as a part of our team for these last five plus years. We hope the best for her as she starts a new job."

The other SPI co-director, Pat Hostetter Martin, said she was "very disappointed" about Spaulding's resignation. "We've been working together for five years, so it feels like there will be a big gap when she leaves."

Martin said that she thinks employees dealing with homosexuality should be regarded as a "pastoral issue."

EMU could have dealt with Spaulding "in a much more collaborative way," said Martin, who would like to see EMU "working with the individual person and the departments that people are a part of" rather than looking outside of EMU for policy decisions.

Spaulding said she hasn't "felt any bitterness or anything like that toward EMU," but added, "I thought it was unfortunate that they decided I need to rush things and leave before June. I was being quiet and behaving myself, and I don't go out in public with my partner."

Spaulding said she sees homosexuality as a conflict that needs to be addressed as such.

"It's a conflict, and here we have the world-renowned Conflict Transformation Program that goes all over the world helping analyze and transform conflicts, and this is a conflict right here on campus."

Plus, she said, "I see it as an issue of justice while others see it as an issue of morality. We're not even on the same page. We need to somehow get on the same page so we can speak the same language about it and express that kind of unselfish love that's in the [Community Lifestyle] Commitment."

Spaulding is currently separated from her husband Craig, who will graduate this year from the CTP program. He said he believes "gender identity" is not a personal choice.

"I believe that it is something that is God-given and can not be chosen or changed," he said.

He also mentioned an understanding for the administration's decision, but said, "Sometime, somewhere, someone in power ... needs to have the cajones to stand up and say this is wrong. This is not love.... It is not promoting community."

Initial student responses have been mixed. Some said that they didn't think EMU shouldn't "discriminate" against gay faculty members.

Others, though, think EMU's policy is quite clear about the issue.

"There's a pretty obvious precedent," said one EMU student, who requested not to be named. "I don't like to see people leaving, but you just have to wonder how this could be a surprise or anything."

Spaulding's resignation as co-director of SPI and program associate for CTP communications is effective as of Dec. 3, and a replacement has not yet been announced.