STUDENTS AND ALUMNI OF GENERAL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY WRITE TO NY ATTORNEY GENERAL

Thus far, the powers-that-be in the Episcopal Church have refused to intervene in the controversy at General Theological Seminary, though the future of the oldest seminary in the church looks bleak, indeed.

After worldwide publicity and further protests, several students left at midyear, and the board provisionally reinstated the faculty only for the rest of the academic year, while canceling their academic tenure. No new hires have been announced and several top librarians have left. Only one entering student has paid a deposit for admission next fall. The seminary’s accreditation by the Association of Theological Schools is under review; if there’s no faculty, no library, no accreditation and no students, there’s no seminary.

How can the church speak out on justice for workers when one of its own institutions treats employees with such disrespect? For church leaders to wash their hands of a controversy that has been destructive to the church's oldest and own seminary is nearly beyond belief.

Perhaps NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman will take up the cause. The refusal of the seminary Board of Trustees and President and Dean Kurt Dunkle to address the concerns of the faculty and the subsequent acceptance of resignations that were never offered were and are the business of the leadership of the church. How sad that no statement of concern or compassion was forthcoming from the leaders, and an appeal for justice had to be made outside the church.  Just today, I learned that another GTS faculty member has resigned.  Of the GTS8 faculty, only five remain at the seminary now.

From President and Dean Dunkle's latest communication on the website of the seminary:

Let me open with a transparent recognition: the past six months at General have been challenging for everyone. Our recent upheaval has been painful and revealing. General faces many challenges–financial, missional and cultural–and all of them have been highlighted over this past year.

...to say the least.  But do not despair:

Despite the snapshot of conflict, the portrait of General’s fundamental goal of “educating and forming future leaders for a changing church in a changing world” remains unaltered. Our work to create financial, missional, and cultural sustainability in order to maintain relevance to the 21st century church is now more important than ever.

Good luck with that.  The positioning of the three major challenges facing the seminary caught my attention, with finances in first place, which may or may not represent the priorities of the dean and the trustees.  Dean Dunkle goes on to say:

We are also proactively addressing our financial challenges. Last year, General suffered a $3.0 million cash deficit; this year, we anticipate it to be half that. Next year, we are working hard to cut it in half again. 

The seminary will save money with the departures of the faculty, but the question remains, is it possible for the seminary to carry out it's mission of “educating and forming future leaders for a changing church in a changing world” with the remaining faculty, or are new hires waiting in the wings who will accept lower wages without tenure?  Perhaps adjuncts?  Also, as is stated in the letter to the NY attorney general:

The seminary’s accreditation by the Association of Theological Schools is under review; if there’s no faculty, no library, no accreditation and no students, there’s no seminary.

If there is no seminary, the trustees will save a bundle of money, and then what?  Who will answer the question posed in the letter?

Was this alleged egregious conduct by the administration calculated to force the seminary to close? It appears to have been groomed for failure. The High Line is one of the hottest places in the city right now, and General Seminary sits right on it.

Only deafening silence from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and the central office of the Episcopal Church.  If the intention was to close the seminary, then it most certainly should and could have been done with more compassion and dignity.

Since GTS is the one Episcopal seminary under the authority of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, I wonder if GC15 will address the dire situation at its meeting later this year.

UPDATE: There are now four entering students who have paid deposits.

CONFLICT AT GENERAL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

From Kim Bobo at Religion Dispatches:

For more than twenty years I’ve supported workers who exercise their rights to organize to improve conditions in their workplaces. Workers care about their wages and benefits, but what usually moves workers to organize is either concern about their clients, concern about how they are treated, or both.

Religious workers who organize are no different. The General Theological Seminary (GTS) faculty organized out of concern for their students, the seminary and a voice in the workplace.
....

1. The faculty has serious concerns about the dean and his leadership....

2. The board disregarded faculty concerns....

3.The board fired the faculty members when they replied....

4. Replacement workers were hired....

5. The board offered to rehire the faculty and renegotiate terms with each person individually....

6. The faculty members accepted provisional jobs and agreed to a process in order to save their jobs....

This is a labor dispute. I know which side I’m on.

Read the details at Religion Dispatches.

I know which side I'm on, too.  My default position in a controversy between those in power and the powerless is generally on the side of the powerless, in this instance the faculty at GTS, unless there are one or more compelling reasons to take the side of those in power.  The work stoppage was scheduled for a day on which no classes were held, but the Board of Trustees of the seminary quickly moved to terminate the faculty who had not resigned.

The faculty speak for themselves on the GTS8 website, Safe Seminary, and provide documentation of correspondence between the faculty and the Board of Trustees.  The number of "returned" faculty  is now down to seven, because one member of the faculty, Dr Joshua Davis, chose to take severance rather than sign his new contract.

Eight of the ten active full-time faculty members teaching at General Theological Seminary, New York City, have reported very serious problems with the seminary's administration through a number of channels.  After being ignored for months, the 8 faculty wrote directly to the seminary's board of trustees about a hostile work environment created by the Dean and President, the Very Rev. Kurt Dunkle, and then undertook a legal work stoppage.  The Board of Trustees responded that they accepted the faculty's resignations, when in fact the faculty members did not resign.  The 8 faculty members are Dr. Joshua Davis, The Rev. Mitties McDonald DeChamplain, Dr. Deirdre Good, Dr. David Hurd, Dr. Andrew Irving, the Rev. Andrew Kadel, the Rev. Dr. Amy Bentley Lamborn, and the Rev. Dr. Patrick Malloy.

I've been following the story from the beginning, even before the faculty was terminated, and the many details make it a challenge to explain the series of unfortunate events that led to the present sad situation without getting lost in the weeds.  I was stunned by the response of the Board of Trustees to the work-stoppage, which unnecessarily escalated the controversy to a point that made it difficult for the trustees to back away from their position, since they would then appear to be "giving in" to the faculty.  Why didn't the trustees pay attention to the faculty's reports of serious problems at the seminary?  Why didn't the Executive Committee or members of the Board of Trustees agree to to meet with the GTS8 before the situation became critical?

The allegations against Dean Dunkle are quite serious.  It seems to me that if the Board of Trustees had done what was proper from the beginning, which was to place the dean on paid leave until the allegations against him were investigated, and the GTS8 allowed to continue teaching, there would have been much less disruption and turmoil at the seminary for both students and faculty. If the allegations about the dean were found to be baseless, then he could have returned to his position, along with a mediator who would help mend relationships at the seminary.

After more than a month, the faculty was reinstated only provisionally, not to their status quo ante; they were required to negotiate the contracts of their "return" to the seminary individually, an unfair divide-and-conquer tactic; and they lost titles and tenure.  Academic Dean Dierdre Good was demoted even before the one-day work stoppage.

The trustees called upon the law firm of Covington and Burling to investigate the allegations against Dean Dunkle, but no report was ever issued on the findings, and there was only the one statement from the Board that, "...after extensive discussion that there are not sufficient grounds for terminating the Very Reverend Kurt Dunkle as President and Dean."

I find it quite telling that after investigations of both dean and faculty, the details of which little is known, the trustees so swiftly accepted the non-resignations of the GTS7 (formerly 8), terminated their employment, stripped them of titles and tenure, even as Dean and President Kurt Dunkle was permitted to remain in his positions of power, as the board decided after "extensive discussion" that there were no grounds for terminating the dean.  In addition, the faculty and members of the Board are prohibited from discussing the details of their provisional acceptance back into the seminary community, which the faculty never left.  Of what the faculty is guilty to deserve such punishment, we have no knowledge.  How is this justice?
  
The burden of demonstrating to the wider world that justice has been done rests with those in power. Justice must not only be served, but must also be seen to be served.  Commentary by the Chair of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees is not encouraging.  “I think the trustees felt, who are these people?” Bishop Sisk said.  The actions of the Board of Trustees and the lack of transparency as to the reasoning behind them seem unjust.  Without justice, the seminary itself is diminished as a Christian institution.  Collateral damage extends to the institution of the Episcopal Church and remains, even now, an embarrassment to the church, and to me personally, as a member.  I search for Gospel values in the decisions by the leadership of this Christian seminary, and I don't find them. How do their decisions build up the Kingdom of God?

The Lombard Mennonite Peace Center will begin to facilitate mediation at the seminary beginning in December and continue into the following year.   The faculty requested an ombudsperson to be present in the seminary Close when they resumed teaching, and I have heard that the greatly admired Bishop Frederick Borsch will be at GTS this week, available for any who wish to speak to him.  I'm not certain he is called an ombudsman, but his will be a welcome presence.

The story was widely covered by various news sources, including The New York Times, which reports the story here and here.