As past and present students of Calvin College, we would like to register our dismay at the recent memo handed down from the Board to all Calvin faculty and staff concerning their freedom to speak on the subject of homosexuality, both in the classroom and out of it. Regardless of our individual positions on LGBT issues, we the undersigned are in agreement that The Memo represents an alarming and dangerous precedent for academic freedom at Calvin. Many of us were further unimpressed by the administrations somewhat disingenuous attempts to pacify the resulting controversy by passing off The Memo as a mere clarification of existing policy, when the faculty and student response to it suggested otherwise.
Traditionally, Calvin has not only allowed but encouraged freedom of thought and speech for its faculty on controversial issues, both confessional and non-confessional as identified by Synod. In the past, these have included such important and controversial issues as creationism and evolutionism, women in church office, and just war. By its own admission the CRC, like all human institutions, is a fallen body comprised of fallen people. The CRC, knowing that it too errs, has therefore historically encouraged dialogue on major controversies facing the church and society, approaching them with appropriate humility as it attempts to discern the truth. This is one of the most important factors that has set Calvin apart from other religious institutions that attempt to stifle all dissenting opinions, allowing for meaningful dialogue and greater discernment as opposed to intellectual stagnation.
Therefore, for the Calvin Board of Trustees to arbitrarily single out the question of homosexuality and issue what amounts to a gag order to some of the churchs best and brightest minds, without regard for the colleges standard policy-making process, is a disturbing development. If the President and the Board, acting on their own in the absence of any mandate from Synod, are allowed not only to deem a particular issue confessional but also to deliver edicts restricting faculty speech on one particular side of that issue, then the practical result is the total removal of Calvin faculty voices from one of the CRCs most immediately relevant debates.
To that end, and in accordance with the position of Calvin faculty as expressed in the recent Senate statement, we urge the Calvin College Board of Trustees to immediately retract The Memo. We further encourage the Board to prayerfully consider releasing a formal statement of regret for all of the confusion and distress that has resulted from their lack of clarity. We hope that this unfortunate episode can yet bear good fruits, opening the door to productive dialogue concerning LGBT issues in the CRC and the appropriate bounds on Calvin facultys academic freedom.