RICHMOND, Va. (BP)–The University of Richmond has added sexual orientation to its non-discrimination policy, a move which the Baptist General Association of Virginia’s top executive said puts the university and state convention at odds.
The BGAV founded the University of Richmond 169 years ago.
The rewritten UR policy, approved by trustees during a regular meeting March 5, prohibits discrimination of gays and lesbians in student, faculty and staff recruitment and promotion. UR officials said the decision merely explicates a long-standing practice, although the previous non-discrimination policy prohibited bias only on the basis of gender, race and religion.
“This policy bespeaks our current practice,” said William E. Cooper, president of UR. “We do not and will not discriminate against individuals on the basis of sexual orientation.”
John R. Pagan, dean of UR’s law school, also applauded the decision. “It brings us into the mainstream of American higher education,” he said. The decision is significant because “it guarantees that all students, faculty and staff will be treated fairly based on their talents and their achievements and that their private lives will play no role in the way the university treats them. … It also helps the University of Richmond compete with the nation’s best schools for the most talented students and professors.”
But the policy may be incompatible with the position on homosexuality taken by the BGAV, which still maintains ties to UR. At last year’s annual BGAV meeting, messengers “commended” to churches a statement “affirming the biblical teaching that homosexual behavior is sinful and unacceptable to Christians,” while offering guidelines for expressing “Christ-like compassion for homosexual persons.”
Three years ago several churches separated from the BGAV to form a new state convention, which now numbers about 150 congregations. One of the reasons cited by the new Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia was that the BGAV’s stance on homosexuality wasn’t strong enough. The SBCV continues to make the charge in attracting churches to its fold.
Since 1969, when a $50 million gift to UR from E. Claiborne Robins Sr. was made contingent on a looser relationship between the school and Baptists, the BGAV has diminished its ties with UR. Today it allocates about $230,000 primarily for the Virginia Baptist Scholars Program, which provides financing for students from churches affiliated with the BGAV. The association also nominates one trustee each year for a four-year term; at any one time four trustees nominated by the BGAV serve on the 40-member board.
The BGAV also maintains a “partnership agreement” negotiated by representatives of both the BGAV and UR that clarifies their relationship. The earlier non-discrimination clause is included in the agreement, but it is not clear if the latest action will require it to be renegotiated.
Other Baptist links are the school’s chaplain and associate chaplain, both of whom are Baptists, and the Virginia Baptist Historical Society, which maintains its headquarters and library on campus.
Virginia Baptist leaders expressed regret at UR’s decision. “This action is very disappointing,” said Reginald McDonough, executive director of the BGAV. “In this day of relative values, it is important for institutions that are educating the future leaders of our churches and communities to advocate and model the highest standards of Judeo-Christian morality.
“While the BGAV has had a long-standing relationship with the university, in recent years our financial support has been limited to Christian ministries and the Baptist Scholars Program. Virginia Baptists certainly want to support a continuing Christian witness and ministry on the UR campus as we do on all the college campuses in Virginia. However, how the BGAV relates its support may need to be changed to reflect current realities.”
The four trustees nominated by the BGAV also issued statements following the decision. Two of them — Earlene Jessee, executive director of Woman’s Missionary Union of Virginia, and Bill Wilson, pastor of First Baptist Church, Waynesboro, Va., and a former BGAV president — said they voted against the new policy. Another former BGAV president — Clint Hopkins, retired pastor of Churchland Baptist Church, Chesapeake, Va. — said he voted for it. Walter Harrow, a layman from Deltaville, Va., and also a former BGAV president, did not divulge his vote.
“Since I did not serve on the subcommittee which studied the discrimination clause, I feel others can better explain the reasoning process which brought this action to the full board,” said Jessee. “I voted against the decision and am concerned about the far-reaching consequences it may have for the relationship between the BGAV and the University of Richmond.”
Wilson also said he regretted the action and noted he “would have preferred that the board maintain the policy that had been in place for many years.” However, he added, “Since our only current financial connection with the university is to provide partial funding for the Baptist Scholars Program, it is not surprising that our influence has declined accordingly.”
Hopkins maintained that “Jesus never made sexual habits an issue with his followers. We want to be as much like Jesus as possible, so it is not proper for us to give too much attention to sex in deciding who is in and out of the kingdom.”
Harrow said he was “concerned about how Virginia Baptists may view this [action]. Virginia Baptists give financial support to the office of the chaplaincy at the University of Richmond. We also give funds to support certain Baptist scholars at the University of Richmond. We Virginia Baptists do not give funds that would be considered part of the general support of the university. I personally feel that the presence of David Burhans, chaplain of the University of Richmond, is a most important presence on the UR campus.”
The Southern Baptist Convention has strongly condemned homosexuality and it excludes from membership any churches which “affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior.” However, the University of Richmond has no ties to the SBC and in 1995 it withdrew from the Association of Southern Baptist Colleges and Schools, a voluntary association of administrators from Baptist universities and colleges which promotes higher education among Southern Baptists.
