She told Chimes, “If they had fired me that day, that would have been fine by me.” Sweda told Religion News Service that fellow staff and supervisors were aware of the marriage.
But instead of firing Sweda, the school told her it was working on an alternative solution: to spin off the Center for Social Research, which is largely self-sufficient. In February, the center, which performs surveys and other research projects for nonprofits, businesses and churches, announced plans to become independent by the end of April 2022.
Neil Carlson, director of the CRS, told Chimes the split between the school and the center was amicable. “We still have a desire to stay in social and economic proximity with the community; it’s not a bad breakup, more of a ‘let’s just be friends,’” he said in February.
Carlson declined to speak to RNS, directing press inquiries to a Calvin spokesman. That spokesman declined to discuss personnel matters.
Provost Noah Toly did confirm that all faculty and staff, including those at the center, are required to follow the school’s employment policies, which bar sex outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. He also said that hiring managers and supervisors are required to enforce the policy.
Despite the accommodation, Sweda decided to quit her job in March because, she told RNS, she would otherwise have to keep quiet about her marriage until CSR’s departure from Calvin was completed — something she was unwilling to do.
Meanwhile, Chimes has reported that Kuilema’s contract renewal may have been delayed due to his participation in the wedding, and his future at Calvin may be in jeopardy.
Though he has taught at Calvin since 2008, Kuilema, who declined a request for an interview, was denied tenure by the school’s board in 2018.
Calvin’s policies are unlikely to change. At this year’s denominational annual synod, the Christian Reformed Church is expected to approve a report from its Committee to Articulate a Foundation-laying Biblical Theology of Human Sexuality, which affirms the church’s traditional beliefs.
A report approved in 2016 bans pastors and church leaders from officiating weddings of same-sex couples. That report allows church members to take part in such weddings as long as they realize that such weddings are sinful.
“Calvin is an institution of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, and our positions and policies are intended to follow its doctrines,” said Toly. “We don’t follow the doctrines of the church because we have to,” he added. “We follow the doctrines of the church because we believe that’s the right thing to do.”
Toly also confirmed that Calvin employees, both gay and straight, have left the school for violating the school’s policies. When an employee violates policy, the school would prefer to bring that employee into compliance with policy, but doing so is not always easy or possible, he said.
“Joining a community or institution almost always means inheriting positions and submitting to rules made by others, even if we don’t agree with all the rules, wouldn’t make those rules ourselves, or want to change the rule,” he said. “This need to live within a doctrinal framework and set of rules we don’t make is heightened in a confessional institution. Colleges and universities aren’t the only places where this happens, but they’re great places for students to grapple with this reality.”
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Alyssa N. Rockenbach, professor of higher education at North Carolina State University, said that as acceptance of LGBT people continues to grow among evangelical students, leaders of evangelical schools will face more headaches.
“They will continue to be out of synch with their students the longer they persist in upholding policies and practices that dehumanize the LGBTQ+ community,” Rockenbach said in an email. “My greatest concern is for the LGBTQ+ students, staff, and faculty who may be harmed in religious environments that are unwelcoming and not prepared to help them thrive.”
Josh Packard, executive director of Springtide Research (and a frequent opinion contributor to RNS), said religious institutions often focus on defending their policies and beliefs and forget to listen to their students. Those students don’t always need religious leaders to agree with them, but they want to be heard and not ignored.
“One thing that is universal is that nobody likes to feel dismissed or like they’re not understood,” he said.
