“I believe that I was denied this benefit because of my race/color and in retaliation for opposing discriminatory conduct,” White wrote in the EEOC filing.
White, who filed his initial charge with the EEOC in February, amended the charge last week to include his termination.
“At every turn, he reported discrimination or retaliation, and did not receive any kind of institutional support, which ultimately is what necessitated him to reach out to an attorney,” Starling said.
In response to questions from RNS, the school’s communications director shared a document highlighting the school’s social justice efforts and demographics, including that 44% of faculty, 37% of staff and 31% of the board are people of color. In a statement, the school said, “We are confident we’ve stayed true to our mission to nurture faithful and effective leaders as well as conduct school business in a carefully considered, forthright, and equitable manner.”
In the fall, the school will welcome its first nonwhite president.
On Tuesday (June 28), a week after White was let go, roughly a dozen students gathered at the seminary’s streetside sign in what flyers called a “Blacklash March.”
“This protest is bigger than Pastor Sam. This ‘Blacklash’ is systemic,” said the Rev. John DeLoney, president of the African Heritage Student Association, at the protest. DeLoney decried Maxwell’s resignation, which the students maintain was forced, despite his being the main architect of the Repairing the Breach scholarship. DeLoney also noted the 2019 firing of the Rev. Ruth-Aimée Belonni-Rosario Govens, who is Hispanic, as the seminary’s chief enrollment officer.
Other students shared concerns about whether they were truly welcome at the seminary in light of these departures.
DeLoney and Allen told RNS the protest was in lieu of a meeting with Van Dyk, who they said had ignored their requests to meet. “We have no commitment that there will even be a meeting,” said Allen. “I’m floored and astonished by that alone. It tells me that you are not taking us seriously.”
Both Maxwell and Smith’s interim replacements are white men, and DeLoney and Allen said they are concerned that the Black leaders who provided key support to the Black students they recruited are disappearing.
“We’re feeling like all of the people in administration who had power to bring Black people in are now gone, and we’re now worried about the sustainability of this scholarship going forward,” said DeLoney.
This article originally appeared here.
