One of the signatories, the Rev. Erich Kussman, spent a dozen years incarcerated before gaining his M.Div. from the seminary in 2019.
“The Seminary’s involvement in the carceral state is antithetical to its mission and antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus, which liberates the marginalized and oppressed,” he said in a statement.
“How can it now claim to engage in a system that is out of step with the world, racially biased, and diverts resources from effective public safety investments? It can and must do better. The removal of Michael Fisch is a necessary first step.”
Added Bianca Tylek, executive director of Worth Rises: “We should not elevate and celebrate people who build their wealth preying on the most vulnerable in our society with prestigious positions that require moral integrity.”
The signatories affirmed the seminary’s 2016 decision to analyze its historic links to slavery and welcomed the removal of the name of anti-abolitionist and slaveholder Samuel Miller from the school’s chapel.
They said they considered their request about Fisch as another step toward accountability, echoing previous requests by on-campus organizations of seminarians and other students who have sought greater transparency about the school’s endowment.
“The seminary needs a deeper reckoning,” they wrote, “with its current relationship to and investment in modern systems of enslavement, dispossession, displacement, environmental degradation, and violence, in local and global contexts.”
This story has been corrected. An earlier version attributed a mission quote to American Securities instead of ViaPath. And American Securities no longer owns fast casual restaurants.
RELATED: Princeton Theological Seminary removes name of slaveholder from chapel
This article originally appeared on ReligionNews.com.
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