Whitworth University’s New Hiring Policy Will Allow LGBTQ Faculty

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Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington. Image via Google Maps

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(RNS) — Whitworth University, a Christian school affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has revised its policies to allow for the hiring of LGBTQ faculty and to add sexual orientation to its non-discrimination statement.

In so doing, it joins a sliver of Christian colleges and universities that have bucked a largely sturdy resistance to hiring married gay faculty. Last year, Eastern University, a Christian school affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA, made a similar change to its hiring policy.

Whitworth, which is located in Spokane, Washington, and last academic year had an enrollment of 2,500 students, announced the change on Thursday (June 29), following a year-long study. The school requires faculty to be Christian, but has hired non-evangelicals and Catholics, too.

“After careful consideration of this broad input, the board voted yesterday to resolutely uphold the Christ-centered commitments required of Whitworth staff and faculty; safeguard the campus environment to allow for civil discourse on topics about which faithful Christians disagree, including God’s design for sexual expression; and add “sexual orientation” to the university’s list of protected classes, which already includes color, gender, ethnicity, social or economic class, and nationality,” the statement from Whitworth President Scott McQuilkin and Board Chair Brian Kirkpatrick said.

The vast majority of Christian schools have excluded LGBTQ faculty even as some — mostly Catholic and mainline Protestant schools —have added “sexual orientation” in their nondiscrimination statements for students.

A retired Whitworth University political science professor who came out as a lesbian in a New Yorker profile last year may have played a behind-the-scenes role in the university’s move, though she was not directly involved in any of the discussions.

Kathryn Lee confided in former Whitworth President Beck Taylor about her sexual orientation in 2017. She said there were two or three other faculty at the school who were also queer but afraid to reveal their orientation.

“This was a surprise,” Lee said. “I felt, I hoped, that there had been some movement, but I really didn’t want to bank on my hopes too much.”

Lee, who was a faculty member at Whitworth from 1984 to 1990 and again from 2011 to 2022, heard about the change in the policy Thursday in a text from several former students. She applauded the school for its action.

Whitworth’s president and faculty declined to answer questions about the policy change.

The school is a “collaborative partner” with the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities, the largest association of Christian schools. The CCCU requires member schools to uphold traditional Christian marriage between a man and a woman. Last year, it placed Eastern University on hiatus after it announced that it would allow the hiring of faculty in same-sex marriages and add sexual orientation to its list of protected classes.

Since Whitworth is a partner and not a member, it was not clear if it would be allowed to continue its partnership with the CCCU. The CCCU did not respond to reporter’s inquiries.

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Yonat Shimron
Yonat Shimron joined RNS in April 2011 and became managing editor in 2013. She was the religion reporter for The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. from 1996 to 2011. During that time she won numerous awards. She is a past president of the Religion Newswriters Association.

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