Originally published Oct. 6, 2020 on The Chronicle-Tribune.
With the termination of Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) junior Zebulun Knuteson’s
employment at the university, the campus has been working through difficult conversations
about faith and sexuality.
According to Knuteson’s statement on Instagram, he was working as an assistant resident
director on campus for several weeks before the new university vice president, Mark DeMichael, dismissed Knuteson. The notice of termination, Knuteson said, came after he had inquired about how much he could share about his homosexuality with others.
Knuteson wrote that he had been willing to suppress sharing his personal views. However,
Knuteson said administration told him his termination stemmed from the belief that he would be
unable to uphold the Wesleyan Church’s core values.
According to federal law, religious organizations are allowed to make hiring decisions based on religious beliefs and can require employees to uphold their beliefs.
Knuteson claims he was forthright with his direct supervisors about his homosexuality.
IWU officials declined to comment on the specifics of the issue when contacted by the
Chronicle-Tribune, citing federal privacy laws, but the administration has acknowledged the
situation multiple times publicly.
Although Knuteson said he had tried to communicate with administration, he said they were
unresponsive to the issue. Consequently, he published a 700+ word statement on Instagram
describing the situation.
“I am not upset that I was fired...” Knuteson wrote. “I am upset that a school claims to uphold
the teachings of Christ has been blatantly hypocritical and hateful to a student for who they love.”
Since being posted, the statement has accrued nearly 5,000 likes and 500 comments ranging in reactions.
Those in support of Knuteson students painted the campus’ spirit rock with the LGBTQ pride
flag. Later, it was painted with the transgender flag.
However, there were also many who supported the university’s decision. After the spirit rock
was painted rainbow, it was spray-painted with phrases “It‘s never too late,” “Come back to the truth” and “Romans 6:23,” which reads, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ our Lord,” according to The Bible.
Although the IWU administration has publicly responded multiple times to the incident, they did not discuss any specific action.
In a video sent to the campus, President David Wright said they were reviewing the situation to
make sure their non-discriminatory practices were followed and looking to restore the
relationship.
As stated in their statement of faith and community lifestyle statement, homosexuality is a sin
according to scripture and is prohibited on campus. Their non-discrimination policy says IWU
will not discriminate based on race, color, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic
information or veteran, but is permitted exemptions by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act for faith
discrimination.
During his video to the campus, Wright directly addressed the university’s policy on
homosexuality.
“Among other requests, I’ve been specifically asked to change the university’s core theological
position on sexual ethics,” Wright said. “Let me clearly say that IWU is, and will continue to be, committed to the biblical sexual ethic outlined in the official teachings of the Wesleyan Church.”
Wright continued to say that IWU does not require students to be a part of the Wesleyan Church or agree with Wesleyan theology. However, he said he wants to continue learning how to exemplify a Christ-centered academic community with a new task force led by President of Wesley Seminary Colleen Derr and Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Diane McDaniel.
However, some campus groups were left desiring more than Wright’s response.
“He didn’t really address the situation,” IWU senior Kay Fletcher said.
“Similar situations have happened before and people have been silenced,” IWU junior Shiloh
Cabeller said. “They will continue to unless there is real action.”
Fletcher and Cabeller are respectively the president and vice president of IWU’s new Gender and Sexuality Alliance group, which organized a protest on Sept. 4.
According to Fletcher, 70 students, community members and staff walked across campus in
rainbow order to deliver a letter to the administration.
The Gender and Sexuality Alliance group meets weekly for those identifying as part of the
LGBTQ community, some of whom travel from neighboring Taylor University.
One of these students is sophomore Caleb Goins, who recently started an Instagram page for an unsanctioned Taylor Gay-Straight Alliance. Goins wants to raise awareness and create a safe space for LGBTQ-identifying people on campus.
“Starting the (Gay-Straight Alliance) is something that I’ve been praying about, and then I saw
what IWU was doing and thought that this is something our campus needs as well,’” Goins said.
Taylor expresses their stance toward sexuality and gender in both the Life Together Covenant
(LTC) and Statement on Human Sexuality. Officially, Taylor distinguishes a struggle with samesex attraction from homosexual behavior as two separate issues.
“I have friends who laugh at that phrase ‘homosexual behavior’ because if you are homosexual, then everything you do is homosexual behavior,” Taylor senior Miranda Streitman said. “The language in the LTC and statements of Faith are confusing enough that I have never been certain on whether or not if I was completely out or super vocal if I could be kicked out or not. That’s a really frustrating place to be.”
Streitman was a part of Taylor’s Colleague College in the fall of 2020, where she sat with a
panel of LGTBQ students and alumni that answered questions for present faculty. She has also
been an active member of Choros, a Taylor-sanctioned group that exists to have conversations
about sexuality, gender and faith. The impetus of their group is to bring a variety of beliefs and views for thoughtful discussion.
While she said these are encouraging things to be a part of, Streitman wants to see more
conversations about faith and sexuality on campus outside of the group.
President of Choros, senior Abby Wilson, also encouraged Taylor students to consider how they partake in these conversations, especially in light of IWU’s current conversation.
“I feel like sometimes at Taylor people like to act like there isn’t anyone who is a part of the
LGBTQ+ community here — and that is statistically highly unlikely first of all,” Wilson said.
“It’s just right now they don’t feel safe enough to say anything publicly. I think if that continues
to be the case it could get to a point where the discontent is so high it just explodes.”
DeMichael and Knuteson specifically declined to comment about the situation.
Comments