No confidence vote to occur over weekend

Faculty take unprecedented step to pressure board into removing Statement on Human Sexuality

Kyle Morrison, News Editor

Multiple sources have confirmed to the Falcon that the Seattle Pacific faculty will hold a vote of no confidence over the weekend, attempting to pressure the Board of Trustees into getting rid of the Statement on Human Sexuality.

This has never happened in SPU’s history and while its passing would not represent any direct legislative consequences, the action would represent an unprecedented repudiation of the Board of Trustees.

About half of the 236 eligible faculty members already cast their electronically delivered ballots by midday on Friday.

Dr. Sara Koenig confirmed to the Falcon on Tuesday that in a faculty poll taken this winter, 75% of faculty declared that they believe the statement on human sexuality should be removed.

The official announcement from the board came on Monday in an employee forum. On Wednesday, University leadership disclosed to faculty that upper administration knew about the decision to maintain the statement on human sexuality as early as two weeks before that announcement.

According to SPU Director of Public Information, Tracy Norlan waiting to announce decisions like this is a common practice.

“The administration regularly gets information from the Board of Trustees, which they share with the campus community in various ways. In this case, once the board had a decision to communicate, senior leaders identified the already scheduled Employee Forum as a good opportunity for Board Chair Cedric Davis to share the news in person with a large number of employees,” Norlan said.

Results on the vote of no confidence are expected to come on Monday.