Questions and Answers

Q: What is Equality Ride and what are its goals?

Equality Ride is an organized national bus tour of activists, typically college-aged, who schedule unsolicited visits to private and religiously affiliated colleges, universities, and academies that they consider to have policies that create disparity between treatment of heterosexual and homosexual students.

Equality Ride is sponsored by Soulforce, a national advocacy organization which “seeks freedom for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from religious and political oppression through the practice of relentless nonviolent resistance.” Equality Ride describes itself as an interfaith group; some riders, but not all, identify themselves specifically with the Christian faith. Equality Ride challenges institutions to change their policies primarily by engaging in grassroots efforts with students and dialogue with campus administrators.

Q: Why is Equality Ride coming to Messiah College? Were they invited?

It is important to understand that Messiah College did not invite Equality Ride to visit its campus. Equality Ride does not give institutions a choice to be a part of their route; they visit regardless of the campus’ wishes. In Messiah’s case, Equality Ride is protesting Messiah College because of its description of homosexual behavior, among other behaviors, in our Community Covenant and student handbook as a “sinful practice.”

Q: Why doesn’t Messiah College just refuse Equality Ride access to campus?

Equality Ride’s past practice has been to arrive on the campuses they select whether they have permission or not. This places institutions such as Messiah, and other Christian colleges and universities, in the position of either:

• Forcibly prohibiting or removing Equality Riders from campus through use of campus or local law enforcement—which Equality Ride then uses as an effective way to generate publicity, empathy, and support for their organization’s agenda;
• Or choosing to engage the Equality Riders in peaceful dialogue on campus and shaping the visit as an educational opportunity for students within the College’s own parameters.

After thoughtful consideration and conversations with other Christian schools visited by Equality Ride, the College’s senior administration decided that the second option was most consistent with Messiah’s identity, mission, and educational goals.

Q: Will Equality Ride visit institutions other than Messiah College? How are other schools responding?

This is Equality Ride’s second year in existence. In 2006, one Equality Ride bus visited approximately 25 campuses. This year, Equality Ride is sponsoring two buses—one in the western U.S. and one in the eastern U.S.—that will collectively visit nearly 40 institutions across the country. In addition to Messiah, there are several other Christian colleges and universities who have been, or will be, visited by Equality Ride. Schools visited by Equality Ride in 2006 include Wheaton College, Abilene Christian University, Asuza Pacific University, Bethel University, and Eastern University. Other schools scheduled to be visited this year include Seattle Pacific University, Pepperdine University, Cedarville College, Gordon College, and Calvin College.

Messiah College , among several of the schools mentioned above, are members of the national Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU). The CCCU has provided ongoing networking, resources, communication tools, and forums for member schools that have been or will be visited by Equality Ride. Messiah’s approach of shaping Equality Ride’s visit as an educational opportunity for students is consistent with the responses of the majority of its CCCU peer institutions.

Q: How is Messiah College planning to respond to Equality Ride’s visit?

While we did not seek this visit, and we clearly disagree with Equality Ride’s perspective, as a Christian institution of higher education, Messiah College is willing to address difficult contemporary issues through civil debate and discussion. The College is also committed to preparing students to think critically about human sexuality from a biblical perspective. Accordingly, the College has decided to respond to Equality Ride’s visit as an opportunity to model gracious Christianity and hospitality to those who express different viewpoints, to encourage meaningful campus conversation about a complex social issue, and to equip students to better understand human sexuality within a biblical framework. This response, which will take place within a caring Christian educational community, is consistent with Messiah’s ethos and heritage, and with our mission to prepare students for lives of service, leadership, and reconciliation in the Church and society.

Q: What is the campus doing to prepare?

College leadership has been in ongoing conversation with Equality Ride organizers regarding the details of their visit. In preparation, President Phipps has asked Kris Hansen-Kieffer, vice provost/dean of students, and Carla Gross, director of public relations/special assistant to the president for communication, to co-chair a campus team of students, faculty, and administrators to coordinate the visit and develop opportunities for educational dialogue.

Q: What is Messiah College’s stance on homosexuality?

• As a Christian college, our institutional stance on homosexuality is based on the authority of scripture as we understand it and is expressed in a document called our “Community Covenant.” In keeping with the traditional teaching of many Christian churches, the College’s Community Covenant defines homosexual behavior, among a number of other behavioral standards, as a “sinful practice.”

• It is important to note that Messiah’s community standards are related to homosexual behavior, not orientation. While the College understands homosexual behavior to be sinful, it does not view this as a sin to be highlighted or emphasized over other sexual or non-sexual sinful behaviors. For instance, the Community Covenant also outlines expectations for heterosexual behavior. Read Messiah College’s Community Covenant.

• Equally important in Messiah’s Community Covenant is the importance of the person. We believe that it is important to follow Christ’s example of respect and compassion as we live in community together. We are committed to the sanctity of the individual as we apply our Christian faith to complex social issues such as homosexuality in modern Church and culture. Messiah College will not tolerate the harassment or demeaning of any individual, including those who consider themselves same-sex in orientation. The College strives to create an authentic Christian environment that is safe for students as they work through personal issues and beliefs related to sexual identity.

• The College realizes, as do many other Christians, that its position on homosexuality is questioned or rejected by many in our society. In fact, there are many Christian church denominations and educational communities in our country today that are severely divided on this issue. The national debate on this issue is occurring not only in higher education and the Church, but in our culture as a whole—which is one of the reasons why the College decided to engage this issue and to represent its own perspective in this educational dialogue.

Q: What will the Equality Riders do while they are on Messiah’s campus?

Equality Ride organizers have been cooperatively working with the College to shape the schedule of their activities while on campus, which will include breakfast and discussion with campus administrators and student leaders. Riders also plan to be in public visitation areas of campus. During this time, College educators, staff, and administrators will have an enhanced presence in these venues. Equality Riders, like any other outside group, will not be given unauthorized access to student residences, classrooms, or faculty/employee offices.

The College has also planned an educational forum where Messiah College and Equality Ride will share their perspectives on the topic “Loving Like Jesus,” exploring how we can best model Christ’s example when we hold different views. The panel discussion will be moderated by Messiah College Pastor Eldon Fry and will be followed by a time of audience question and answer. Following the forum, and a time of debriefing with campus leaders, Equality Riders plan to depart campus.

Q: Is the campus planning additional security measures during Equality Ride’s visit?

Equality Ride has expressed their desire for a peaceful visit and has agreed to the College’s behavioral expectations, including a commitment to follow campus policies and to not disrupt campus life or operations. Realizing the controversial and sensitive nature of this issue however, the College will plan for appropriate precautionary security on campus that day to help ensure the safety of our students, employees, and visitors.

Q: Does Messiah College ban the enrollment of gay students as Equality Ride claims?

During its admissions process, the College does not screen or ask students to indicate their sexual orientation. The College does, however, ask all students to agree —if they are admitted to Messiah—to abide by the lifestyle expectations as outlined in its Community Covenant and student handbook while they are enrolled. If a student who has a same-sex orientation agrees to abide by these behavioral standards, he or she would be eligible for admission. It is important to note that these lifestyle standards are expected for all behaviors (sexual and non-sexual), as outlined in the Community Covenant and student handbook.

Q: Is Messiah College willing to talk about homosexuality and broader issues of human sexuality?

The College has long been committed to preparing students to think critically about human sexuality from a biblical perspective—through its residence education, chapel, classroom, and other annual programming. As a recent example, during the past several months, the Division of Student Affairs, in partnership with other campus departments, planned and implemented “Human Sexuality Week” – a week of focused educational programming from March 5-9 which provided students with a breadth of learning experiences related to a biblical perspective of sexual identity. [Read the complete schedule of Human Sexuality Week programming.]

Q: How will the College continue to communicate with students, employees, parents, alumni, and other constituents regarding Equality Ride?

President Phipps and the campus planning team will continue to keep students, employees, parents, alumni, and other friends informed about Equality Ride’s visit via this web site, e-mail, and other campus communiqués. President Phipps will also be addressing students in chapel during the week of Equality Ride’s visit and will send a letter to the campus community following the visit.