Spring Arbor University cancels partnership with Lansing Community College
By Todd A. Heywood-Capitol Correspondent
(Issue 1519 - Between The Lines News)

LANSING-- Spring Arbor University has notified Lansing Community College to tell the third largest community college in Michigan, that the partnership between the two schools is over before it ever got off the ground.

"They felt, based on the language in the contract, they would have to relinquish some of their rights as a Christian institution," said Dr. Stephanie Shanblatt, chief operating officer for the University Center for strategic partnerships at LCC.

SAU has been under pressure since it fired a transgender professor earlier this year. In addition, the university has an antigay policy as well as a policy allowing them to tell unwed pregnant students where they can live.

LCC has policies preventing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, as well as gender identity and expression. The college sent a letter to the SAU weeks ago laying out the legal expectations for SAU were they to join in partnership with the college. This included following Lansing's Human Rights Ordinance, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.

"It was clear LCC thought it should follow its policy," Shanblatt says.

In a press statement, the VP of Communications for Spring Arbor, Tim Johnson, said SAU could not sign the agreement because it would "relinquish" their rights as a "Christian university," in doing so.

"It's unfortunate that the students of LCC will now be unable to benefit from the diversity that would have come from including a top-tier Christian university at the center," he wrote.

Dr. Julie Nemecek, the transgender professor fired by the university earlier this year, says the move is good. "They knew that if they were in Lansing, they would have to change their core values."

"It is disappointing that SAU would choose to position itself in that way and further alienate many of it's students and staff," says Drew Hinkle an openly gay student at SAU. "It's unfortunate they can't abide by the law in the city of Lansing." Read More...

Spring Arbor says no to LCC University Center
Christian college disagreed with nonbias policies

Published May 10, 2007
[ From Lansing State Journal ]
Matthew Miller

Spring Arbor University will not be a partner in Lansing Community College's University Center.

In a statement released Wednesday, Spring Arbor officials said that, "by signing the agreement as written, we would be relinquishing our rights to operate as a private Christian institution."

Though Spring Arbor's statement did not offer a more specific rationale, LCC officials said the point of contention was the requirement that institutions participating in the University Center abide by LCC's equal opportunity and nondiscrimination policies and with state and local laws, including Lansing's human rights ordinance.
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The University Center, which is due to open in January, will allow four-year colleges and universities to offer courses on LCC's campus.

LCC officials considered dropping Spring Arbor from the project earlier this year after Spring Arbor fired a transgender professor named Julie Nemecek.

While LCC did not do so, the school did seek legal advice on how its policies would apply to partner schools.

Spring Arbor, which says in its student handbook that students must abstain from "any involvement in premarital, extramarital and same gender sexual relationships," informed LCC of its decision Wednesday.

Others OK with pact

Several of the seven other partner schools, including Siena Heights University and Northwood University, both private institutions, have indicated that they can abide by the agreement, said Stephanie Shanblatt, chief operating officer of the University Center and Strategic Learning and Partnerships Division.

"I'm always disappointed when a potential partner feels that they can't continue," Shanblatt said, "however, from the very beginning, LCC has been very firm about our policies and the fact that our partners need to comply with our policies when they're on our campus."

Seeking new partner

She said LCC would begin seeking a new partner soon and said Spring Arbor's move would not seriously set back the University Center.

"We have seven really solid partners," she said.

The other partner schools are Central Michigan University, Ferris State University, Lawrence Technological University, University of Michigan Flint and Western Michigan University.

Contact Matthew Miller at 377-1046 or mrmiller @lsj.com. Read More...

Soulforce visits Spring Arbor
Off-campus visit requested by students
Laniaya Alesia Hoofatt
Issue date: 4/26/07 Crusader Section: Features

On April 21 the Soulforce riders arrived across the street from Spring Arbor University in the community park pavilion. The group, who supports freedom for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from religious and political oppression, met with SAU students, faculty and community members during their off-campus visit.

"I am excided that Soulforce decided to come and share in discussion on faith. They did not come to push their views, they came to share their stories and open up dialogue with everyone that is here in attendance," said Drew Hinkle, President of Students Aligned for Equality (S.A.F.E.).

Soulforce is comprised of 33 young adults who separate into two buses, one westbound and the other eastbound in order to address the issue of homosexuality and the church. Their goal is to challenge the Christian Church to live up to its name.

"I feel that being gay and being Christian is not exclusive," said Robin Reynolds, Soulforce Rider from Valdosta, Georgia.

Members of S.A.F.E held a barbeque for the Soulforce riders and the individuals that attended the event. Burgers, veggie burgers and hotdogs were all on the menu. While the food was being cooked, the Soulforce riders had a chance to talk to everyone who attended.

Attendees broke up into small groups, where riders spoke to students and faculty. This paved the way for a variety of conversations to take place, and each rider seemed genuinely interested in the stories that students shared while at the same time sharing their own. This time seemed foster great conversations on Christian faith, the church and school policy.

"We come to talk and share stories engage in dialogue," said Rachel Loskill a Soulforce rider from East Lansing, Michigan.

"There is a lot of suffering happening feeling rejected and were here to affirm you," said Jarrett Lucas, Co-Director of Equality Ride East Bus and Young Adult Director of Outreach.

After the discussion time the riders started their presentation. They started with a worship song. Lyrics such as 'Joy inside of my world where love is moving me' were sung throughout the pavilion.

After the song, Hinkle spoke. He described how many of the students wanted more than a Facebook group, they wanted to meet in person and organize. He briefly described the harassment some students endured, the Federal Mail Investigation and the Julie Nemecek issue. He then explained S.A.F.E was not allowed to post flyers, or hand them out on campus to promote the event. The group resorted to Facebook, a popular website, using their flyer ads to get students to come and engage in dialogue. Read More...

Soulforce Equality Ride visits Spring Arbor University
By Todd A. Heywood
Originally printed 04/26/2007 (Issue 1517 - Between The Lines News)

SPRING ARBOR - The East Coast team of Soulforce Equality Ride met with students, faculty and community members in Spring Arbor Saturday afternoon. Joining the 25 activists were about 20 students and community members.

Spring Arbor refused to allow the activists on campus, so the group met across the street at Township Park for four hours.

Across M-60, troopers from the Michigan State Police, deputies from the Jackson County Sheriff's Department and officers from Spring Arbor Township patrolled the campus of this conservative Christian university. Spring Arbor students say they heard administrators tell student leaders Soulforce came to Christian universities to "embarrass" the universities with "megaphones," and plans to get arrested.

However, Soulforce had already promised they would not enter the campus and they didn't. They spent the afternoon having a barbecue picnic, tossing a football, playing on the playground equipment and discussing transgender issues with the gathered students and faculty.

They did promise they would be back next year.

"Spring Arbor will definitely be on the list," Katie Higgins, co-director of the Soulforce team, said. "We want to continue this conversation."

After a careful and rousing chorus of Om Shanti, the group launched into what organizers called a dialogue.

Drew Hinkle, an SAU student who is openly gay, told the gathered Soulforce team what LBGT and ally students have endured in the last months while attending SAU, including harassment of students who attended a bowling event recently. "Apparently you're not allowed to bowl with gay people," Hinkle said. "They think we're intolerant of their religious perspective." Read More...

S.A.F.E - Students Alliance For Equality
Laniaya Alesia Hoofatt
Issue date: 4/12/07 Crusder Section: News

Student's Alliance For Equality is a Facebook group that was created after the official S.A.F.E. meeting was held in Spring Arbor, Mich. on March 6. This Facebook group is student led and is open to the community. The groups exist to promote equality and diversity. S.A.F.E. attempts to create a safe haven for students who support and identify with the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning community. *queer is also accepted for the Q, I didn't know which I should put*

The mission statement reads: "Student Alliance For Equality (S.A.F.E.) is a student-led group, open to the community, which exists to promote equality and diversity. We strive to create a safe environment for students who support and identify with the GLBTQ community. S.A.F.E. will accomplish this by creating a support network for GLBTQ individuals, fighting discrimination and promoting equal treatment through education, awareness and advocacy."

S.A.F.E wants to achieve this by having support systems for GLBTQ individuals. It also wants to fight discrimination and promote equal treatment through education and awareness, and advocate in a positive light.

"It seems some at SAU have felt the presence of S.A.F.E. is in some way threatening. I cannot say enough that S.A.F.E. is not here to tear anything down but to build up individuals by promoting justice and equality. S.A.F.E.'s mission is two-fold, to create a safe place for a segment of the student body to express themselves the way they are, the beautiful and unique way God made them. Secondly, to encourage Spring Arbor University to treat all of its students with an equal amount of respect and dignity as students and human beings. The university has a ways to go with the latter, but we remain determined in the face of discrimination and intimidation and will continue our work for as long as it takes regardless of negative reactions to what we are doing," said Drew Hinkle, President of S.A.F.E.

Like the Gay Straight Alliance, S.A.F.E. wants to promote a safer environment at schools for students to support each other and learn about homophobia and other aspects of oppression. They are doing this by having open discussion and events for students to express themselves.

"I would say that my purpose in the group is to let GLBTQ students know that they have friends who are on their side and who aren't going to try and change them. And also work together to make Spring Arbor a more caring and compassionate place for everyone," said Joel Skene, S.A.F.E. member and senior at SAU.

The group stresses that it is not here to create trouble, merely to bring awareness and become a safe haven for students. Having a better understanding and being educated about homophobia and gender identity can bring better understanding and sensitivity to the subject. Education in any form eliminates ignorance. Read More...

Censoring mail
Originally printed 04/12/2007 (Issue 1514 - Between The Lines News)

Letters to the editor

I suppose National Geographic and Star magazine are against the rules as well (At Spring Arbor)? Wouldn't want people thinking or seeing inappropriate images. Spring Arbor is crazy if they can ban "Out" an alternative magazine. I can't believe they think that they can go through an individual's mail. If they can't act as a post office, they should just end the service all together. Our brilliant leader, President Bush was trying to pass a law that would allow the government to look at other peoples mail. It's weird to think who might be thought as a terrorist or what would be considered terrorist activity. I seriously doubt there is a conspiracy against Spring Arbor. Thus they shouldn't be opening any mail not addressed to them. I do hope more students at Spring Arbor stand up cause they are doing nothing wrong.

Frank Vaca
Holt, MI

Student newspapers pulled
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
By Chad Livengood
clivengood@citpat.com -- 768-4918

For weeks, officials at Spring Arbor University have hoped the story about a fired transgender professor who filed a discrimination claim would go away.

Last month, the administration took matters into their own hands, removing from racks about 500 copies of the Crusader, a university-funded student newspaper. The issue included a story about the university's settlement with Julie Nemecek.

The papers were confiscated on the morning of March 23 -- a day after being placed at sites around campus.

Five days later, administrators gave the student editor-in-chief the option of getting the papers back -- but only if the Nemecek article was cut out. Rebecca Eve Schweitzer complied, taking the scissors to 75 copies for redistribution. The rest were thrown out voluntarily.

"It was frustrating," said Schweitzer, a Sterling Heights senior. "But I was happy to get the rest of the issue back because there were a lot of good articles."

University officials declined to answer questions about their action, but issued a statement saying Laniaya Hoofatt's article, "Settlement reached in Nemecek issue," contained inaccurate and incomplete information.

"The student newspaper is a legal entity of the university and as such has an obligation to adhere to the highest standards in reporting and journalistic integrity," the statement read.

The statement did not specify what was deemed inaccurate.

The article reported a settlement had been reached in Nemecek's equal employment opportunity complaint and that the terms were not disclosed.

It also included statements from the former John Nemecek that appeared on a blog posted by her son, myfathershe.blogspot.com.

The student editors acknowledge the story misidentified Nemecek's wife as Pam. The former professor's wife's name is Joanne.

That error could have been corrected in the next edition, said Mike Hiestand, attorney and legal consultant for the Student Press Law Center in Arlington, Va.

"That's why you have correction space in a newspaper," Hiestand said. "You do mess up on occasion."

But pulling the paper off the racks and ordering a student editor to self-censor seems to cross the line of ethical treatment of the press, he said.

"It may be legal, but it certainly is not the right thing to do," said Hiestand, who deals with similar issues at private colleges across the country.

It particularly rankled the student editors that Crusader stories on Feb. 8 and 15 about the Nemecek issue and the national press attention it has received were never called into question.

"We didn't get in trouble for that at all," Assistant Editor Aaron Mueller said.

The university has never had a prior-review policy, where administrators review material and have the right to edit and pull stories before publication. Such policies are common at other private colleges and high schools.

"It really is unclear to us what we can get away with and what we can't," Mueller said.

The Crusader's media board of directors -- consisting of students, professors and other campus constituencies -- will meet later this spring to discuss the issue, said Wally Metts, co-adviser of the newspaper and chair of the communications and media department.

"They're a great group of kids and they care about the community," Metts said.

Spring Arbor University erred in treatment of faculty member
Friday, March 30, 2007
Kalamazoo Gazette
By Maxine Thome

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW), the largest professional organization of social workers with more than 150,000 members worldwide, has firm policies regarding the ethical treatment of people who are of diverse gender expression or identity. As executive director of the NASW-Michigan Chapter, which represents more than 7,500 social workers from all across the state, I am writing to express our deep concern over the unethical and dehumanizing treatment and eventual firing of a transgender professor at Spring Arbor University.

The NASW policy on gender identity issues is clearly set forth in ``Social Work Speaks,'' and among other guidelines, its requirements include the following:

1. NASW ``promotes proactive efforts to eliminate psychological, social and physical harm directed toward transgender people and to portray them accurately and compassionately.''

2. NASW ``supports the development of programs within schools'' that ``educate students, faculty, and staff about the range of gender diversity.''

3. NASW ``endorses policies in the public and private sectors that ensure nondiscrimination, that are sensitive to the health and mental health needs of transgender people, and that promote an understanding of gender expression and identity issues.''

4. NASW ``encourages the repeal of laws and discriminatory practices that impede individuals from identifying with and/or expressing (their) gender.... in all areas of the public arena, especially employment.''

Spring Arbor University includes satellite educational facilities in 14 communities across Michigan. Students and community members learn not only by attending classes at Spring Arbor, but also by observing the actions of the school's administration.

When President Gayle D. Beebe and the Spring Arbor Executive Team removed Professor Julie Nemecek from her position as Dean of Adult Learning and severely curtailed her ability to perform her professorial duties, subsequently dismissing her from the university, they set a particularly poor example, not just for Spring Arbor students, but for the citizens of Michigan as well. Rather than teaching from a Christian perspective, they taught from a perspective of unfounded fear.

Whether Julie Nemecek is a woman, a man, or a transsexual, one thing is certain -- her gender is clearly female. She has always been a female, and this is confirmed by her health providers. No administrator, whether at Spring Arbor University or at any other such institution, can refute her gender status as a woman without risking a charge of practicing medicine without a medical license -- nor should they be able to challenge her status. Ethics, and even simple good manners, require that Julie Nemecek be treated with the same respect as any other faculty member who identifies as a woman or as a man.

I urge Spring Arbor University's administration to stop demanding that Julie Nemecek come to campus in men's clothing, when she is clearly a woman -- this is a very strange request, and would only be acceptable if you were to require all of your female faculty and staff to wear men's clothing at work. I further urge Spring Arbor University to return this fine professor to her job, both as a faculty member and as a dean.

President Beebe, how would you maintain your dignity and self respect if you were required to come to campus dressed as a woman, while knowing that you are a man? What your administration has required of Julie Nemecek is no less reprehensible than this.

I call upon the administration of Spring Arbor University to set a better example for their students and campus communities throughout Michigan. You may just have enough time left to use this as a learning experience for your administration, and thus as an example of a genuinely enriching educational process occurring at Spring Arbor University.

Maxine Thome is the executive director of the Michigan chapter of The National Association of Social Workers.

Opening student mail, federal crime?
By Todd A. Heywood
Originally printed 3/29/2007 (Issue 1513 - Between The Lines News)

SPRING ARBOR-- When Drew Hinkle ran into Kim Hayworth, the Director of Student Services at Spring Arbor University saying she needed to talk with him, he was leery. LBGT students fear being called in by this department because it is the department charged with punishment for students who break the rules.

When Hinkle, who is an out gay student, arrived at Hayworth's office, he was stunned to be handed a copy of Out Magazine that had been intercepted and opened. Hayworth told Hinkle it was okay for him to get Out Magazine and have it. However Hinkle says he was told they would prefer he have it delivered somewhere else.

Out Magazine arrives in a black plastic sleeve, much like pornography, which is against the rules for students at SAU to have or view.

Jamie also says a friend of hers who received packages from home also suffered from opened mail.

Officials from Spring Arbor University refused to return phone calls and emails on this situation.

U.S. Postal Inspector D. L. Carter says opening mail is a federal crime. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is the law enforcement arm of the United States Postal Service.

"The fact that they are a Christian college gives them no right or privilege to open first class mail that is not addressed to them directly," he said. "Absolutely it is a violation of federal law to open first class mail. It is protected by the sanctity of the seal." Read More...

Contract between LCC and Spring Arbor up in air
Settlement on transgender case offers no resolution
By Todd A. Heywood
Originally printed 3/22/2007 (Issue 1512 - Between The Lines News)

LANSING -The settlement between Julie Marie Nemecek and Spring Arbor University, the conservative Christian university south of Lansing which fired Nemecek last month for being transgender, may not resolve the ongoing concerns Lansing Community College has about a proposed partnership between the two entities.

LCC, Michigan's third largest community college, announced last year that it would partner with SAU to provide classes at a new multimillion dollar University Center Building at LCC. LCC officials say the contract has been on hold since the story of Nemecek, as well as anti-gay and other repressive policies of the organization have come to light.

"We are still investigating the relationships with our partners and how our policies align, including those of Spring Arbor," says LCC spokesperson Tess Brown. "Our equal opportunity and nondiscrimination policies are clear, and we are looking at it to see if contracting with an outside agency like Spring Arbor would violate our policies." Read More...