Baptist Seminary President Accused of Sexual Harassment by Students Says Accreditors Believe School Must Rebuild Trust
A Baptist seminary president accused of sexually harassing two female students and one female employee said that following an investigation by the school's accreditors, the Association of Theological Schools is asking that the John Leland Center for Theological Studies administration rebuild its lost trust.
"We've still got a ways to go. We've got to rebuild the trust between faculty, president, students, staff and trustees. They want us to continue to talk to each other. It needs to be an on-going process, not just a one-time discussion," President Mark J. Olson told The Christian Post.
Earlier this year, the three women who were frustrated with the manner in which the Leland administration handled their case, asked the school's accreditors to do its own investigation.
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The events that prompted this, as one student recounted as reported by Inside Higher Ed, is that upon meeting Olson, she attempted to shake his hand, but instead the gesture turned into a "totally unwelcomed and uninvited," hug.
"We had just met, we were alone in a closed room in an empty building, this was a professional interview and he was in a position of power in deciding the fate of my application for admission," she wrote. She also noted that other times she felt that Olson had "put her in a sort of headlock position" and kissed the top of her head, hugged her for an uncomfortably long time and followed her around.
Jim Melson, an adjunct and director of spiritual formation at Leland who advocated on behalf of the women to the administration, told Inside Higher Ed that they had hoped Olson would at least have taken a temporary leave of absence.
"Under the circumstances, stepping away, at least for a semester while getting counseling, was what the faculty felt was a baseline for moving forward in a healthy way," he told Inside Higher Ed. "The best resolution would be the acceptance of the faculty motion and the restoration of the women on campus."
None of the women are still at Leland. Two administrators and at least one faculty member have announced their resignation from the school related to the accusations.
The school's trustees and administrators ultimately agreed in October and again in May 2013 to warn, but not punish, Leland's president. Darrel Foster, chair of the board, defended Leland's decision to keep Olson as president, saying it would have been a "complete overreaction" and also one that violated the school's policies.
That decision, according to Inside Higher Ed, hinged on the facts that during interviews, the women said there was no unwanted touching or solicitation of sexual favors, none of them ever confronted Olson about his behavior, and they did not think his actions were "sexually motivated," Foster said.
While Foster did not believe the actions, which another woman characterized "excessive touching on the arms, backs and rubbing of the hands upon meeting a person" were sexually motivated, "the purpose of the disciplinary action was primarily, more than anything else, to make sure Olson was aware that any type of physical behavior that was perceived in a way other than he intended was nevertheless still a problem," he said.
ATS was called in to investigate whether they followed the appropriate policies, not adjudicate over the events themselves.
Lester Ruiz, who is the director of Accreditation and Institutional Evaluation at ATS told CP in an email that the committee prepared a report that included "recommendations, which will be submitted to the Board of Commissioners for action."
"The board is meeting toward the end of June 2014, at which time, it will act on the report's recommendations," he wrote.
Olson said that Leland's board of trustees had rewritten the school's sexual harassment policies, which had previously been inconsistent and vague across the student, employee and faculty levels. He added that he was pleased that ATS had not announced any sanctions and called their visit "on the whole a positive experience."
"It is counterintuitive that a seminary that prides itself on the pursuit of developing transformational leaders for the advancement of Christ's kingdom models the exact opposite," a student who had accused Olsen wrote in her report. "The board of trustees should be ashamed to act on behalf of a Christian institution in a way so counter to the calling of Christ."
