22
October 2014 A.D. General
Seminary, NYC—Profs Accept Provisional Jobs
No
author. “General Seminary faculty
returning to work, devoted to reconciliation.” Episcopal
News Service. 21 Oct
2014. http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2014/10/21/general-seminary-faculty-to-return-to-work-devoted-to-reconciliation/.
Accessed 22 Oct 2014.
[Episcopal News
Service] In a letter to Bishop Mark Sisk, chair of the board of trustees for
the General Theological Seminary, the eight striking faculty members have
accepted the board’s invitation to
accept “provisional reinstatement” and to enter a process of reconciliation. A
conflict between eight of the 11-member faculty and the Very Rev. Kurt Dunkle,
who became GTS dean and president in July 2013, was made public late in
September when e-mails and letters from the departing professors to students
were circulated and the professors announced a work stoppage.
The full text of the
Oct. 20 letter to Sisk follows.
Dear Bishop Sisk,
Thank you for your
invitation to come together to find a way forward.
We
receive this invitation in the
good faith in which it is offered.
Thank you also for acknowledging
that healing is not an easy thing to accomplish; we
are appreciative of both the alacrity with which
you seek to facilitate our return to work
and the attention you are giving to a long-term process of
reconciliation for the entire Seminary community.
We accept your offer of
reinstatement to our positions, and the salaries and benefits outlined in our
contracts in effect prior to September 25, 2014. We look forward to being able
to do this as soon as possible. Like any member of the Seminary’s faculty we
agree to abide by the terms of the Seminary Constitution, Bylaws and policies.
Given some of the confusion that has arisen about these texts in recent weeks,
we will need you to provide us with copies of them: this would help us as we
seek together to work within them. We are pleased to see that during the
“cooling off period” all of the parties’ respective legal arguments and
positions will be reserved.
We also commit with
energy to the holy work of reconciliation which we understand to be
very important for the health of the entire institution and all
of its constituent members: faculty, board, administration, staff and students
alike. You mentioned in a telephone conversation the
possibility of using a Mennonite group to
facilitate this process. We heartily accept this proposal,
since we have great respect for their
expertise in this area.
If, God forbid, at
the end of the academic year we find that
the collective process of reconciliation has not worked
well, we ask that there be
some understanding that appropriate severance will be
made available to enable us and our families to make a
transition. Lest we be misunderstood here, let us state
clearly that we will devote ourselves fully to
the difficult work of reconciliation this year.
As you know,
one of our principal concerns has been to ensure that the
seminary workplace be one of mutual respect and
collegiality. As we move forward and return to our work,
we ask that you consider the appointment of an
ombudsperson agreeable to all sides who would act
during this “cooling off period” as an interlocutor and safe person to
whom complaints could be referred if need be. This will help all of us to feel
less on edge and safer, and so will be an indispensible means of helping the
process of reconciliation to work well.
As an important sign of
our movement forward together, any public acknowledgement of these agreements
should be issued together.
Thank you for this very
positive step forward for the sake of our Seminary, our students, and staff and
God’s church.
Yours sincerely,
Professors Davis, DeChamplain, Good, Hurd, Irving, Kadel, Lamborn, Malloy.
Professors Davis, DeChamplain, Good, Hurd, Irving, Kadel, Lamborn, Malloy.
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