Any list of the two or three most influential evangelical Protestant colleges and universities in America has to include Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Hang around at Council of Christian Colleges and Universities gatherings (I was a senior fellow and journalism professor for 20 years) and you’ll hear chatter about the “Calvin mafia” that has long provided intellectual clout shaping trends and programs nationwide. In other words, what happens at Calvin doesn’t stay at Calvin.

You could say that was the Big Idea in this week’s “Crossroads” podcast (CLICK HERE to tune that in), which focused on a Religion News Service story with this headline: “Fallout over LGBTQ spouses at Calvin University captures broader evangelical divide.” The second line: “A same-sex wedding led the university to split with its longtime research center over Christian teaching on sexuality.” Before we look at the overture, let’s jump down to a crucial passage in this story:

Provost Noah Toly did confirm that all faculty and staff, including those at the center, are required to follow the school’s employment policies, which bar sex outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. He also said that hiring managers and supervisors are required to enforce the policy.

“Employment policies” is a rather secular way of stating that Calvin has a doctrinal statement linked to its ties to the Christian Reformed Church. It’s safe to assume that, at some point, faculty and staff sign a copy of that statement or a “lifestyle covenant” that states the doctrines in practical terms. At some schools, faculty and staff reaffirm that doctrinal statement/covenant every year.

When we are talking about defining the boundaries of a voluntary association of this kind — an explicitly Christian liberal-arts university — “doctrines” are more important than “policies.” Keep that quote from the provost in mind as you read the top of this RNS story. This is long, but crucial:

For years, Calvin University, a leading evangelical school in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has tried to walk a fine line of being welcoming to LGBTQ students while still enforcing traditional Christian Reformed Church views on sexuality.

The school sponsors a support group for gay students, gave an alumni award to an LGBTQ graduate and last year saw a gay undergrad elected as student body president.

But after a Calvin professor officiated a wedding last fall for an LGBTQ staffer at a campus-based research center, putting both employees in violation of school policy, school leaders tried to resolve the matter quietly. The Center for Social Research, part of the school since the 1970s, was allowed to spin off and the staffer was able to stay. 

What does “spin off” mean, precisely? It’s hard to tell, from this RNS report or from the language in an earlier story in The Chimes, the student newspaper. The key: Does the center have its own board of trustees or is it, in any way, linked to Calvin and/or the CRC?

If the provost is correct — noting that all faculty and staff, including those at the center, sign the doctrinal statement — then why did the revised status of the Center for Social Research protect the staff member in that same-sex marriage? Let’s keep reading.

Things changed … when Chimes, the Calvin student newspaper, broke news about the reason for the split.  Chimes later interviewed Nicole Sweda, the Calvin staffer whose marriage led the CRS to leave Calvin.

 “I’m not going to be ashamed for being queer,” Sweda, who ultimately quit her job in order to speak openly about her wedding, said in the Chimes interview. “I’m not going to be ashamed for being married to Annica.”

The events reveal the dilemma facing many Christian schools, who want to welcome a diverse range of students to their campus while upholding their beliefs that marriage is for one man and one woman and that sex outside marriage is sinful.

Then there is this important thesis paragraph:

Striking that balance has become increasingly difficult in recent years as more and more young Americans, including students at Christian schools, identify as LGBTQ — a recent Gallup survey found that 1 in 5 Americans born between 1997 and 2003 say they are LGBT. Most younger Americans also see LGBT inclusion as a nonnegotiable, which puts them at odd with conservative older Christian leaders and evangelical institutions.

Of course, this isn’t really about “evangelical” theology at all — since a wide variety of Christian groups and other world religions teach that sex outside of marriage is sinful, while retaining a traditional definition of marriage. Ask any Catholic school administrator about that. Ditto for officials at Brigham Young University. And so forth and so on.

Here’s another question from the podcast: So conservative schools are shrinking and progressive schools are growing?

Let’s stick with Calvin, right now. I have been on that campus six or seven times in recent decades and have taken part in many discussions about what the school does or doesn’t teach on these matters.

I do know that Calvin affirms that it is one thing for members of its community to say they are gay or that they are attracted to members of the same sex, but it’s something else for them to be sexually active in a same-sex relationship of any kind. In other words, orientation is not the same thing as same-sex activity. A student could, for example, be “out” as gay, lesbian or trans, yet say that they are not sexually active and, thus, are honoring the doctrinal covenant.

For more on that issue, see this story from WZZM, Channel 13, the ABC affiliate in Grand Rapids:

Anti-LGBTQ sign at Calvin University sparks students speaking out, silent sit-in protest

The University sent a letter to students saying, in part, it "failed to live up to the community's high standards," and the demonstration was not approved.

However, the crucial question looming in the background is this: Is the Calvin faculty united in support of the doctrines of their school’s sponsoring denomination? Do some professors and administrators have their fingers crossed?

That’s the question that will interest parents of students considering Calvin. It will certainly interest Calvin trustees and, thus, it is a question journalists need to be asking if they want to cover these debates. And remember, what happens at Calvin doesn’t stay at Calvin.

With that in mind, note this important story from The Chimes a year ago: “One-third of professors sign letter opposing CRC sexuality report.” Read this carefully:

Nearly 150 professors and staff sent a letter opposing the Christian Reformed Church’s report on sexuality to President Michael Le Roy and the Confessional Commitments and Academic Freedom committee on December 10, 2020. The report, if adopted by Synod, would classify the CRC’s position on same-sex marriage and gender identity as already confessional.

The signees, a third of Calvin’s faculty, wrote, “The report and its potential adoption by Synod could undermine the academic freedom of faculty and our standing as a reputable academic institution in the Reformed tradition.”

According to letter organizer Emily Helder, a psychology professor, not every signee identifies as LGBTQ-affirming. The faculty and staff who signed are concerned about the scholarship underlying the report, academic freedom and the declaration of confessional status, said Helder.

The letter states, “Adoption of the report’s claims regarding confessional status would cause harm to our Reformed community by severely impairing staff and faculty’s ability to care for our LGBTQ students in the way that our conscience dictates and the scholarship supports. While staff are not required to sign the Covenant for Faculty Members, some would consider working for an institution for whom the report was afforded confessional status a violation of conscience.”

After the report was posted on a faculty Facebook group in late October, education professor Clarence Joldersma and others suggested that faculty and staff write a letter to administration, expressing their worries.

Obviously, there are complex issues here. Note, for example, the statement that Calvin staff are “not required to sign the Covenant for Faculty Members.” The implication is that there are multiple covenants on campus, with varying degrees of affirmation of church teachings. Reporters will want to know how these doctrinal statements differ when addressing basic issues of moral theology.

Meanwhile, journalists covering events at Calvin — and other Christian colleges and universities — may want to save this copy (.pdf here) of the latter from the Calvin faculty members who were challenging the contents, methodology or authority of the Christian Reformed Church document on sexuality. It’s also interesting to read Calvin’s evolving policies on proper and improper language in campus life, including on gender issues.

One more time: What happens at Calvin doesn’t stay at Calvin.

Enjoy the podcast and, please, pass it along to others.

FIRST IMAGE: Social-media image included on a Change.org petition, calling for Calvin University to condemn anti-LGBTQ activism on campus.