Icon (Close Menu)

8 Dismissals and an Inquiry

General Theological Seminary’s Board of Trustees, issued this statement on September 30:

Yesterday, after much prayer and deliberation and after consulting our legal council, the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees of The General Theological Seminary voted with great regret to accept the resignations of eight members of the Seminary faculty. The Board came to this decision with heavy hearts, but following months of internal divisions around the future direction of General Seminary, some faculty [members’] demands for action not possible under the governing structure of the Seminary, and the eight faculty members’ refusal to teach, attend meetings, or even worship, it has become clear that this is the best path forward in educating our students and shaping them into leaders of the church. However, even after accepting the resignations, the Seminary is willing to meet with any former faculty member about the possibility of reconsidering the resignation.

Simultaneously, the Board of Trustees is conducting an internal investigation into certain allegations of statements made by the Dean and President. Further comment on the investigation, pending its outcome, would not help that process. We encourage everyone to withhold any further judgment or comment.

The primary concern of General Seminary continues to be the education and formation of our students. The Church is counting on us. This week Dean Dunkle and the remaining faculty are working on the best ways to continue teaching and advising and to assure all that we will continue to provide quality education and formation with the least amount of interruption possible. Our location in the heart of New York City affords us access to a wide range of resources, and we shall be drawing upon those resources to address any needs created by these resignations. We will share specifics with our students as these plans unfold.

Yesterday’s decision was not easy. For nearly 200 years, General Seminary has prepared more than 7,000 men and women as leaders in the Church. Dean Dunkle has helped that mission thrive as we advance it through the 21st century. While we may sometimes disagree, the commitment to our current students is a responsibility that the Board takes seriously. It is for their well-being alone that we came to this resolution, and pray that our decision was the right one.

Image of the Close at General Theological Seminary by Beyond My Ken (Own work) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Top headlines. Every Friday.

MOST READ

CLASSIFIEDS

Most Recent

Aribert Munzner’s Playfully ‘Ignorant’ Davening

Aribert Munzner claims that his drawings and paintings are not his “works” but rather his “play.”

Archives: Bryan Green Mission Awakens D.C. (1949)

Those who attended the mission throughout agreed unanimously that the people of Washington experienced a spiritual revival, conducted without undue or fanatic emotion, such as never before had been offered them, and they also are in agreement that “it can happen in the Episcopal Church.”

Welby Apologizes for ‘Frivolous’ Farewell Speech

Noting that “heads had to roll” in response to the Church of England’s safeguarding problems, he compared himself to a predecessor, whose head rolled down Tower Hill after being struck off during the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381.

Proposals Call for Decentering Canterbury’s Role in Anglican Communion

IASCUFO’s Nairobi-Cairo Proposals suggest a “narrow revision” of the 1930 Lambeth Conference’s classic description of the Communion that decenters the phrase “in communion with the See of Canterbury,” as well as a term-limited, rotating presidency for the Anglican Consultative Council.