wfn.org | UMNS# 04557-Hispanic caucus calls for restoration of Iliff

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Hispanic caucus calls for restoration of Iliff president 

Nov. 24, 2004	 News media contact:   Linda  Green * (615) 7425470* 
Nashville {04557}

NOTE: Photographs and related resources are available at http://umns.umc.org.

MILWAUKEE (UMNS) - The United Methodist Church's Hispanic caucus is calling
for the reinstatement of the Rev. David Maldonado as president of Iliff
School of Theology, and the organization says it will encourage
Hispanic/Latino students not to enroll at the seminary if "institutional
racism issues" are not satisfactorily addressed.

MARCHA took the action during its Nov. 19-21 annual meeting, three weeks
after the Denver school received a public warning from the United Methodist
Church's University Senate and Commission on Religion and Race. The warning,
issued Nov. 2, followed a review team's report that leadership problems and
cultural insensitivity led to the abrupt retirement of the former president
last May.

The caucus expressed "outrage for the injustice and mistreatment done by
Iliff against Dr. David Maldonado." It stated that if the seminary does not
make significant changes before the end of the spring semester, MARCHA's
executive committee will discourage Hispanic/Latino students from enrolling
at Iliff.

The Rev. J. Philip Wogaman, interim president of Iliff since Sept. 1, said
MARCHA has not been in touch with the school, but he has seen the caucus'
resolution.

"Iliff is implementing all of the recommendations of the review team,"
Wogaman said Nov. 24. "With all due respect, I am not sure that MARCHA fully
understands this complex situation. I would welcome dialogue with them."

In its report, the review team said that "failures to assert appropriate
leadership by the board of trustees, the unwillingness of some faculty
members to recognize and respect different leadership styles, as well as not
letting go of traditional norms and behaviors to allow for an inclusive
institutional transformation, contributed to the problems that President
Maldonado and the institution faced."

It issued the warning after determining that "institutional racism was a
major, significant factor" leading to Maldonado's departure.  

Iliff is one of 13 theological schools affiliated with the United Methodist
Church. The University Senate, an elected church body of higher education
professionals, determines what schools, colleges, universities and seminaries
meet the criteria for affiliation with the denomination. The commission is
the church's racial advocacy and monitoring agency. Representatives of both
organizations were on the eight-member review team.

MARCHA is an unofficial church caucus based in San Marcos, Texas. Its full
name, translated from Spanish, means Methodists Associated Representing the
Cause of Hispanic Americans. 

Maldonado, who served at Iliff from June 2000 to May 26, was the first
Hispanic president to lead a United Methodist seminary. 

In a parting letter to trustees, Maldonado said the faculty resisted his
leadership. Some faculty leaders accused him of being too theologically
conservative or moderate and said that he did "not fit" or was "culturally
different," he wrote. In addition, he said, he felt pressured to leave by
faculty leadership and some trustees.

The Rev. German Acevedo-Delgado, MARCHA president, presented the resolution
supporting Maldonado during a plenary discussion of Iliff's actions. The
resolution stated that Iliff disguised the circumstances of Maldonado's
departure with retirement language in the announcement that he was leaving.

The caucus called on the seminary to reinstate Maldonado to the presidency
and to issue a public apology to him and the Hispanic/Latino community.
Should Maldonado choose not  to return to his former position, he should be
compensated with the equivalent of his salary until age 65, MARCHA said. 

The resolution also advocates for the "well-being of other racial ethnic
minorities working or studying at Iliff, and for the quality of theological
education in the United Methodist Church."  The caucus cited findings of
intimidation against Maldonado's supporters.

"We were appalled by the intent to intimidate Dr. Eunjoo Kim due to her
support to Dr. Maldonado," the resolution stated. "The assembly of MARCHA
commends Dr. Eunjoo Kim for her integrity and courage. 

"Integrity, courage, taking a stance against injustice and bigotry are values
that any school of theology should be instilling in the members of its
community. Iliff needs to take steps to redress the injustice against Dr.
Maldonado, against Dr. Kim and against all the people struggling to overcome
racism."

Wogaman said he has reviewed Kim's case "very carefully" and it is being
handled confidentially through Iliff's normal procedures.

Five of Iliff's 20 faculty members are racial ethnic minorities. The ethnic
faculty members issued a statement criticizing the review team's report for
not adequately reflecting their comments during the investigation. 

The University Senate's public warning following the review served notice
"that if the problems are not corrected, Iliff's support from the United
Methodist Ministerial Education Fund can be withdrawn." The fund contributed
$900,000 to the school's $5.14 million budget last year.

Iliff has carried out about half of the review team's recommendations, and
the rest should be done in the next few months, Wogaman said.

The review team's recommendations included holding a celebration event for
Maldonado, and Wogaman said he has been in touch with the former president.
"I have already communicated clearly with him that we are prepared and would
be happy to do that. ... He declines to have that done, at least at this
time."

In addition, the team said Iliff should arrange an appointment in the church
for Maldonado. "We are not the appointing authority in the United Methodist
Church or in this (regional) conference," Wogaman said. "However, we have
made moves in the direction of helping to encourage that - again, subject to
his approval. We're quite open to that with the understanding that we don't
have appointive power for any other part of the church."

Iliff has "strong commitments toward inclusiveness," Wogaman said. Beyond the
current situation, he said the school is seeking ways to serve the Hispanic
community in the Denver region. "I would welcome the opportunity to discuss
that with MARCHA."

In other action, MARCHA members:
7	Welcomed the Rev. Miguel Albert-Lopez as the new national coordinator
for the National Plan of Hispanic/Latino Ministry, effective Jan. 1. Members
also learned of the establishment of a new National Coordinating Committee
that works with the plan's national office and the national coordinator; 
7	Learned of the national plan's efforts to work with ministries in
Brazilian communities in the United States. 
7	Elected the Rev. Ana Haydie Urda as president; the Rev. Michael Rivas
as vice president; and Oscar Garza as treasurer, re-elected Mary Silva as
executive director of the caucus. 
7	Passed a resolution advocating establishing a structure in the new
Division on Ministries with Young People at the United Methodist Board of
Discipliship that would work on networking and training Hispanic/Latino youth
and young adult leadership in the church.

 
News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

The text of the resolution follows.

Resolution Regarding Iliff School of Theology

The Assembly of MARCHA, gathered on November 19 to 21, 2004 expresses its
outrage for the injustice and mistreatment done by Iliff against Dr. David
Maldonado.

The joint report of the University Senate and the General Commission on
Religion and Race review team on the Iliff situation recommended that Iliff
School of Theology be placed on immediate "listing with public warning." The
public warning was issued after identifying that "institutional racism was a
major, significant factor" leading to the dismissal of Dr. Maldonado.  The
circumstances related to the dismissal of Dr. Maldonado were hidden,
skillfully disguised with the retirement language that was used by Iliff to
announce the departure of Dr. Maldonado.  The joint report is in agreement
with the initial findings of MARCHA's investigation on this matter.

Even when MARCHA's intervention was prompted by the mistreatment of Dr. David
Maldonado, one of our distinguished members, we are concerned for the well
being of other racial ethnic minorities working or studying at Iliff, and for
the quality of theological education in The United Methodist Church.  We were
appalled by the intents to intimidate Dr. Eunjoo Kim due to her support to
Dr. Maldonado.	The assembly of MARCHA commends Dr. Eunjoo Kim for her
integrity and courage.	We also commend Rev. Dr. Gil Caldwell, a former
member of the Iliff Board of Trustees,	for once more taking a clear stance
against bigotry.  Other racial ethnic minority faculty also provided valuable
information to the initial research done by MARCHA.  We salute all of them
without mentioning their names as they wished, and celebrate their
long-standing struggle against racism and for inclusiveness.

Integrity, courage, taking a stance against injustice and bigotry are values
that any school of theology should be instilling in the members of its
community.  Iliff needs to take steps to redress the injustice against Dr.
Maldonado, against Dr. Kim and against all the people struggling to overcome
racism.

Therefore, the 33rd assembly of MARCHA calls on Iliff to do the following:

1.  Make a public apology to Dr. David Maldonado and to the Hispanic/Latino
community;

2. After completing the recommendations of the review team,  take steps to
serve the needs of racial-ethnic minorities and their churches in a more
intentional and organized way;

3. Reinstate Dr. David Maldonado to the presidency of Iliff. If Dr. Maldonado
does not wish to return to Iliff, then Iliff shall compensate Dr. Maldonado
with an amount equivalent to his full salary until the retirement age of 65.

Be it further resolved that the Executive Committee of MARCHA is hereby
instructed to follow up on this matter by being in communication with the
General Commission on Religion and Race and monitoring the progress of Iliff
on justly addressing the aforementioned concerns.  If needed, the Executive
Committee on MARCHA shall strongly request from the General Board of Higher
Education and Ministry, the General Commission on Religion and Race, the
General Council on Finance and Administration, the General Board of Global
Ministries, and the Committee on Hispanic/Latino Ministries that no funds
from the United Methodist Church be available to Iliff until such time as the
institutional racism issues are satisfactorily addressed and justice has been
done to Dr. David Maldonado. Also, if significant changes do not occur before
the end of the Spring 2005 semester,  the Executive Committee of MARCHA will
discourage Hispanic/Latino students from enrolling at the Iliff School of
Theology
 .

Copies of this resolution will be sent to all the general agencies and the
racial-ethnic minority caucuses within the United Methodist Church. 

Approved by the Assembly of MARCHA on November 20, 2004.

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United Methodist News Service