wfn.org | Iliff Students Continue Protest

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (168
notes).

Note 167 by UMNS on June 19, 1997 at 15:44 Eastern (4618 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Thomas S. McAnally                 355(10-21-30-71B){167}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470             June 19, 1997

Iliff School of Theology students
suspend hunger strike, protests

                 by United Methodist News Service

     A student protest against "authoritarian leadership and
institutional racism" at United Methodist-related Iliff School of
Theology in Denver was suspended June 17 following an agreement
between school officials and students.
     The agreement, yet to be approved by Iliff's Board of
Trustees, which meets June 24, calls for continued mediation and
creation of a "Board of Diversity."  The new board, composed of
students, staff, faculty and administrative representatives, will
be asked to prepare a job description by Jan. 1, 1998, for a
senior administrator of color.  It will also monitor on-going
progress towards diversity.
     Iliff President Donald Messer called the agreement a
"positive move to deal with the differences."  Amy Wake, a third-
year, master of divinity student and spokesperson for the
protestors, said,  "We feel hopeful that the board of trustees
will affirm the positive direction in which we have begun to
move."
     Five students had been on a fast and hunger strike since May
14 when they were arrested by Denver police for trespassing in the
school's chapel after the normal 10 p.m. closing hour. 
Subsequently school officials announced they were seeking to have
the charges dismissed.
     One of the key issues for the students surfaced a year ago
when the Iliff board of trustees refused to grant tenure to and
retain Paula Nesbitt, an assistant professor of sociology of
religion.  After months of protests Nesbitt, who is white, was
granted tenure but resigned.
     Messer said that after considering confidential documents and
hearing opinions of the faculty personnel committee and the
candidate herself, the board at its January 1997 meeting reached a
"mutually satisfactory" legal agreement with Nesbitt whereby she
would gain tenure and promotion but resign. Neither the faculty
nor the administration is asking the board to reconsider its
action, he said.
     Nesbitt has been employed as visiting associate professor of
sociology at the University of Denver, another United Methodist-
related institution. She will teach classes, advise and mentor
students and serve as a consultant to the university's working
group for the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility.
     Calling the protesting students "prophetic," Nesbitt said she
has "really valued how students have sought to live their beliefs
and to act on what they believe, consistent with what they have
been learning about the gospel."
     Throughout the protest, students have challenged the school's
commitment to ethnic and cultural diversity and criticized Messer
for not hiring a senior administrator of color during his 16-year
term as president at Iliff.  
     Iliff has 17 full-time faculty members, three of whom are
people of color.  One woman of color left the faculty at the close
of the 1996-97 academic year. In addition, there are four white
administrators, three of whom teach part-time on a regular basis. 
The school has 343 students.
     Messer said women of color are being invited to fill two
faculty vacancies and a theologian from Zimbabwe has been hired
for five years as visiting assistant professor of theology and
social theory.
     At a June 7 luncheon during the Rocky Mountain Annual
Conference sessions in Fort Collins, Colo., Messer said the
academic year had been "heart-breaking" for him. "As a person and
pastor who for a lifetime has sought to demonstrate a commitment
to inclusiveness, who has fought against racism in many forums,
and promoted diversity and ecumenism, I have been deeply wounded
by various allegations and anathemas targeted at me and at Iliff." 
     In contrast to the difficulties on campus, Messer pointed to
the completion of a $6 million campaign; construction of a new
educational center that will open in October; a new Doctor of
Ministry program in Preaching and Pastoral Leadership; and new
programs aimed at strengthening the outreach of the school to the
church and community.
     He also noted that the school has had a balanced operating
budget during his 16-year presidency, and that the endowment fund
has reached $27 million.
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