Profs ask administration to draft new proposal after committee deliberates.
By Joann Groff
Assistant Sports Editor
The Seaver Faculty Association announced Wednesday it had approved a proposal that asks Pepperdine administrators to remove a controversial statement on sexual relations in the faculty handbook. The decision, reached by private ballot, also requests that administrators draft a new statement in conjunction with a faculty committee.
The implementation of the new faculty sexual relations policy in the Seaver Faculty Handbook at the beginning of the 2002 academic year drew considerable faculty ire.
The policy states: “Pepperdine University affirms that sexual relationships are designed by God to be expressed solely within a marriage between husband and wife. Sexual relations of any kind outside the confines of marriage are inconsistent with the teaching of Scripture . . . therefore, as a matter of moral and faith witness, all members of the university are expected to avoid such conduct themselves and to refrain from encouraging it in others . . . Sexual misconduct, depending on the facts and circumstances of each case, may result in disciplinary action.”
Faculty members had a variety of complaints against the current statement, including a perceived discrimination against homosexuals, invasion of privacy and the threat of disciplinary action on adults.
The SFA committee originally attempted to redraft a sexual relations statement on its own, but was unable to draft a policy that the majority of faculty members could agree on. Instead, the SFA opted to vote, by secret ballot, on two orders of business: one, whether to request the administration remove the policy, and two, whether to recommend the establishment of a committee to formulate a more agreeable statement.
A cardboard box set up for this purpose filled up over the last few weeks, and the results were announced at an SFA meeting Wednesday morning. Eighty-four faculty members voted to approve the recommendations, while 30 went against. The 114 votes were representative of a 60 percent response.
The next step is submitting this proposal, made up of the two recommendations, to Seaver’s administration. University officials are expected to make a decision before next year’s handbook is printed.
Seaver faculty proposal
“We ask Seaver administration to remove the current statement on
sexual relations.
“We recommend that Pepperdine administration in concert with the University Faculty Council formulate a statement on sexual relations that will be both satisfactory to the Board of Regents and also consistent throughout the university. To that end, we recommend the formation of an ad hoc group composed of interested and expert faculty members and administration throughout the university.”
April 03, 2003