The Dear Dr. Taylor Campaign

Dear Dr. Taylor and Dr. Holloway,

This is a painful email to write and I was hoping to just be able to let this go and move forward. But after observing the situation, it is clear that things are not resolving or feeling any better for many of us.

I used to work at Samford and took a lot of pride in raising money for programs like the Micah Fellows and the Debate Team. My favorite initiative was the Big Give and it was such an honor to work with Samford alumni and engage them in ways they could give back to the university they loved. Through the Big Give, we received a lot of support for the Daniel House and I absolutely loved getting to know alumni who spent time at such a special place. I no longer work at Samford but my mother is an involved volunteer with the Legacy League (and a graduate of an Episcopal ministry program) and I continue to cheer on the Big Give and donate.

The decision to revisit your campus ministry policies and no longer allow Presbyterian and Episcopalian student ministries to participate isn't disappointing, it's devastating. Why now? What changed? As an Episcopalian, I'm sad but as a human who cares deeply for how your LGBTQ students and alumni feel, I'm flabbergasted. No one is asking you to host marriage ceremonies, they are just wanting to feel some compassion and affirmation from denominations that support them. Maybe to you it feels like a simple decision that just hones your Biblical beliefs on campus but the message you are sending is detrimental. It is telling your LGBTQ students that you'll tolerate them but you certainly won't let them have easy access to worship opportunities in spaces that truly accept them and don't want to change them. If that isn't what you intend, your messaging thus far hasn't disputed it. From the emails, lack of conversation with alumni and friends, and the recent video - it all sounds like this isn't important. That there is some sort of debate that we can have but that human hearts aren't on the line. That some unspoken Biblical orthodoxy is more important than providing students with multiple pathways to a relationship with Jesus.

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Dear President Taylor,

I graduated in 2014 and am one of the many students who have come out as LGBTQ+ since leaving Samford. I adored Samford and really made the most of it: three time Step Sing director, Senior RA, sorority executive council, SGA Senate Secretary, Entre Nous Yearbook staff, Samford Recruitment Team, senior class Homecoming court representative, and more. I have chosen to pursue a career in Christian higher education and student affairs because of how much I loved and was impacted by my time at Samford.

Despite how much I loved Samford, I also had a large challenge I faced while I was there. I realized in college that I experienced same-sex attraction. Having grown up in the church in the South then coming to Samford, everything I had ever encountered told me how wrong and sinful it was for me to have this attraction. I was horrified at myself. I went to Summer Beach Project with CO and tried to heal from my same-sex attraction. I started seeing a Christian therapist who helped me try to heal from this too. I prayed more, read my Bible more, and sought my relationship with Jesus more. And ultimately this attraction did not go away. I hated myself for it. The people I chose to trust with this information at Samford processed it with me as a sin struggle I needed to fight, which is how I viewed it myself. I dealt with anxiety in new ways that I had never experienced, and I began to struggle with depression.

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Dear Dr Taylor,

I am writing to express my disappointment with Samford’s recent decision to exclude churches from the campus because they support people from the LGBTQ+ community.

I am a 1998 graduate of Samford, and recently had a reunion with a group of fellow graduates in Birmingham. During that weekend we walked the campus, noting the changes and upgrades and reminiscing on our favorite memories. We also had an opportunity to affirm our support for our gay friend. You see, his biological family disowned him for a time, but we as his Samford family were able to let him know that we accept him just as he is. I believe this is a direct result of our time at Samford. You see, when we were there, we were taught to love all people. We spent our Spring Breaks in places like inner city Houston, TX on mission trips, we were active members of Student Ministries organizations, even serving on the council. Some of us even became ministers, and all of us firmly believe when questions of faith arise we should always, as one friend put it, “err on the side of love.”

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Dear Dr. Taylor:

I am a Samford alumna with a deep love and appreciation for Samford University that spans generations. I graduated in 1972 and my daughter graduated in 1998. I have always appreciated Samford’s commitment to academic excellence, diversity, hospitality, and ministry. During my daughter’s orientation session, one of the professors shared, “At Samford, we don’t ever want anyone to be afraid of an idea.” It was a blessing to know that what I had experienced during my Samford years, my daughter would be able to experience during hers.

So, I was shocked and dismayed to read recent news reports that indicate Samford is not only afraid of ideas, but also of brothers and sisters in Christ. I was stunned that two representatives from local Episcopalian and Presbyterian college ministries were not allowed to participate in an on-campus ministry fair due to their denominations’ affirmation of the LGBTQ community. This decision to exclude is contrary to Samford’s core values and the Biblical command to love our neighbors. It smacks of a narrow view political ideology rather than the expansive inclusive love of Jesus Christ.

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Dear Dr. Taylor,

Like many other Samford alumni and stakeholders from all walks of life, I, too, am dismayed and saddened by the latest backwards stance taken by Samford’s administration. I was saddened by prior actions of Samford’s administration when your predecessor rejected the Samford Together organization even though the organization had already navigated the byzantine process for approval, including gaining approval from the faculty senate. The latest decision to exclude certain other Christian organizations from campus because they themselves are inclusive, despite Samford’s long ecumenical tradition and spirit, is deeply troubling and harmful.

Others have also no doubt described Samford’s impact on their life and path. I’m a 2004 graduate of Samford University with a BS in Geography and a Minor in History. My family also has a long connection to Samford spanning my entire life. My four years at Samford, and my longer family affiliation and interactions with Samford, no doubt played a crucial role in forging my path. Indeed, many amazing Samford professors instilled a life-long love of learning, both on Samford’s campus and in study abroad programs.

My own Samford degree comes from within Samford’s Howard College of Arts and Sciences, which “inspires students to a lifetime of inquiry and service through engaged learning, faculty research and vocational discovery within the liberal arts and the Christian ethical and intellectual traditions.” The education I received at Samford encouraged me to cultivate a depth and breadth of learning and engagement, which in part led me on my path to becoming a professor. I’m currently an associate professor of geography at a large, diverse, comprehensive public university. In this role, in addition to teaching, I also conduct community engaged research about the processes and impacts of how places respond—inclusively, exclusively, or a mixture of responses—to vulnerable and historically marginalized populations, and how such responses in turn impact places and communities. In summary, places that encourage engagement with diverse perspectives and that are welcoming and inclusive tend to thrive, whereas places that limit engagement and that exclude tend to stagnate and decline. I also serve on my university’s Presidential Commission on LGBTQ+ Initiatives. This includes supporting and participating in the SafeSpace program, a campus-wide initiative that facilitates a visible message of inclusion, acceptance, and support to LGBTQ+ students, faculty, and staff. I describe this context so that you can understand the path that a Samford education has encouraged me to follow. Through these interactions and experiences, I regularly observe and experience that the institutional, organizational, faculty, staff, and administrative support and affirmation provided for LGBTQ+ students, faculty, and staff—who are all equally an important part of the community—are crucially important.

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Dr. Taylor,

Teaching LGBTQ+ individuals to internalize self-hatred and shame is the very opposite of love. Your LGBTQ students will have a higher suicide rate, higher probability of substance use disorder, and many other emotional scars that will take years to heal. If this is what you call love, it comes at much too high a cost.

You would better serve these students by encouraging them to find an affirming university that would better address their needs.

Thanks,
Joshua L. Bearden, PhD
Samford Class of 2004

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Dr. Taylor,

I am writing to you after I read about the decision to utilize the Guest Ministry Policy to ban two clergy members from the Episcopal Church and Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) from campus because of their denomination's stance on welcoming and affirming LGBTQI people. I believe this decision to exclude fellow Christians, who are offering a supportive community of faith to the LGBTQI students, faculty and staff goes against Samford's core values and the Biblical mandate to "love our neighbors."

My journey at Samford began in the fall of 1992. I chose Samford because it afforded me the opportunity to play on the football team and study in the Religion Department which would prepare me to answer my call to ministry. My time on the football team lasted one season, but my time in the Religion department lasted until graduation. It was in my Introduction to Old Testament course where my very sure belief about the sinfulness of homosexuality was challenged. The adjunct professor called into question the interpretation of a passage from the Hebrew text about homosexuality and I frantically grabbed my Bible, flipped to the concordance in the back and found a passage from the New Testament which explicitly, in my mind, refuted his claim. I raised my hand and when called upon proudly read the verse which supported my view that homosexuality is sinful and said, "Jesus calls us to love the sinner and hate the sin." He remarked, "Well, it seems maybe Christians have made a bit of progress."

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Dear Dr. Taylor,

Recently I was reminded of Martin Luther’s landmark assertion in “On the Freedom of a Christian” (a work I first encountered in a class taught by Dr. Brad Creed, by the way): “A Christian is an utterly free man, lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is an utterly dutiful man, servant of all, subject to all.” While Luther uses his master/servant metaphor to thread the needle between grace and works, I believe this paradox has some relevance to the current controversy in which Samford and your administration has become embroiled.

I am of course referring to the recent decision to uninvite or disallow affirming churches or their representatives from doing ministry on campus, a decision that I must confess I find absolutely baffling. If these rules did indeed exist when I was an undergraduate student between 2008 and 2012, I never once heard of their existence or witnessed their enforcement. During those years I was a frequent and vocal critic of the administration, and had there been a policy to point to, surely someone would have shown it to me in an attempt to shut me up. I was also a devoted student of Dr. Jim Barnette, and he never once mentioned such a policy existing during his tenure as minister to the university. In fact, I knew of at least one occasion where Jim invited someone to speak in convocation because that person was a gay Christian.

In every communication I have seen to date, both you and Phil Kimrey have repeatedly asserted the university’s right to limit engagement with affirming churches or their representatives. In this you are correct. You are, after all, “utterly free…subject to none.” But what about the rights of your students, alumni, and community partners to understand why this policy suddenly merits enforcement? What about our right to know how far you intend to take its enforcement? Will churches who ordain women soon face the litmus test of “biblical orthodoxy”? And what in the world would you do if a group of Jewish or Muslim students were to request services be held on campus?

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Dear Dr. Taylor,

The rejection and fear of homosexuals is wrong and thinking Christians everywhere should condemn it in the same way they should condemn sexism, racism, and anti-Semitism. Unfortunately, many think that the Bible gives them easy support for their prejudice against gays and lesbians. But as the late minister of Riverside Church, William Sloan Coffin, Jr., was fond of saying, too many Christians use the Bible as a drunk uses a lamppost – for support rather than illumination.

Only seven texts – four in Hebrew Scripture and three in the New Testament – mention what some people associate with homosexual behavior. The most common text of reference is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, typically cited as justification for condemning homosexual relationships today. But the story does not apply. It refers to dehumanizing homosexual rape, not homosexual relationships between two adults committed to each other in mutuality and love. In fact, the Bible itself includes interpretation of the story that is completely void of condemning homosexuality. Instead, the guilt of Sodom is pride, greed, and failure of aid the needy (Ezekiel 16:49). Condemnations of same-sex relations also occur in the New Testament, but again historical and social contexts make their usage to our own time inappropriate. One example among many others is that in the Greco-Roman world, “pederasty,” arranged erotic relationships between adult males and boys were common. We should not compare the dehumanization of such arrangements with the reciprocal love shared between homosexual partners.

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Dear Dr. Taylor,

Although there is dialogue to be had, we will go to what we consider to be the heart of prohibiting certain people and groups from participating in community/campus activities. We oppose the banning of people, whether Christian or non-Christian. God is love, and we need to love everyone. In doing so, we come closer to fulfilling the Great Commission. What Samford has done recently is a bad policy for Christian witness and bad policy for the University. We hope there is the spirit and the will to recognize this mistake and correct course.

Sincerely,

Robert F. Crider, Classes of 1961 and 1970

Barbara W. Crider, Class of 1962, Retired Faculty

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Dear Dr. Taylor,

Samford University had a gay mascot for two years. Unfortunately, the university did not know this.

Stepping out of the Spike the Bulldog costume back in '08 & '09 after a football game was far easier than coming out of the proverbial closet to my friends and family.

As it regards the recent decision by Samford to exclude certain Christian ministries from campus events, I would like to convey my disappointment.

Samford University was good to me. I consider my four years of an undergraduate education on that campus to be full of sacred memories. During the summer when the school empties and a stillness envelops the campus, there’s a spiritual feeling that seeps into your body that I still find incomparable.

When you love an institution but see when a serious mistake is being committed by it, you call on it to improve, to address its shortcomings, and to repair its wrongs.

In my estimation, this is one of those situations.

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Dear Dr. Taylor

I have started this letter several times trying to write something that would be moving enough to change your mind. I have realized that I only need to tell you how I feel & leave the rest up to the Lord.

I am, as many on this blog, a Samford graduate. I finished nursing school in 1980. I loved my time at Samford. I made great friends & met my husband there. I am a follower of Christ & I am also the mother of a gay son. I want to say that I knew my son was gay before he was old enough to go to school so I am convinced that homosexuality is biological and not a choice. How can a small child make that decision! I bet that there are lots of parents out there that could attest to the same thing. I also want you to know my son is happily married and that many of our Southern Baptist friends including our pastor attended his wedding and have been affirming to him in every way. For that, I am so grateful!

Since the news that was published last week about the exclusion of certain denominations from Samford's Ministry Fair because they affirm LGBTQ people, I have been heartbroken & angry. There are a multitude of Biblical doctrines that have been debated over the years and most Biblical scholars and Christians have differing beliefs on something in the Bible. I also believe, as quoted on americanprogress.com, that "God didn't finish talking to us in the first century (when the Bible was put together). God continues to interact with us on an ongoing basis ...The Biblical text for this is John 16: 12-13.” “I still have many things to say to you but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth...."

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Dear Dr. Taylor,

I have been staring at my laptop screen for the better part of half an hour wondering how best to convey to you both how deeply I care about my alma mater and how deeply disturbed I am by the recent news from the university. I graduated from Samford in 2014. During my time as a student, I represented the university as a Samford Ambassador, served on a committee for University Ministries, attended the Shiloh worship service weekly, participated in Greek life, received one of the inaugural Mann Center for Ethics and Leadership awards, and was one of three students to receive the Pittman Spirit Award at graduation. I say this not to boast of my accomplishments, rather, to emphasize my involvement and commitment to Samford.

Indeed, my connections to this institution run deep. My Samford story does not begin with my freshman year. It began back in 1946 when my granddaddy, Dr. Henlee Barnette, joined the faculty as a professor of sociology under the leadership of Dr. Harwell Goodwin Davis. During this time, Granddaddy was involved with various civil rights groups in Birmingham, such as The Jefferson County Negro Teachers Association. Members of this association began to seek equal pay for Black teachers. In his autobiography, Granddaddy notes that this was “a hot issue in early 1947.” An issue that did not align with Howard College’s mission, vision, or core values at the time. Therefore, he was asked to leave after just one year. In Henlee’s own words, “By the end of my second semester at Howard College, President Davis would no longer speak to me. I had not heeded his warning to lessen my sociological activism in the community. Just a few years later in 1951, he telephoned me and told me, ‘We made a mistake when we let you go.’” Granddaddy goes on to write that “Deeply gratifying to me at the time of this writing (2004) is that my son, Dr. James R. Barnette, is Minister to the University and a teacher in the department of Religion.” He appreciated a good full circle moment.

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Dear Dr. Taylor and Dr. Kimrey,

I have deep love and affection for the Samford faculty, staff, and students I met in my time as a student (2001-2005), staff member (2008-2016), and adjunct faculty member (2011-2016). During those years, I was blessed to connect with folks who embodied the university’s mission to nurture persons in their development of intellect, creativity, faith, and personhood. It means so much to me that I began my professional career in higher education at my alma mater, deepening my roots in the Samford community.

But any community can both include and exclude, both nurture and oppress.

Last week’s exclusion of Ukirk from the Church & Ministry Expo continues to send a strong message that LGBTQIA individuals and their allies are not welcome at Samford. Dr. Kimrey’s e-mail in response to these actions further demonstrate that Samford remains a space that marginalizes and others, rather than enacting the love of Christ by prioritizing equity and inclusion. I ask that you reconsider your interpretation and application of university policies, and I ask that you shift perspectives to consider how words and actions intended to demonstrate welcome and love are doing the exact opposite.

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Dear Dr. Taylor,

I am an alumna of Samford University. I am writing to you to express my shock, sadness and complete disbelief for actions recently taken under your purview regarding the sudden exclusion of several mainstream Protestant church denominations, including the PCUSA and the Episcopal Church because they are LGBTQ affirming. Please note that I heard about this decision from several well known news publications, including Inside Higher Ed and AL.com.

I graduated magna cum laude in 2012, double majored in International Relations and German and received a Fulbright Scholarship to Germany. I completed further studies at American University for a MA in International Affairs. Since moving to DC 8 years ago, I have met with, guided and advised Samford students interested in a career in International Relations. Recently, my recommendation helped secure a recent Samford grad with a position at my organization. I credit much of my success and achievements to my undergraduate education.

I fear the Samford of 10 years ago is not the Samford of today. I can no longer in good conscience recommend my alma mater. The value of my degree is degrading as Samford moves in the direction of Liberty University.

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Dear Dr. Taylor,

My name is Emily, and I am a graduate of the class of 2020. As a brief recap of my time at Samford, I was a member of the University Fellows program, majored in Communication Sciences and Disorders, and minored in Music and Spanish. I played multiple instruments in almost every musical ensemble on campus including marching band, orchestra, pep band, percussion ensemble, a string quartet, pit orchestra, and briefly jazz band. I was a member of the Samford Crew team for four years, and was Vice President of Regattas for two years. I am now a graduate student pursuing my doctorate of audiology at Purdue University.

I avoided campus ministries as much as possible during my time at Samford, with the exception of Home Groups. This is because I grew up ELCA Lutheran, and actively claimed that faith as my own while I was in high school. I felt significantly spiritually lonely while I was at Samford. Students, churches, bible studies, and campus ministries used language I didn’t agree with. They had a different concept about what a faith journey looked like. It wasn’t the politically controversial items I disagreed with, it was the small things: age of baptism, re-baptism, hearing people talk about how old they were when they “got saved.”

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President Taylor,

My name is Howard Hyche and I’m a member of the class of 1983. I recently read about Samford excluding two religious groups that share different views regarding LGBTQ students. These groups want to support these students. Although I’m not surprised by the decision, it still saddens me. This is a path that could harm many people. Historically, Southern Baptists have been on the wrong side of major social issues. Now you and Samford University have chosen the wrong side of this issue. Your name will forever be attached to this choice.

While I was a student at Samford I was lucky to have friends from many backgrounds. I have several fraternity brothers that are gay and I watched several of them consistently live out their Christian faith as they transitioned from students to working adults. Those were the ones that had the support of family and found an accepting church to support them. I have watched a few others turn away from their faith completely. They were rejected by their families and never found support in their conservative Christian community.

Most of these men came out as gay after Samford. There was not a formal student support group to help them and I know they felt out of place in the Samford bubble. I know one gay/bi Samford Student who was out during my time at Samford. He was not accepted by his family or church. He was ridiculed by other students and he acted out and chose a self destructive lifestyle. If SAFE Samford had existed or if he had found a supportive church back then his choices might have been different.

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Dear President Taylor,

I graduated from Samford in 2005 with a degree in Church Music. Serving as manager of the A Cappella Choir, drum major of the marching band, and president of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, I was active on campus as a leader and deeply invested in my studies. In the music department I knew several students who identified, quietly and to a select few friends, as gay. Becoming friends with these individuals, seeing up close how they dealt with a student body who overwhelmingly and outwardly believed their very existence was against God’s intended order, had a profound effect on me. It prodded me into growth; growth beyond the easy religiosity of my adolescence and my small ideas about God’s love.

No one taught me this at Samford, which I mean to be a compliment. I was not indoctrinated into LGBTQ acceptance. Neither was I indoctrinated into LGBTQ exclusion. Rather it was Samford’s core commitment to the liberal arts and its embrace of Baptist distinctives of soul freedom and religious inquiry which helped me grow. I am grateful for the space Samford afforded me to grow. I am indebted to the opportunities it gave me to be exposed to opinions and facts, even people who challenged me to become the person God has called me to be.

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Dear Dr. Taylor,

I am writing to you as an alumnus, neighbor, and converted Episcopalian. I was appalled at the recent decision by Campus Pastor Bobby Gatlin to “uninvite” Presbyterian and Episcopal college chaplains to a campus ministry fair because of their denomination’s stance supporting same-sex marriage. Mr. Gatlin’s bio on the Samford website is richly ironic when it states, “His hope is to see more and more Samford students growing in their faith and choosing to “walk the walk” every day." He might consider the following passages to help him "walk the walk" where Jesus welcomes all to His table:

· At a table he eats with a Pharisee and forgives a sinful woman. Luke 7:36-50

· When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. Luke 14:13.

Jesus came to knock down walls and widen the circle of inclusion, rather than draw theological and moral lines.

Sincerely,
Mark Whiteside

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Dr. Taylor,

Samford is dear to my heart, as I’m sure it is to yours. It prepared me well for the future, opening doors to grad school and a social work career that I love. It gave me four years of friendships, extracurricular activities, and support as I navigated young adulthood. It helped me grow.

It’s because of how special Samford is to me that I’m writing to you now. I read about the exclusion of LGBTQ-affirming churches from campus activities, and there was a time I would have understood that decision and genuinely believed that LGBTQ students could still feel welcome and thrive on campus. Unfortunately, that’s not true.

The research shows that LGBTQ students experience disproportionately high rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidality compared to the general population. However, these improve significantly when LGBTQ teens and young adults have family and social support. To put it simply, creating an inclusive environment literally saves lives. Welcoming LGBTQ students and connecting them with affirming churches saves lives. Precious lives that cannot be replaced.

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