Lawsuits by Seattle Pacific University, students and faculty over anti-LGBTQ hiring practices produce inconclusive rulings

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Seattle Pacific University sued the state of Washington, alleging a violation of religious freedom. The lawsuit emerged after the state’s attorney general launched an investigation into whether the school’s hiring practices discriminate against LGBTQ+ people. Some students as well as faculty members sued the school, alleging its policies resulted in a breach of fiduciary duty. 

Key Players

Seattle Pacific University (SPU), a private Christian institution founded in 1891 by Free Methodist pioneers, describes its mission as “engaging the culture and changing the world by graduating people of competence and character, becoming people of wisdom, and modeling grace-filled community.” As of fall 2022, its enrollment was 3,114. 

The Free Methodist Church (FMC), an evangelical Christian denomination formed in 1860, cites core values of “life-giving holiness, love-driven justice, Christ-compelled multiplication, cross-cultural collaboration, and God-given revelation.” 

State Attorney General Bob Ferguson is Washington’s chief legal officer.  

Further Details

In January 2021, Jeaux Rinedahl, a gay adjunct nursing professor whose contract was canceled, filed a lawsuit against SPU, alleging employment discrimination based on his sexual orientation. The lawsuit was later settled out of court. 

Afterward, efforts to change an anti-LGBTQ+ employment policy at SPU persisted. Employees “are expected to refrain from sexual behavior that is inconsistent with the University’s understanding of Biblical standards, including cohabitation, extramarital sexual activity, and same-sex sexual activity,” the policy states.  

In April 2021, faculty took a vote of no confidence in the board of trustees after it refused to amend the policy and failed to remove its statement on human sexuality that “sexual experience is intended between a man and a woman.” 

In response, a campus group was formed to assess how SPU could maintain its religious identity while expanding LGBTQ+ inclusivity. But efforts were allegedly interfered with after trustees leaked documents to leaders in the broader FMC denomination. 

In May 2021, the board declined the group’s recommendations, reportedly because they would have created tension with the FMC. The anti-LGBTQ hiring policies were thus maintained.

Dissatisfied students organized a sit-in and other protests, advocating for a more inclusive policy.

In a survey by the undergraduate student government and graduate psychology students at SPU, nearly 87% of students and 73% of staff at the university disagreed with the school’s anti-LGBTQ+ employment policy. Seattle Pacific LGBTQ+ Protest, a campus coalition, raised over $50,000 to support legal action against the board for failing to change the policy.  

On June 8, 2022, Ferguson notified SPU of “an inquiry to determine whether the University is meeting its obligations under state law,” specifically whether its employment policies were discriminatory “on the basis of sexual orientation.” 

On July 27, SPU filed a federal lawsuit to block the investigation, later announcing it had “asked a federal district court to step in and protect its freedom to choose employees on the basis of religion, free from government interference or intimidation.” Lori Windham, a lawyer representing SPU, told Sojourners that “leadership discerned the lawsuit was both necessary and imperative to protect the university’s religious identity.” 

Chloe Guillot, an SPU graduate and an inclusive policy advocate, said the lawsuit did not represent the community. 

Seattle Pacific LGBTQ+ Protest stated that the lawsuit was “not an issue of religious freedom; rather it’s an issue of the people in power failing to uphold the university’s commitment to its own community.” 

Then in September 2022, faculty and current and former students filed a lawsuit against members of SPU’s board of trustees alleging breach of fiduciary duty and other claims in connection with their refusal to end the employment policy

Outcome 

Both lawsuits dismissed without rulings on core issues

State and federal judges considering the case dismissed almost all the counts on procedural grounds.

In late October 2022, U.S. District Judge Robert  Bryan, who was nominated by President Ronald Reagan, dismissed SPU’s lawsuit because, he said, the university was asking for a change in state law, limiting Ferguson’s power, that a federal judge didn’t have jurisdiction to grant. He also said the school’s First Amendment claims should be raised in state court.

A Washington State Superior Court judge in April 2023 rejected all but one of the faculty and student claims. Judge Andrea Darvas ruled that the plaintiffs had no standing to claim that the university board breached its fiduciary duty in refusing to eliminate the employment policy.

“Courts in other jurisdictions have consistently held that students and staff at a university do not have special interest standing with respect to management of university assets,” Darvas wrote in her opinion.

The sole remaining count had to do with whether the interim president of SPU and a member of its board of governors had made false statements about their views on diversity and operating in the best interest of the school.

On July 30, the plaintiffs in the case announced on Instagram that they had decided to settle the case, and asked for help with more than $6,000 in remaining legal fees. 

“The cost at this point has no chance of outweighing the benefit — not in a legal sense,” said Rae Perez, one of the plaintiffs.