Statement of No Confidence in Northern Seminary’s Board of Trustees
Northern Students, Alumni and Community: If you would like to add your name as a signatory to this letter and/or would like to make publicly known that you are taking a leave of absence or transferring, email us. Please include the year you began at Northern and your program, or your connection to the school if not a current student or alumnus. Additionally, visit Raise Your Voice to join us in taking further action.
Please note: as reported on June 19, 2023 by The Roys Report, David Gnirk and John Kujawa have resigned from the Board and Wyatt Hoch has stepped down as Board Chair. Additionally, Fay Quanstrom has re-joined the Board.
Northern Seminary Board of Trustees, as identified here in March 2023.
March 22, 2023
Dear Board of Trustees at Northern Seminary,
We are writing as students of Northern Seminary who are deeply concerned and grieved over the state of our institution. We are concerned about our prospects of being able to stay at an institution with a Board that continues to be distant, refuses to listen to students, staff, and faculty, and perpetuates harm to our own community. Some of us are reconsidering our ability to stay enrolled for the spring term that begins in less than two weeks. How can we stay at a seminary with this state of leadership at the board level?
The salvageability of our seminary is at stake. We are signing this letter stating our vote of no confidence in the Board of Trustees at Northern Seminary.
You have had ample chances to make better decisions, and yet you continue to turn a blind eye to this body of students, staff, faculty, and most importantly the victims. We have lost a Provost, peers that have already withdrawn, and now the only board member who approached us with an ear to listen and consider our perspective. We are no longer confident in your ability to run this seminary as a board of trustees.
As such, we request the following actions:
Resignation of the Board Chair Wyatt Hoch
Resignation of any other board members who cannot affirm the statement by your former peer, Dr. Fay Quanstrom, which reads as follows:
That you have responded inadequately, and confess that:
You have maintained your distance to the detriment of all concerned.
You have allowed the value of confidentiality to overcome the value of transparency.
You have taken the faithful work of faculty and staff for granted.
You have assumed that all was well without independent confirmation.
You have not listened well enough.
You have been too far removed to feel the extent of the pain of our community.
You have allowed legal priorities to deny us vital human contact and interaction.
You have made too many decisions without acknowledging their emotional quotient.
You are keenly aware of the pain, hurt and anger that have resulted during your tenure.
You commit to greater engagement, to timely help being offered, and with the help of God and the Northern Seminary family to see a healthy future together.
We are heavily invested in a healthy path forward for the place and the people we love. It is our conviction that it requires, at a minimum, affirmation of the statement by Dr. Fay Quanstrom. If you cannot agree with this statement we ask you to step down from the Board of Trustees of Northern Seminary, for the benefit of our institution and the community that has been hurt by your leadership. For those of you that can affirm that statement, we look forward to the days ahead when the unified student body, along with faculty and staff, can join you to heal, rebuild, and flourish as a community of tov.
Due to your previous lack of ability to hear us we are also sending this to every faculty member, staff member, the press, Dr. Fay Quanstrom, and representatives at The Association of Theological Schools (ATS) and American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA).
Sincerely,
Active Students
1. Justin Charles MANT 2020
2. Sarah Klingler MANT 2018, DMin NTC 2022
3. Karen Smith MAWT 2021
4. Nathan Perrin DMin CCD 2019
5. David Johnson MANT 2022
6. Kelly Diopolito DMin NTC 2021
7. Jadon Reynolds MDiv 2022
8. James L. Ingermann Heimlich MANT 2020
9. Andrea Roach MANT 2019
10. Rob Griffin MANT 2021
11. Heidi A. McCue-Gomes MAWT 2022
12. Nicholas Estelle MANT 2019
13. Seth C. Hammond MDiv 2021
14. Emily B. Mercer Graduate Certificate 2023
15. Kelley Mathews DMin WLT 2022
16. Rachel Hunt MANT 2022
17. Christine Calareso Bleecker MAWT 2021
18. Michael D. Fox MATM 2022
19. Heather Weber MATM 2023
20. Kyle Trigg MANT 2020
21. Nunes Macarrao MANT 2020
22. Adilah Brodie CCD 2020/22
23. Jason Pettibone MANT 2020
24. Denise Ayer MAWT 2021
25. Jackie Roese MAWT 2021
26. Susan Diaz MANT 2019
27. Jennifer Grisham MATM 2022
28. Tim Holmes MDiv-CCD 2021
29. Laura Tarro MDiv-MANT 2019
30. Savannah Locke MATM 2019
31. Matt Harp MATM 2019
32. Levie Rainey Alfaro MAWT 2022
33. Stephanie Casey MATM 2021
34. Alex Schorr MATM 2019
35. Jacob Brunelli MATM 2019
36. Mark Kern MATM 2018
37. John Koeshall MANT 2020
38. Melodee S Shatswell DMin WTL 2022
39. Shala Wilson Graham MAWT 2021
40. Rebekah Lee MDiv 2022
41. Chris Morris MATM 2021
42. Joshua Phillips MANT 2020
43. Matt DeMontaigne MATM 2019
44. Taylor Yoder MAWT 2021
45. Jamie Dickerson MATM 2022
46. Jeff Walton MAWT 2022
47. Katherine Poltorak MAWT 2022
48. Darby Whealy DMin WTL 2022
49. Nika Spaulding DMin NTC 2021
50. Joshua Pickett MANT 2019
51. Brenden Lang DMin 2021
52. Bobby Gilles MANT 2022
53. Catherine Jones Payne MANT 2022
54. Dan De La Forest MANT 2020
55. Roberta (Robbie) Cansler DMin WTL 2022
56. Alex Connell MANT 2022
57. Josephine Stringer MAWT 2022
58. Wes Trevor MDiv 2021
59. Casey Craigie MANT 2019
60. Janet Siefert MAWT 2022
61. Gino Curcuruto MATM 2020
62. Stephanie Creasman MAWT 2021
63. Loren Joseph MAWT 2021
64. Veronica Reeves MANT 2020
65. Dan Reeves MATM 2023
66. James Anderson MATM 2019
67. Matthew Yoder MANT 2022
68. Elisabeth Lectka MDiv 2020
69. Susy Flory MANT 2018, DMin WTL 2022
70. Jane Anne Tucker MANT 2022
71. Trevor Schlosser MDiv 2021
72. Amanda Weber MANT 2018
73. Ashley Siri MANT 2020
74. Kat Armstrong DMIN 2022
75. Natalie Schwarting MDiv 2022
76. Benjamin McDonald MANT 2022
77. Wendy Schulz MAWT 2023
78. Donald Chandler MATM 2022
79. Daniel Phillips DMin CT 2022
80. Elijah Shamenda MANT 2020
81. Rachel Shellenbarger DMin WTL 2022
82. Connie Pumphrey MATM 2022
83. Terri Pease MATM 2022
84. Jenna Kuhns MDiv 2022
85. David Larson MATM 2021
86. Jonathan Reynolds MANT 2020
87. Joshua Cheng MANT 2020
88. Addie Anderson MDiv 2020
89. Renjy Abraham DMin 2021
90. Christian Williams DMin 2022
91. Kelley Maranto Mathews DMin WTL 2022
92. Meghann Tennant MANT 2021
93. David Rinck DMin 2018
94. Lucas Henderson MDiv/MANT 2022
95. Leo Diaz MANT 2019
96. Noemi Sanchez MANT 2020
97. Elizabeth Cronlund MA-CCD 2018
98. Ian Howard MACM 2020
99. Leon Miller MDiv 2014, DMin NTC 2022
100. A. Sareen Musselman MANT 2019
101. Jason Park DMin NTC 2022
102. Vanessa Ely MDiv 2021
103. Mitzi Roberts DMin. WTL 2022
104. John Rosensteel DMin. 2020
105. Marlene Molewyk DTM 2020
106. Jonathan Coords MANT 2021
Alumni
1. Becky Castle Miller MANT 2016
2. Scott Johanningsmeier MANT 2018
3. Caryn Rivadeneira MAW 2019
4. Stacey Lovett Hohbein MATM 2022
5. Amanda Clark MANT 2018
6. Heather Hart MANT 2018
7. Adrienne Gibson MANT 2018
8. Frances Twomey MAW 2016, MDiv 2019
9. Sheva S Stephens Knott MANT 2018
10. Josiah W. Black MDiv 2012
11. Tyler Ward MATM 2016
12. Peter Green MANT 2018
13. Michelle Van Loon Graduate certificate 2013
14. Christopher Glotzbach MANT 2018
15. Aaron Visser MDiv 2012
16. Lauren Visser MDiv 2009, DMin 2014
17. Deacon Godsey MANT 2016
18. Alec Kenny MATM 2020
19. Madison Baker MAW 2019
20. Cathy Bruce MDiv 2017
21. Debbie Duke Moore MANT 2016
Additional Signees Post-March 2023
Active Students
1. Isaiah Hobus MDiv 2021