Willamette University has laid off its chaplain and eliminated its Office of Spiritual and Religious Life, causing an uproar on campus and concern among faith leaders in Salem.
The decision means Oregon’s oldest university, which is secular but remains affiliated with the United Methodist Church, would have no employee on campus dedicated to supporting campus faith groups, interfaith work and community programs that relied on the chaplain’s office.
“I think it’s a terrible mistake,” said Rabbi Eli Herb of Temple Beth Sholom, who was part of a Salem interfaith group organized through the office.
Herb said he couldn’t speak to why Willamette made the cut.
“From the outside it looks bad,” he said.
Chaplain Ineda Pearl Player was laid off and her position eliminated in mid-June, according to a July 5 post on her office’s Facebook page. She was the office’s sole employee, though students also worked in the office. She declined an interview.
University President Steve Thorsett and Chief of Staff Colleen Kawahara, the college’s spokeswoman, declined to answer questions about the action, saying university policy prohibits discussing personnel issues.
“The structure of the university chaplaincy is a topic of ongoing conversations, including consultation with leaders in the United Methodist Church, with which Willamette University is affiliated. I have no information to share at this time, but I know that Willamette and particularly the Student Affairs division will continue to offer support for our students of all faiths,” Thorsett said in an email to Salem Reporter.
Faculty said they received no internal announcement of the cut.
But the cut comes as the university faces a tight budget with lower-than-expected enrollment.
While enrollment had climbed since a substantial pandemic drop, Thorsett said in a June 14 email to Willamette employees that the college’s incoming freshman class was about 10% below planned size due to a botched rollout of a new federal financial aid form.
“Because we were already planning a tight year with the last of the reserve funds that the Board of Trustees allocated to pandemic recovery, our budgetary flexibility will be very limited,” he wrote.
The chaplaincy appears to be the only service eliminated by the university.
Nearly 90 Willamette faculty, a majority of those in the College of Arts and Sciences, signed a June 25 letter to Thorsett and other college leaders objecting to the decision to cut the spiritual life office.
“We are shocked that in response to short term budget constraints, and based on the decision of one unit (Student Affairs), we have lost a valued colleague, a position that has been integral to the community … and a position that has been part of the University since its founding,” the faculty wrote. “Moreover, we are deeply disturbed at the diversity implications of this action: terminating Pearl eliminates one of the only – and certainly the most visible – African American women on campus, one who has served as a confidant and mentor to many students of color. We protest this decision and urge you to reconsider Pearl’s termination and the elimination of the office.”
Dozens of clubs, campus groups and departments have signed on to a public letter addressed to the Willamette community, objecting to the decision and saying Player’s contributions on campus are wide-reaching.
“She serves many students, including students who have experienced racist and gendered violence, including rape and sexual assault. As faculty members, we refer our students to confidential resources. In many cases, our students express that Rev. Pearl is the only person they feel they can trust. Students express how important it is that they can turn to a counselor who is a woman of color. Students with immigrant and refugee backgrounds tell us Rev. Pearl offers culturally responsive care and counseling,” the letter said.
Kawahara said Willamette will communicate with the community when leaders decide the future of university chaplaincy.
Player worked for three school years, beginning the role in August 2021 following the retirement of longtime chaplain Karen Wood. She was scheduled to teach two courses in the fall that won’t be offered: University Convocation and Womanist Spirituality. Kawahara said the university’s Cone Chapel, where spiritual services, classes and other events take place, will continue to be managed by the scheduling and events office
The impacts ripple beyond Willamette.
Herb said when he arrived in Salem eight years ago, there was no organization pulling together the interfaith community, particularly one that included non-Christian faiths and congregations. Through the chaplain’s office, faith leaders began meeting monthly.
Having Willamette as a neutral space helped, and leaders discussed issues like how to best support their communities during the isolation of Covid while keeping people safe and healthy.
“A community was really beginning to form, a really important community,” Herb said.
The group benefited from Player’s expertise and experiences as a Black woman, Herb said. As protests over racial justice and police violence spread across the U.S. in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd, Herb said the interfaith group discussed how they could de-escalate tension and conflict while supporting the movement.
“Basically being a presence that could remind people to treat each other well, to be respectful, to be caring even about the opposition,” he said.
Herb said an interfaith community can build bridges and promote peace in times of strife and conflict. Without the chaplain’s office, he worries about losing that community right as tensions ratchet up for the 2024 election.
“I’m worried that without that kind of presence, where people go is into fight, divide, lack of compassion, lack of respect, lack of love,” he said.
Other local faith leaders expressed concern about the decision and said they hadn’t heard from Willamette about a plan to support spiritual life on campus.
“In such a diverse community as Salem and on college campuses in general it’s really important to have a place for students and staff and faculty of diverse backgrounds to get support for their faith perspectives,” said Rev. Robin Lunn, interim pastor at First Congregational United Church of Christ.
The chaplain’s office supported the annual Salem Peace Lecture, in its 35th year. The Oct. 15 speech will go on as planned on the Willamette campus, said Alice Phalan, a member of the committee that organizes it.
Kristen Caldwell, a spokesperson for the Oregon-Idaho Conference of The United Methodist Church, said the church’s ties to Willamette remain strong, with Bishop Cedrick Bridgeforth and other conference leaders serving on the university’s board. Caldwell said she didn’t have any information about Willamette’s plans for the chaplaincy.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.
