Written by Tiane Davis \/\/ Graphic by Ben Evans<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The University Board of Trustees approved a handbook policy revision called \u201cExpectations for Sexual Morality\u201d Nov. 2, according to an email Executive Vice President Jean-Noel Thompson sent to faculty and staff Nov. 15. The revision replaced the previous handbook policy, adding nearly a page of clarifying language. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thompson said the previous policy said what the University wanted to say from a Biblical standpoint, but lacked a lot of clarity and opportunities to express understanding and compassion \u201cparticularly around LGBTQ issues.\u201d He said the \u201cExpectations for Sexual Morality\u201d committee, which was formed about six months ago, wanted to strengthen and clarify the policy with scriptural reference and compassion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe wanted to make sure we can give a little perspective, understanding the complexity of the issue and focusing primarily on behavior,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to focus on why someone feels the way they feel or who they may identify with. It\u2019s going to be on behavior.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thompson said the committee that worked to revise the policy included input from faculty, staff, the counseling center and the board of trustees. The policy went through several rounds of small changes in wording and changes in perspective before it was sent to the University Board of Trustees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne of the things we want to be clear about is, regardless of where we may have differences here and there, everyone\u2019s going to be treated with the highest of respect and care,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to tolerate any sense of harassment toward anyone.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vice president of Student Life Zach Neal said the goal in revising the policy was to clarify it, not change it. He said the committee wanted to better explain \u201cwhy we have what we have and why we expect what we expect.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI found that in the past, not only with this topic, when a student may see it a different way, they still appreciated the University being clear about what we expect,\u201d Neal said. \u201cI think this falls in line with that thought process, that we invite individuals to come and ask questions and to even bring challenges to what we expect and allow us the opportunity to explain where we\u2019re coming from.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Neal said the student handbook is reviewed every year and that his role in the Office of Student Life is to make sure the student body understands everything the administration does. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe relationship that comes with clear communication is probably the big picture here,\u201d Neal said. \u201cGoing back and reviewing the handbook and rewording when necessary shows that we want everyone to know ahead of time what to expect as opposed to just wondering where the University stands.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
University President Mike Williams said the previous policy had a few \u201cmissing pieces\u201d and that the administration wanted it to reflect the Harding community\u2019s mission. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cClarity is kind,\u201d Williams said. \u201cWe want people to know on the front end that this is a community value set.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ella Duryea, Student Government Association president, said she believes the updated wording better reflects the University\u2019s stance of compassion when approaching \u201ccontroversial\u201d and \u201cdelicate\u201d matters. However, she said disagreement is almost always inevitable and that not everyone will agree or disagree with the revision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhether you agree or disagree with the revised policies, I think we can all concede that choosing a compassionate and kind way to express one\u2019s beliefs will always be of utmost importance,\u201d Duryea said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Written by Tiane Davis \/\/ Graphic by Ben Evans The University Board of Trustees approved a handbook policy revision called \u201cExpectations for Sexual Morality\u201d Nov. 2, according to an email…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15198,"featured_media":19201,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15198"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}