The Board of Trustees left the university’s Sexual Stewardship policy intact when it met last month, two months after Holy Sexuality Week in November and after reactions to the event from alumni and students.

The Sexual Stewardship Policy describes the university’s position on sexual relationships and sexual ethic, and since 2016, it has described marriage as being between a man and a woman. A group of alumni, in the weeks after several speakers addressed the topic in November, had called for the university to drop that language.

“That specific request will not be one that is being embraced by the board and by the university at this particular point,” said Dr. Phil Schubert, president of the university. “As long as those that have opinions are expressing them in a spirit of love and grace, I want to continue to be in conversations about where we are and where we are headed.”

Discussion of the Sexual Stewardship Policy at the regular winter meeting was a reaction to Wildcats for Inclusion, a group of alumni, as they wanted phrases to be changed within the Sexual Stewardship Policy to accept same-sex relationships and marriage. The group wrote multiple open letters over the past few months to the board with a description of what they viewed as needed for ACU to represent all in its community.

The conversation about the university being more inclusive towards the LGTBQ+ community was in response to Holy Sexuality Week. This event was encouraged for all students, faculty and staff, and guest speakers were invited to speak.

These guest speakers included Dr. Schubert and his wife Brooke Schubert; Chris Seidman, alumnus and minister at The Branch Church in Dallas; Mo (Isom) Aiken, a New York Times bestselling author; and Dr. Christopher Yuan, an author, producer of the video series The Holy Sexuality Project and adjunct professor of the Bible at Moody Bible Institute.

The speakers addressed a variety of topics within the realm of sexuality and religion. This year was the first year for the campus to have an event dedicated to these topics and it provided a space for people to talk about uncomfortable topics.

“I think Holy Sexuality week had a lot of really good things that took place,” Schubert said. “I had positive feedback, pretty overwhelming positive feedback from students about their experience and having an opportunity to engage.”

Paul Anthony, 2004 alumnus and a member of Wildcats for Inclusion, said how Yuan expressed his views on same-sex attractions led to a conversation between alumni.

“For ACU to put a person like that on the Chapel stage was not only a violation of what it meant to be good Christians in a pluralistic society, but also a violation of what it means to be a good university,” Anthony said.

The Wildcats for Inclusion was created in response. The group is on social media platforms as well as having its own website. Over 2,000 alumni, faculty, staff and current students have signed the letter for ACU to become more inclusive. The group has written three letters to the Board of Trustees.

The requests that Wildcats for Inclusion had before the meeting included:

• Discussing the phrases of the ACU’s Sexual Stewardship Policy
• Incorporating human sexuality into the Office of Intercultural Engagement and Belonging
• Revising the approach of discussing this topic on campus to include diverse perspectives

The group launched a PR campaign in the weeks aftr Holy Sexuality Week that led to media coverage, including one featured in The Washington Post.

“What we would like to see is ACU at least moving in a direction of saying that this is an issue that people can agree to disagree on,” Anthony said. “Christians are on both sides of this issue and being on one side or the other does not make you any less of a Christian.”

The differing views have been expressed on a separate Facebook group, called the ACU Open Forum, which has praised Holy Sexuality Week and has been urging the university to retain the language describing marriage as being between a man and a woman. Corey Cheek, a 1992 alumnus and one of the administrators for the ACU Open Forum, said it exists to keep alumni and parents of students aware of what is happening on campus.

“Recently, we have praised ACU Leadership for Holy Sexuality Week, but we continue to criticize ACU leadership for the moral decline on campus,” Cheek said in an email. “We are thankful truth was spoken during Holy Sexuality Week by the guest speakers. Particularly, that homosexual behavior is sin and contrary to Holy Scripture.”

These groups and university leadership believes that it is important to have this conversation, but Schubert said it will take time to find a balance because people have conflicting views.

“I think that is a hard balance to create,” Schubert said. “I don’t ever want any student at ACU to certainly feel isolated, pushed aside, or minimized for any reason. We will continue to have campus conversations about sexuality and relationships. It is too much of a significant issue to the development and spiritual formation of our young people.”