Title IX - Overview

Title IX Coordinator: Bryan Blankenship, VP of Finance & Administration | bryan.blankenship@asburyseminary.edu

Title IX Deputy Coordinators: Dr. Ellen Marmon, Professor (faculty contact) | ellen.marmon@asburyseminary.edu ; Barbara Antrobus, Director of Human Resources (staff contact) | barbara.antrobus@asburyseminary.edu ; Kevin Bish, Title IX Deputy Coordinator (student contact) | kevin.bish@asburyseminary.edu

Access Asbury Seminary’s Sexual Misconduct Reporting Form by clicking on the link.

View Asbury Seminary’s full Policy on Equal Opportunity, Harassment, and Nondiscrimination (PDF) by clicking on the link.

For Title IX situations, Asbury Seminary previously maintained a specific policy known commonly as its Sexual Misconduct Policy.  The federal government’s rewrite of the regulations governing Title IX in 2020 allowed institutions to better streamline their various harassment and nondiscrimination polices and procedures.  Asbury Seminary has followed this pattern and now maintains a single “Policy and Procedures on Equal Opportunity, Harassment, and Nondiscrimination” (see above) that covers not only Title IX matters but all situations involving harassment and discrimination based on a protected class.  This Policy in its entirety may be accessed by following the link above.  Below is the Introduction section from this Policy.

Introduction

As established in its Ethos Statement, members of the Asbury Theological Seminary community commit themselves to the practice of celibacy in singleness and fidelity in Christian marriage, which the Seminary affirms as a sacred union between one man and one woman; commit themselves to helping one another attain the highest standards of sexual morality, and to recognize the devastating personal, social and global effects of sexual sin against God, self and others, but especially society’s most vulnerable members; and condemn any form of harassment or abuse.

Consistent with these principles, Asbury Theological Seminary is committed to complying with laws on sexual misconduct, including Title IX, the Jeanne Clery Act (Clery Act), and the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act (SaVE Act). The Seminary has adopted policies and procedures to prevent and respond to incidents of sexual misconduct, as well as other forms of harassment and discrimination.  The Seminary will respond promptly and effectively to reports of sexual misconduct, as well as other forms of harassment and discrimination, and will take appropriate action to prevent, correct and, when appropriate, discipline behavior that violates this policy.  The Seminary also will take steps in the event of harassment or discrimination to remedy its discriminatory effects on the victim and others, if appropriate.

Nothing about this policy condones sexual relationships or any behavior that is inconsistent with the Seminary’s Ethos Statement, regardless of whether the parties’ actions are welcome or consensual as defined in this policy, and violations of the Seminary’s Ethos Statement may be grounds for discipline regardless of whether the conduct violates this policy.

In the event of a conflict between the provisions of this policy and the Seminary’s Ethos, Statement of Faith, and related policies, the Seminary’s Ethos, Statement of Faith, and related policies will control.