Eastern University drops ban on LGBTQ faculty, on hold from CCCU

Eastern University, a Christian school affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA, has amended its policies to allow for the hiring of LGBTQ faculty and to add sexual orientation to its non-discrimination statement.

As a result, its membership with the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities has been put on hold during the 2022-23 academic year, and the school is no longer listed online among the 150 US and Canadian schools that belong to the Christian higher education association.

Located in St. Davids, a suburb of Philadelphia, Eastern has leaned left on the evangelical spectrum for some time. Among its faculty are Tony Campolo and the late Ron Sider, two evangelicals who urged social action and justice on behalf of the poor. Its best known alumnus may be Bryan Stephenson, the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, who has fought for eliminating unfair sentencing and exonerating innocent death row prisoners. (The school’s alumni also include Doug Mastriano, the recently defeated Republican candidate for Pennsylvania governor.)