Sherrie Z
04-01-2007, 02:42 AM
My introductory post (in the introductions category) included comments regarding Fresno Pacific, my alma mater.
I sent the following email to Bill Carpenter ... one of the Equality Riders, regarding their upcoming visit to FPU ... : )
* From a graduate of FPU ... I love Soulforce! *
ATTN: Bill Carpenter / Soulforce Equality Ride
Hello Bill!
On Sunday and Monday you will be visiting my alma mater ... I wish I could be there to give you all a big hug in person! I'm sending this info to you in particular, because of your blog entry about visiting FPU.
I just recently found out about Soulforce because the President of FPU sent a notice to all alumni about your upcoming visit ... so of course I signed up immediately ... I love that his notice served as a recruiting device for Soulforce, LOL ... wink wink : )
I wanted to share a bit of recent background related to FPU ... so here goes:
When I heard about your upcoming visit, I contacted the FPU library to offer to donate copies of Is the Homosexual My Neighbor? ... and not only do they already carry a copy, they also carry Mel White's book Stranger at the Gate. It turned out that the librarian that I contacted (she is one of several there) was a friend of mine ... not only did they carry those books, and several other related books, this librarian had already planned to set up a display of those books for before, during, and after your visit ... she very much supports your visit, and offered to loan out the extra copies of ITHMN that I was offering to donate, when students came looking for info ... and she also had prepared a bibliography of LGBT related books for students to use ... so we have a good friend in the library there ... appropriately, her name is Hope. If you have a chance to meet her, please tell her hello from me, thanks ... : )
Also, regarding the President of FPU ... here is a copy of a recent email exchange between me and Dr. Ewert, following the alumni notice ... both are emails from March 26th:
My email to Dr. Ewert:
ATTN: D. Merrill Ewert, Ph.D.
President, Fresno Pacific University
Dear Dr. Ewert:
I would like to thank you for your recent communication to alumni regarding the upcoming visit of the Soulforce Equality Riders.
I appreciate your openness about the visit, and your clear presentation of the issues from the perspective of FPU. I particularly appreciate your willingness to keep an open dialogue, especially because your decision might be considered controversial by some members of your constituency.
I graduated from Fresno Pacific in 1976, and I have many fond memories of my time there. Though my own views do not coincide with the official position of FPU with regard to LGBT issues, as I am very much in support of the goals of Soulforce, again I am favorably impressed with your willingness to have FPU students participate in dialogue with the Equality Riders. I happen to be heterosexual myself, but I strongly feel that it is vital to keep open and loving communication going between gay and non-gay members of the faith community.
I'm guessing that you might already be familiar with BMC (Brethen/Mennonite Council for LGBT Interests). If not, information is available at: http://www.bmclgbt.org/ They might also be a helpful resource to FPU as you discuss these issues.
Thank you again, and best wishes to you and everyone at FPU!
Sincerely,
Sherrie Z [last name deleted]
San Francisco, CA
Dr. Ewert's response to me:
Dear Sherrie,
Thank you for your note regarding the upcoming visit of the Soulforce Equality Riders. We would appreciate your prayers during this time---that this will be a good learning experience for all and that our guests will experience the love of Christ on our campus.
Merrill Ewert
P.S. I am familiar with BMCLGBT but your note was a reminder to pass the URL along to my colleagues. Thanks!
************************************************** *****************************
Considering how conservative the official position is at FPU ... I thought his message was encouraging. : )
For what it's worth, while I was a student at FPU (1972-76) the actual atmosphere on campus was relatively open considering the official policies ... some students and faculty held various personal or political views that were at least somewhat more liberal in spirit than those reflected in the official policy or by many of the FPU constituency. For instance, when I was there I was very vocal in favor of feminism and I had a lot of support from many students and faculty. Mennonites in general are especially good with social justice issues when it comes to humanitarian aid and international cross cultural issues, but you'll probably find that they can use your help with better understanding LGBT cross cultural issues.
As evangelical schools go, at least at the time that I was there, Fresno Pacific was considered to be relatively liberal by comparison. However, I'm sure it must have been extremely difficult for LGBT students then, and must still be for them now ... though I didn't discover much about this until a couple years after graduation ... following my decision to go very public in my support of LGBT people ... though I was living in Chicago at the time, several students from Fresno Pacific came out to me.
I'm on the Soulforce website regularly now, and I made a point of including "Fresno Pacific" in the heading of my introductory post, in hopes that any FPU people who might visit would find me there.
Best wishes for your visit at FPU! I hope you will have a good experience at my alma mater. I can't thank you enough for the wonderful work that you're doing! : )
Love & Hugs,
Sherrie Z [last name deleted]
I sent the following email to Bill Carpenter ... one of the Equality Riders, regarding their upcoming visit to FPU ... : )
* From a graduate of FPU ... I love Soulforce! *
ATTN: Bill Carpenter / Soulforce Equality Ride
Hello Bill!
On Sunday and Monday you will be visiting my alma mater ... I wish I could be there to give you all a big hug in person! I'm sending this info to you in particular, because of your blog entry about visiting FPU.
I just recently found out about Soulforce because the President of FPU sent a notice to all alumni about your upcoming visit ... so of course I signed up immediately ... I love that his notice served as a recruiting device for Soulforce, LOL ... wink wink : )
I wanted to share a bit of recent background related to FPU ... so here goes:
When I heard about your upcoming visit, I contacted the FPU library to offer to donate copies of Is the Homosexual My Neighbor? ... and not only do they already carry a copy, they also carry Mel White's book Stranger at the Gate. It turned out that the librarian that I contacted (she is one of several there) was a friend of mine ... not only did they carry those books, and several other related books, this librarian had already planned to set up a display of those books for before, during, and after your visit ... she very much supports your visit, and offered to loan out the extra copies of ITHMN that I was offering to donate, when students came looking for info ... and she also had prepared a bibliography of LGBT related books for students to use ... so we have a good friend in the library there ... appropriately, her name is Hope. If you have a chance to meet her, please tell her hello from me, thanks ... : )
Also, regarding the President of FPU ... here is a copy of a recent email exchange between me and Dr. Ewert, following the alumni notice ... both are emails from March 26th:
My email to Dr. Ewert:
ATTN: D. Merrill Ewert, Ph.D.
President, Fresno Pacific University
Dear Dr. Ewert:
I would like to thank you for your recent communication to alumni regarding the upcoming visit of the Soulforce Equality Riders.
I appreciate your openness about the visit, and your clear presentation of the issues from the perspective of FPU. I particularly appreciate your willingness to keep an open dialogue, especially because your decision might be considered controversial by some members of your constituency.
I graduated from Fresno Pacific in 1976, and I have many fond memories of my time there. Though my own views do not coincide with the official position of FPU with regard to LGBT issues, as I am very much in support of the goals of Soulforce, again I am favorably impressed with your willingness to have FPU students participate in dialogue with the Equality Riders. I happen to be heterosexual myself, but I strongly feel that it is vital to keep open and loving communication going between gay and non-gay members of the faith community.
I'm guessing that you might already be familiar with BMC (Brethen/Mennonite Council for LGBT Interests). If not, information is available at: http://www.bmclgbt.org/ They might also be a helpful resource to FPU as you discuss these issues.
Thank you again, and best wishes to you and everyone at FPU!
Sincerely,
Sherrie Z [last name deleted]
San Francisco, CA
Dr. Ewert's response to me:
Dear Sherrie,
Thank you for your note regarding the upcoming visit of the Soulforce Equality Riders. We would appreciate your prayers during this time---that this will be a good learning experience for all and that our guests will experience the love of Christ on our campus.
Merrill Ewert
P.S. I am familiar with BMCLGBT but your note was a reminder to pass the URL along to my colleagues. Thanks!
************************************************** *****************************
Considering how conservative the official position is at FPU ... I thought his message was encouraging. : )
For what it's worth, while I was a student at FPU (1972-76) the actual atmosphere on campus was relatively open considering the official policies ... some students and faculty held various personal or political views that were at least somewhat more liberal in spirit than those reflected in the official policy or by many of the FPU constituency. For instance, when I was there I was very vocal in favor of feminism and I had a lot of support from many students and faculty. Mennonites in general are especially good with social justice issues when it comes to humanitarian aid and international cross cultural issues, but you'll probably find that they can use your help with better understanding LGBT cross cultural issues.
As evangelical schools go, at least at the time that I was there, Fresno Pacific was considered to be relatively liberal by comparison. However, I'm sure it must have been extremely difficult for LGBT students then, and must still be for them now ... though I didn't discover much about this until a couple years after graduation ... following my decision to go very public in my support of LGBT people ... though I was living in Chicago at the time, several students from Fresno Pacific came out to me.
I'm on the Soulforce website regularly now, and I made a point of including "Fresno Pacific" in the heading of my introductory post, in hopes that any FPU people who might visit would find me there.
Best wishes for your visit at FPU! I hope you will have a good experience at my alma mater. I can't thank you enough for the wonderful work that you're doing! : )
Love & Hugs,
Sherrie Z [last name deleted]