The president of Calvin University has resigned after admitting he engaged in inappropriate communication with a member of the campus community.
In an announcement Monday, the Calvin Board of Trustees said it had received a report alleging President Wiebe Boer “engaged in unwelcome and inappropriate communication and a spotlight toward a non-student member of the campus community.”
“The report didn’t include allegations of sexually explicit communication or physical contact, however the alleged conduct is concerning and inappropriate,” the trustees said of their statement.
University officials said they then hired an out of doors expert to review the allegations. That review included speaking with Boer, a former oil executive and son of Christian Reformed Church missionaries who became Calvin’s president in 2022.
“After being notified of the report, Dr. Boer denied a number of the allegations but did admit to sending communications that were inappropriate and inconsistent with the high standard of conduct and character expected of the President of Calvin University,” the board said in its statement. “Dr. Boer subsequently offered his resignation, which the Board accepted.”
No further details about Boer’s conduct or the grievance got.
Gregory Elzinga, Calvin’s vp of advancement, has been named interim president. The board’s statement described him as already being involved within the day-to-day management of the varsity and “well situated to supply effective continuity of leadership while the Board conducts a radical seek for the University’s next everlasting President.”
School officials plan to carry a campus meeting for college kids with Elzinga on Thursday.
Boer became president of Calvin at a time when the varsity had been under pressure to abide by the principles of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, particularly the church’s teaching about sexuality. In 2022, the denomination ruled that congregations and church members must abide by church teaching on marriage and sex—which state that only heterosexual sex inside marriage is allowed.
That teaching is now considered an element of the church’s core confession—and applies to Calvin, which allows openly LGBTQ students to attend but requires faculty and staff to support the church’s confessions.
Some faculty have asked for a “gravamen,” which might allow them to officially state their concerns a few church doctrine.
A Calvin professor said his contract was not renewed after he officiated a same-sex wedding for a staffer at a research center that had been affiliated with the varsity. That center and the varsity even have cut ties.
In the autumn of 2022, Boer told Religion News Service that Calvin will proceed to be hospitable to its LGBTQ students. “I don’t need to be the president of an establishment that isn’t welcoming to everybody,” Boer said.
Boer didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
In its announcement of Boer’s resignation, the trustees said they “take our responsibility to supply an environment free from discrimination, harassment, and retaliation very seriously and continually strive to promptly and thoroughly reply to allegations of misconduct.”
“We ask for prayers for the whole Calvin community, trusting that the Holy Spirit will comfort all of us within the sustaining grace of God, now and at all times,” they said of their statement.
