After being placed on administrative leave mid-semester spring 2019, psychology professor Dr. Martin Seitz has resumed teaching classes.
The Asbury Collegian published two articles, March 21 and April 6, about Seitz’s actions. At the time, it was undetermined whether he would come back to Asbury.
On March 6, Seitz sent a campus-wide email taking issue with Provost Dr. Timothy Wooster’s chapel message. During chapel March 11, Seitz appeared in the Hughes balcony holding a trumpet to his lips, but not blowing, during a worship song.
Seitz said he received a letter from previous Asbury president Dr. Sandra Gray on April 18 giving him the options of apologizing, resigning or being terminated.
“I am not sorry for anything I said or did,” Seitz told the Collegian in March.
After Seitz sent the original email, he had printed out responses from students and faculty, put them on his door and handed them out to students in his classes. One response contained offensive and vulgar language.
On May 8, Seitz said he received a letter from Wooster asking that Seitz agree to three conditions in order to remain employed by the university: acknowledge that he had acted inappropriately, do not demonstrate in unorthodox ways in the future and do not teach anything not directly related to subject matter in classes.
Seitz said he responded by acknowledging that his actions “were not consonant with the values of the university; were in conflict with the standards and expectations of faculty as outlined in the Faculty Manual and in my Faculty Employment Contract; and caused harm to the community and generated confusion, fear and unrest with both students and colleagues.”
“In essence I acknowledged their take on things without admitting that I agreed with that take on things,” Seitz said.
Seitz said he believes that he is a charismatic prophet to the community whenever he thinks the university needs correction. However, as part of the agreement, Seitz gave up that role. Seitz said he will still speak up in more appropriate ways if necessary.
Over the summer, Seitz said he met with Wooster to reconcile what happened.
“He assured me that in his chapel address he in no way wanted to imply that the image of God had not been damaged by the fall,” Seitz said. “So, understanding his intent, even though he didn’t specify it in the chapel message, was reassuring to me and told me that the university was not headed in the wrong direction under his leadership.”
Wooster declined to comment since it is a matter of personnel.
Senior psychology major Austin Hopson has had many classes with Seitz at Asbury in addition to having him as his academic advisor. Though Hopson said Seitz was one of his favorite professors, he was disappointed in reading Seitz’s mass email.
“I was surprised when I read the email and saw how disrespectful it was to Wooster,” said Hopson. “However, people also took portions of that email the wrong way and made it seem even worse than it already was.”
Wooster had talked briefly about Imago Dei, saying that humans were made in the image of God and that different cultures reflect God’s image. Seitz said he felt led by God to qualify that message, saying that the image of God was damaged by the fall of humanity and all cultures are not perfect.
Seitz also met with Dean of Students, Dr. Sarah Baldwin, over the summer and Seitz told the Collegian it was a productive discussion. Baldwin was the chapel speaker the day Seitz showed in Hughes with this trumpet and declined to comment for this story.
“I’m at peace with both Dr. Wooster and Dr. Baldwin,” Seitz said.
After his return this fall, Seitz said the administration has been very understanding and forgiving. He said he’s received a positive welcome from both students and faculty.
“I think that in ways we may not understand this side of Heaven, my actions accomplished their purposes,” Seitz said. “And that included upsetting the community. But often prophets do upset their communities; they’re not meant to make people feel good, they’re meant to confront severe problems.”
