<body><div>The Office of Spiritual and Religious Life (OSRL) closed its doors this summer following the unexpected layoff of Chaplain Ineda Pearl Player in June. Today, members of the Willamette community remain with unanswered questions regarding the future of spiritual support on campus.According to Lisa Landreman, vice president of student affairs, the decision to cut Pearl and close the OSRL was made due to budget cuts caused by several factors. She explained that it was partially due to the university’s ongoing challenges recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic — a trend felt nationwide by higher education. She said the financial struggles were exacerbated by last year’s botched Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) rollout — which included ongoing delays and technical errors — causing lower-than-expected rates of student enrollment. Other external factors included inflation costs and students needing more financial aid. Landreman said budget goals had to be approved by the board of trustees during their meeting in mid-June.With the university needing to cut about $2 million, Landreman elaborated that difficult decisions had to be made while trying to protect the essence of the student experience. Since reducing faculty is much harder, given tenured positions, a few staff positions across campus were left unfilled or terminated. This included Pearl’s chaplain role and the closure of the office, staffed by student workers.“We cut as much as we could, and we still weren’t gonna make that number we needed to make, so that's when we had to look at more infrastructure changes,” Landreman said. “While it will certainly impact a segment of the population, there are many other things that the chaplain’s office did that others can pick up or be duplicative.”Landreman said that while former Chaplain Pearl is “irreplaceable,” there are a plethora of readily available worship and spiritual resources around campus. Some former programs run by the OSRL, including “search for purpose and meaning” experiences, will continue to run under the SEAL office, such as the meditation group. Professor Maegan Brooks will continue to facilitate the “Diversity of Loss” group, Landreman said, and the Queer Inner Care community (QIC) will now be advised by Lisa Logan.Additionally, as stated by Landreman in her “Changes in the Division of Student Affairs” email last month, Willamette University is currently in discussions with the United Methodist Church bishop of the greater northwest area about a restructured model for the university chaplain position. However, the timeline for decisions on this new model is uncertain. While the official campus-wide email announcement wasn’t made until Aug. 28, Pearl was verbally informed of the decision during a regularly scheduled meeting with Landreman on June 13. Details of the day’s events vary slightly by source, including the timeframe in which Pearl was given to leave. However, multiple sources who were present, including Landreman, confirmed Pearl cleared out her office and turned in her work computer that same day.Student interns working with Pearl over the summer helped her clear out her office. These student interns and those hired at the OSRL for the upcoming fall semester received their official notice from Landreman on June 17, a few days after Pearl, informing them of Pearl’s departure and the termination of all student positions as well. Students were referred to Handshake for future on-campus employment opportunities.Among those student workers was Q Wilson (‘27), a former intern of the QIC program who worked closely alongside Pearl. They were also registered to take two fall classes, Convocation and Womanist Spirituality with Pearl to fulfill their Religious Studies major requirements. As a staff member, Pearl wasn’t required to teach classes. However, she usually taught two classes: Convocation and a religious studies course. Once Wilson received the news of the chaplain’s departure, they reached out to their advisor and the registrar's office the same day to ask what would happen with said classes. Both were surprised by the news as neither the religious department nor the registrar were made aware of her termination at that time, according to Wilson. Eventually, students enrolled in the classes received an email from the registrar informing them the classes won’t be offered anymore, and students had to substitute their classes.Wilson noted that Pearl supported underserved groups of students who sought her help as a confidential resource when they didn’t necessarily want therapy or counseling services. According to Pearl’s LinkedIn, she served as an instructor, the university chaplain and director of Spiritual and Religious Life at Willamette for about three years.Wilson helped compile a document containing 21 letters from current students and Willamette alumni sharing heartfelt thoughts about and experiences with Pearl after learning about her departure, as well as how the OSRL served and impacted them. Additionally, there was a separate petition of faculty and community letters written and compiled by an anonymous Willamette faculty member. The petition, which highlighted the impact and importance of the OSRL and Pearl, ​had a total of 203 signatures from current and former faculty and staff, students, alumni, parents and community members, with shared messages of shock, dismay and frustration. Both documents were publicly shared and directly sent to President Thorsett, the dean's office, ASWU current and former presidents, Landreman and others. “The decision had already been made and I fully expected it,” said Landreman when asked about the document and petition. “I hired her. I know what a wonderful presence she was, so it was not lost on me that people wouldn't be disappointed, shocked and upset. We anticipated we would get that. I empathize and understand.”Wilson, the faculty petition, and history Professor Wendy Boring also emphasized that Pearl was one of very few Black instructors on campus and potentially the only Black woman instructor at the College of Arts and Sciences. Even though both the history and religious departments were willing to hire her, they couldn’t, given the terms of her severance, according to Boring.“It is hard to recruit and keep [people of color] who are willing and happy to stay at [a] predominantly white institution and location,” said Boring. “She added incredible value through her identity, experience and background. … We missed the chance to celebrate all the contributions Pearl made due to the way the decision was made.”In an emailed statement to The Collegian, the former chaplain shared with the Willamette community: “As I have shared publicly, as a professional caregiver, I would never ‘quiet quit’ or otherwise callously ‘depart’ or abandon those to whom I provide that professional care. I have loved all of you who make up the Willamette University community and lament the harm that has been caused to you by this decision.” “As for me,” her email continued, “I am well and continue to live with integrity, compassion, and joy. Thank you to all, especially you who made the extra effort to connect with me before I had to move away for a new assignment.”</div></body>

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University terminates Office of Spiritual and Religious Life

The Office of Spiritual and Religious Life (OSRL) closed its doors this summer following the unexpected layoff of Chaplain Ineda Pearl Player in June. Today, members of the Willamette community remain with unanswered questions regarding the future of spiritual support on campus. According to Lisa Landreman, vice president of student...