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Paige Patterson and the Female Seminarian’s Story

Paige Patterson and the Female Seminarian’s Story

Last updated on: July 18, 2018 at 5:53 am by Libby Anne

Paige Patterson and the Female Seminarian’s Story 2018-07-18T05:53:39-04:00 Libby Anne

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I wrote yesterday about new allegations made against Paige Patterson, and about the board of trustees’ decision to remove Patterson from his current position as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I want to take a moment, however, to look in a bit more depth at the allegations made by a former seminary student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, regarding an incident that happened in 2003, when Patterson was president there.

Here is her story, as told in the Washington Post:

She said she had been dating the man she alleges raped her and had allowed him into her apartment the night she said he assaulted her. The two were kissing when he forced himself on her, she said. She said she reported it the next morning to the administrator who handled student discipline. That administrator then reported the incident to Patterson, she said, and she was required to meet with Patterson and three or four male seminarians she said were proteges of Patterson’s. She said she doesn’t remember the specific words Patterson used but that he wanted to know every detail of the rape.

This is a bit of a theme we’ve seen in other cases of mishandling of abuse allegations—the (white, Christian, male) interrogator wants to know every little detail.

“They shamed the crap out of me, asking me question after question,” said the woman, who attended the seminary until 2005 before dropping out for reasons she said were unrelated to the alleged incident.

It’s possible that this intimate asking of every little question is simply intended to shame the victim (which it certainly has the effect of doing). It is also possible that some men get off on hearing these details, and ask for them salaciously. Either way, one thing bears emphasis—these men were not trained for this sort of rape crisis intake.

Notice that the woman says she was called in to meet with Patterson “and three or four male seminarians she said were proteges of Patterson’s.” There does not appear to have been a single woman in the room. Further, the woman herself was a seminarian; that made the male seminarians present, listening to her story, her peers. But it’s actually worse than that. The woman’s assailant was also a seminary student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. These were also his peers—and, potentially, his defenders.

But let’s move on:

Patterson and other administrators did not report the incident to the police, and she claims that Patterson encouraged her not to, as well, she said. The Post confirmed that a report was never filed with the Wake Forest Police Department.

The woman said she was put on probation for two years, but she doesn’t know why, saying it was perhaps because she was with another man alone in her apartment, which was against seminary policy.

That’s right—she was put on probation.

The woman shared a letter written to her by Southeastern’s dean of students at the time. In the letter, dated April 9, 2003, Allan Moseley told the woman that she would be put on probation after the incident, with suspension or expulsion as possible next steps if there were subsequent behavior the school deemed inappropriate. “It is evident that your memories of moral lapses with [the alleged assailant’s name] cause you sadness and humiliation,” Moseley said in the letter.

In other words, there is solid confirmation that the woman was put on probation due to this incident—and that the administration placed blame on her for what had happened. Moral lapses, the dean of students called it. She was censured for being raped.

This is not the only instance we have seen of rape victims being censured for violating their conservative college’s sexual conduct policy.

Has Southeastern’s policy changed? It would appear unlikely:

An attorney for Southeastern, George H. Harvey, said the seminary is conducting an internal review of the 2003 incident.

…

Responding to a request for comment, Harvey, Southeastern’s attorney, said, “As part of our internal investigation … it is my opinion that Dr. Moseley handled the matter in an appropriate manner.”

One thing has changed since 2003—to keep in step with federal requirements, the seminary created a sex offense awareness and prevention program, which does advise individuals to call 911 if they are raped and seems mostly in step with national standards on consent and assault (advising individuals who were raped to seek medical attention, not to bathe first, to save their clothes, etc.).

However, information about this sex offense awareness and prevention program is not easy to find on Southeastern’s website, and the seminary’s personal conduct policy requires students to “flee from every sexual sin.” It is possible that campus security would react differently to a case like the one that occurred in 2003 today. It is also possible that the administration would still censure the victim under the personal conduct policy, determining that she had not done enough to “flee from every sexual sin.”

The lawyer’s comment, exonerating Dr. Moseley of all wrongdoing and endorsing his censuring of the victim for personal conduct violations, is not exactly confidence inspiring.

Finally, as the woman told the Post:

The woman said she did not consider going to police or sharing her story before now because Patterson is considered a giant among Southern Baptists for the role he played in helping to lead the convention in a more conservative direction, one in which women are told to be submissive to their husbands and are barred from becoming pastors.

These things go together. They are not isolated issues.

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