Lutheran seminary board votes to fire president

Trustees of United Lutheran Seminary voted Wednesday to fire the school's president after news that her past as director of a group that promoted ministries claiming to change the same-sex orientation of gay men and women shook the campus community, according to a statement posted on the seminary's website.

The Rev. Theresa F. Latini, who led the group OnebyOne, a so-called conversion therapy organization, for five years starting in 1996, will be replaced by Bishop James Dunlop, of the Lower Susquehanna Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  Dunlop will serve as acting president of the school which has campuses in Gettysburg and Philadelphia.

Conversion therapy, also known as reparative therapy, is a treatment program that purports to turn gay men and women straight. It has been discredited by major mental health organizations that say that the treatment is ineffective and can inflict psychological and emotional harm.

Latini had long ago repudiated the group and changed her mind about conversion therapy. She had since worked to advocate for LGBTQ inclusion.

Latini said in a statement that she was "saddened" that the board had elected to terminate her.

"I have poured every ounce of myself into leading this newly-consolidated and profoundly polarized school to overcome the longstanding divisions that have been, and continue to be, the primary impediments to building a vibrant and sustainable institution," Latini said in her statement.

But news that Latini had once led the organization angered students, faculty, and staff  at the school, an LGBTQ-affirming seminary. The campus community also was upset about the board's handling of presidential selection process and the way officials failed to disclose Latini's connection to the group until after rumors began circulating at the school.

Four members of the board resigned prior to the meeting held Wednesday when Latini was terminated. Four additional members resigned after the meeting. The board's statement said that the seminary needed new leadership in the wake of a controversy that has shaken confidence in school officials. A search for new board members and a new president will begin immediately.

Latini was hired last year to lead the new seminary, a merger between Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg.

During the presidential selection process, Latini revealed her connection to the conversion therapy group to the Rev. J. Elise Brown, then chair of the board of trustees and a member of the selection committee. Brown did not tell her fellow selection committee members about Latini's leadership of the group.

Brown did not reveal the information to the selection committee and the board until a meeting in December. By that time, however, news of Latini's past view had already surfaced.

Brown, who  earlier resigned her post as chair of the board, explained in a Facebook post that she had tried to research OnebyOne, but came up empty. She was among the board members who resigned prior to Wednesday's meeting.