‘Not Christian enough’: Concerns grow over direction of Friends University family therapy program

By Abby Wray

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    WICHITA, Kansas (KAKE) — Students and former faculty in the Marriage and Family Therapy program at Friends University are anxious about the program’s future and what students describe as potential changes to the program.

Friends students say last school year, there were multiple instances where their professors were told they were not to teach about or promote religions other than Christianity, causing confusion for future therapists who will be tasked with serving the whole community, not just people who identify as one specific religion.

This story actually begins a full year ago, when former faculty say, the Friends University administration sent out a memo to marriage and family therapy faculty that said in part:

“During the past six months, a number of current and former MFT students have told friends university administrators and other individuals affiliated with the university that they perceived that the program was not welcoming to them as Christians…they shared significant concerns related to their perception that they were expected to constrain their identity as Christians while in the program, as well as their opinion that Christian faith is sometimes discussed in a negative manner by MFT faculty and students.”

Faculty and students KAKE spoke to said that after this memo was sent out, things changed dramatically in the program. Over the course of the last school year, the program lost five faculty and staff members.

“We were told over and over again we weren’t Christian enough. So much so that the program director resigned that same fall because of the lack of communication, the lack of due process,” said Amanda Spruill, a former MFT program faculty member.

Spruill says she loved her job at Friends University; teaching the next generation of marriage and family therapists was her passion.

“We tried multiple things to address the memo. I personally came up with multiple ideas for how to better integrate faith and spirituality and Christianity into coursework, into supervision, into clinical opportunities, and we were told it was not enough, yet not also told what else to do,” said Dr. Spruill.

Dr. Spruill says she felt a sense of discrimination while at Friends University in the lack of due process and unclear instruction from the administration.

And alongside all this, Dr. Spruill self-disclosed her sexuality as pansexual, informing her classes as part of a social identity exercise, where she had to model her own identity to explain the importance of students recognizing their own social identity, and the part that plays in marriage and family therapy. It’s an exercise done every year in the program, helpful to create empathy and understanding.

“I just can’t help but feeling like everything turned up after I came out,” said Dr. Spruill.

Dr. Spruill says Friends’ administration reached out to her and other faculty shortly after this class, saying they had heard she “does not identify as Christian.” She says this is not true and she’s identified as Christian since she was 12 years old.

She says after this, another faculty member reached out to the university’s president, saying they have concerns about sending Christian students to the Center on Family Living, the on-campus location MFT students see patients at and Dr. Spruill directly oversaw.

“I tried to follow up with that faculty member and address concerns, find out what the concerns were about and they denied they said it. The president said I probably shouldn’t have told you that,” said Dr. Spruill

She fears the university wants to move to what Friends defines as a “biblical counseling program,” which would be different from the COAMFTE-accredited program (Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education) the university currently has.

Dr. Spruill says that without proper sociocultural competency training, the graduating therapists would be ill-equipped to handle the career.

“And it’s not just about me either. It’s about maintaining the integrity of the MFT program so that clients in the Wichita community know they can go to the Center on Family Living and receive quality care, affirmative care for everyone,” explained Dr. Spruill.

There are only two COAMFTE-accredited Marriage and Family Therapy programs in Kansas, including Friends; the other is K-State

According to COAMFTE standards, there are diversity and inclusivity policies in place such as: “The program does not discriminate on the basis of race, age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, relationship status, gender identity, socioeconomic status, disability, health status, religious or spiritual belief, religious or spiritual affiliation or national origin in any of its activities or policies relating to students, faculty, including instructors, supervisors, other relevant educators and professional staff…The program strives for a diverse student body and faculty including instructors, supervisors, other relevant educators and professional staff.”

Dr. Spruill officially left the university at the end of the school year. She says she was the second of five faculty and staff members in the program to resign after the memo, leaving only one original faculty member.

“I feel like most of the faculty that we lost was avoidable,” said Angie Leivian, a graduate student in Friend’s MFT program.

Leivian is entering her second year in the MFT program and she describes a culture of fear and silence created by Friend’s administration. She’s worried the program could lose accreditation, and her degree would not have the same value. She says that she and other future therapists worry about being kicked out of the program for not being religious enough.

“There’s a fear of religious discrimination and then there’s a fear for the clients in particular that we will have people who won’t feel comfortable coming to the Center on Family Living because they’ll think it only serves Christian clients and that’s not the case,” said Leivian.

She says she knows of at least one client who stopped going to the Center on Family Living for therapy because they had heard about internal turmoil in the therapy program, and they didn’t feel comfortable attending exclusively Christian-based counseling.

Leivian says that from the beginning of her time in the program, she was taught about Christianity and other religions. She mentioned Friend’s RISE values- respect, inclusion, service and excellence- which were heavily discussed during classroom instruction.

“That’s the point of a marriage and family therapist is to be able to sit with all types, all religions and it feels like there’s been a huge shift away from that to a Christian persona,” explained Leivian.

In an email exchange, the university’s president said in part,

“Friends University’s long-standing purpose and mission is to honor God. The University will always support curriculum and classes that present a thorough understanding of various worldviews and religions. However, given the University’s stated mission, it cannot support the promotion or practice of worldviews or spiritual practices that directly undermine the integrity of our Christian faith.”

“It just seems as though the administration wants to find White Christian men- I think women too- but white Christian men who will align with their very conservative values,” said Dr. Spruill.

KAKE has learned that nearly 40 former students and faculty submitted letters of concern to the university’s president expressing their concerns for the direction the MFT program is going in.

One student wrote, in part, “I feel a responsibility to ask how Friends University can continue to honor its Christian identity while also preparing us to ethically and effectively serve the full range of clients we will encounter?”

And current students’ message to the school is clear, “Don’t fix what isn’t broken, the program has Christian tenets. I believe they should be able to talk and teach about other religions and ideas because if we don’t understand, how can we help somebody?” said Leivian.

We reached out to Friends University to set up an interview and we were given this statement because it is an “extremely busy time.”

“All curricular changes are approved by the faculty of Friends University and there are no proposed changes for the Marriage and Family Therapy program. The university is Quaker in heritage but does not require employees to adhere to a particular religious affiliation. Friends University expects employees to uphold and support the long-standing mission of the university.”

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