Diversity Policies

The following are excerpts from the Southern Adventist University Employee Handbook found in its entirety here.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY (Section 2000)

Southern Adventist University affirms that Christian principles are incompatible with various forms of discrimination that have divided modern societies. The university is committed to equal employment opportunities for all individuals. The university does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, age, national origin, veterans, or handicap/disability in its hiring and employment practices. The university also prohibits harassment and sexual misconduct in the workplace. The university does, however, exercise its constitutional and statutory rights as a religious organization and employer to prefer members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church for employment. Full-time faculty and staff (salaried and hourly) are to be members in good and regular standing of the Seventh- day Adventist Church. 

The University Board may exempt individuals from this requirement in special teaching situations for which there are a limited number of Seventh-day Adventist faculty available for hire. 

POSITION STATEMENT ON HUMAN RELATIONS 

Southern Adventist University subscribes to the Position Statement prepared by the North American Division Curriculum Committee Task Force. The faculty and staff of Southern Adventist University commit themselves to the following principles on human relations and pledge themselves to strive to implement them in the conduct of their various offices and roles: 

1. We accept the biblical affirmation that God has “made of one blood all nations”
   
   (Acts 17:26), and are thus committed to providing an atmosphere for learning which is devoid of prejudice, discrimination, and separation.
   
   
2. We are committed, so far as possible within the academic and financial resources of the university, to the recruitment and retention of students from different cultural and ethnic groups.
   
   
3. We affirm that the principle of recruitment and retention of faculty from different cultural and ethnic groups, so far as possible within the staffing needs of the university, is fundamental to providing positive role models among cultural and ethnic groups on campus and is salutary in providing positive instruction among such groups.
   
   
4. We are committed to providing a university atmosphere that promotes interaction among cultural and ethnic groups on campus. We are likewise committed to the sharing of Southern’s cultural climate through faculty, staff, and student interaction.
   
   
5. We are committed to the concept of multicultural education that being different does not connote superiority or inferiority and that we can all learn from one another.
   
   
6. We affirm that all faculty, staff, and students should hold a positive attitude toward cultural pluralism and that they should be encouraged to become actively involved in the planning, development, implementation, and improvement of the multicultural aspects of Southern’s programs in their respective areas of expertise and responsibilities.
   
   
7. Finally, we are committed to the biblical precept to love our neighbors as we love ourselves and are therefore committed to apply the Golden Rule as our ultimate guide in human relations. 

CHRISTIAN STANDARDS AND CONDUCT  

All employees of Southern Adventist University are “God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.” Therefore, all employees are expected to willingly and conscientiously uphold the high moral and Christian standards that the church represents and live in harmony with the doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 

Employees of Southern Adventist University represent the church, as well as the university; consequently, their appearances, words, and actions reflect care and judgment. By the grace of God, their lives are a reflection of the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). 

1. Southern employees choose to talk “that which is good to the use of edifying” (Eph. 4:29); thus, they refrain from lewd talk and profanity and avoid being demeaning or derogatory.
   
   
2. Southern employees recognize that their bodies are “temples of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 6:19) and thus refrain from the use of tobacco in any form, intoxicating beverages, and/or illegal drugs.
   
   
3. As members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Southern employees recognize the importance of coming together with like-minded believers; therefore, they do not “forsake the assembling of themselves (Heb. 10:25) and attend church services on the seventh-day Sabbath and support their local churches with tithes and offerings (Lev. 27:30).
   
   
4. Southern employees believe “the Holy Scriptures are the supreme, authoritative, and the infallible revelation of [God’s] will” (“28 Fundamental Beliefs”) and accept the view of marriage as divinely established in The Garden of Eden, and defined as an exclusive union between one man and one woman. Therefore, employees comport themselves consistent with a Biblical sexual ethic, one in which sexual relationships occur only in a Biblical marriage context, and refrain from sexual acts of any kind outside of the Biblical marriage. It is also noted that Southern recognizes only those marriages that have occurred in a church or civil ceremony and for which a recorded marriage license has been issued.
   
   
5. Southern employees embrace the Biblical exhortation to mentor the next generation (Ps. 145:4); therefore, by both personal example and instruction, employees are to assist in the education of students regarding the application of Christian standards and conduct.