(RNS) — When the administration of Azusa Pacific University dropped the section of its student code of conduct that banned same-sex relationships last August, reaction was swift.
American Christian media and church leaders were quick to accuse the evangelical school of caving to societal pressure and compromising its Christian identity.
The response prompted the university’s board to reverse the change, affirming the definition of marriage as being between “one man and one woman.”
About the same time, Trinity Western University — Canada’s premier evangelical university — also made a change related to same-sex relationships, but in a different way and with different results.
In TWU’s case, the school kept its community covenant, which requires students to “abstain” from “sexual intimacy that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman.”
But signing the covenant is now voluntary.
Over the past year, reaction to the change has been mostly positive, said James Tweedy, TWU’s director of marketing, and support for the university remains strong.
“We haven’t experienced a negative impact on donations,” he said. “In fact, both donations and enrolment continue to be stronger than in prior years.”
Overall, Tweedy added, “the response has been largely positive and has been seen as a necessary step…
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