Dear Wheaton College students, staff and faculty:

This memo will give you an overview of events and
issues for the April 20-21, 2006 visit of the
Soulforce Equality Ride to Wheaton College; I hope you
will find this information helpful. I will begin with
a quick summary of the Soulforce schedule, then move
to general information about the visit, and then give
you more information on the scheduling of campus
“events” involving the Soulforce Equality Riders.

The schedule at a glance:
* Thursday afternoon (4/20), 3:30-5:00 PM, Coray
Gym, Equality Rider presentation “Letters to Mel.”
Campus community only.

* Thursday night (4/20), 7:00-9:00 PM, King Arena
(SRC), Equality Riders and Wheaton College Panel
Discussion. Open to public.

* Friday afternoon (4/21), 3:30-5:00 PM, Coray Gym,
Equality Rider presentation “A History of Violence.”
Campus community only.

* Thursday (4/20) and Friday (4/21) afternoons,
1:30-3:30 PM, Beamer Center, Equality Riders
interact informally with interested students.

* Saturday, (4/22), 10:00AM-noon, Barrows
Auditorium, post-event dialogue and debrief.

General Information:

We have been preparing for the Soulforce visit by
carefully watching what has transpired at the other
college campuses that have been visited by the
Equality Ride. We have been encouraged that those
visits have generally been peaceful and not disruptive
of campus life. Soulforce has stated repeatedly that
they will not implement civil disobedience or other
disruptive techniques here on our campus.

Who are our visitors? It has been reported in the
press that about half of the Equality Riders do not
identify themselves as Christians. Some of those
that do identify themselves as Christians do not
articulate their religious faith in ways that
members of our community would recognize as orthodox,
but other Equality Riders do. Students and other
members of our community will have an opportunity to
share and show the love and truth of Jesus Christ with
our visitors (including the Equality Riders, any
media, and other visitors).

We have reports from other colleges of some
meaningful interactions occurring between Equality
Riders and the Christian college students. If you
choose to interact with the Equality Riders, we urge
that you listen to them but that you also not be
afraid to speak. Ask them to share their story, but
do not let the interaction become just one-way. Do
not be afraid of sharing your faith in our Savior, or
why you have confidence in the moral teachings of the
Bible. They will have had similar conversations at
campuses visited earlier in their ride.

Remember also that the Soulforce Equality Riders are
activists. As activists, they want to influence the
College to change its stance on sexual morality. They
would like the College to retreat from its confidence
in the Bible’s explicit teachings on sexual morality.
To accomplish this goal they will ask us-and you-to
suspend moral commitment for the sake of dialogue.
They will also seek to portray Wheaton in the media as
“intolerant” and “oppressive” (two words they often
use) in order to create public pressure for change to
their point of view.

You should not feel compelled to speak to any media
who may be present for this event. We have not given
permission for cameras and recorders to be present on
campus outside of a specific media area (yet to be
determined). If you are approached for a comment on
camera, the media crew is violating our
pre-established agreements with the media. If you do
interact with the media, be aware that what you say
may have an impact far from campus and for some time
to come. Also, the media rarely report in full what
we say, and so comments taken in isolation may appear
out of context in a way that creates misunderstanding
of your meaning. We urge you to use prayerful
discretion if you choose to speak to the media.

On their visits this spring to some other Christian
College campuses, the Equality Riders have broken a
few pre-established agreements about their visit, but
these have not been serious violations. Examples have
included distributing literature when they had been
asked not to do so, or entering buildings or areas of
the campus restricted from their visit. We have asked
the Equality Riders to limit their campus access to
the Beamer Center except when going to pre-arranged
events in other venues.

We hope that the visit by the Equality Riders will be
free of conflictual or unloving interactions. Should
such events occur-whether involving a Wheaton
community member, an Equality Rider or outside
visitor-we urge mature persons present to take action
to calm the situation. Some may seek to provoke
strong reactions with forceful statements. The most
serious act of aggression against the Equality Ride so
far occurred at Lee College, where their bus was
apparently vandalized with spray paint by outside
persons. This act was met with the response of Lee
students cleaning the bus, a gracious act of love.

Remember, the Equality Riders are activists but they
are also fellow human beings made in the image of God
and loved by Him. They, like we, are sinners in need
of God’s mercy and of the message and reality of the
Gospel. May God be glorified and Christ’s Kingdom
advanced by our response to this event.

More information on the “events” we will have on
campus during their visit:

The Equality Riders will be on campus on Thursday
(4/20) from late morning through the evening, and
again on Friday (4/21) from late morning through
about 5PM.

Lunches on both Thursday (4/20) and Friday (4/21)
and dinner on Thursday (4/20) have been pre-arranged
for the Equality Riders and different member of the
College community.

The Equality Riders have been granted permission to
interact informally with interested students in the
Beamer Center between 1:30-3:30 PM on both Thursday
(4/20) and Friday (4/21).

On Thursday afternoon (4/20), 3:30-5:00 PM in Coray
Gym, the Equality Riders will make a presentation
entitled “Letters to Mel [White].” This presentation
has been described as “A reading of letters to Rev.
Dr. Mel White, some from GLBT persons of faith and
some from people who oppose Soulforce views.” The
presentation will last about 45 minutes, followed by a
10 minute response by a Wheaton College faculty
member, and the remainder of the time dedicated to
Q&A. Only Equality Riders and members of the Wheaton
College community will be admitted to this event by
showing proper identification.

On Thursday night (4/20), 7:00-9:00 PM in King Arena
(SRC), the Equality Riders will join Wheaton College
representatives to present a Panel Discussion.
Representatives of Soulforce and of Wheaton College
will make comments for 30 minutes each, and the
remainder of the time will be dedicated to Q&A with
the audience. This event will be open to the public.

On Friday afternoon (4/21), 3:30-5:00 PM in Coray
Gym, the Equality Riders will make a presentation
entitled “A History of Violence.” This presentation
has been described as “Surveys the development of
homophobia and the resultant oppression and violence
against GLBT people.” The presentation will last
about 45 minutes, followed by a 10 minute response by
a Wheaton College faculty member, and the remainder of
the time dedicated to Q&A. Only Equality Riders and
members of the Wheaton College community will be
admitted to this event by showing proper
identification.

After the Equality Riders depart, we will host a
post-event dialogue and debrief for all interested
members of our community. This will take place
Saturday (4/22), from 10:00AM-noon in Barrows
Auditorium. This will be a time to reflect on what
has transpired, discuss lessons learned, critique our
response, and discuss anything the audience wishes
about the Soulforce visit.