In a October 15, 2024, press release titled “A New Chapter: Louisville Institute’s Strategic Restructuring After 35 Years,” the Louisville Institute (LI) announced a plan that, in part, would “enhance the impact of LI’s programs, ensuring mission fidelity and broadening their reach to better serve the church.”
The Louisville Institute is housed at, and receives administrative oversight from, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (LPTS). Its mission has been to “bridge Church and academy” through grants and fellowships. As part of LI’s Lilly Endowment Inc’s. grant funding, LPTS receives 10% of the total grant award or roughly $800,000 of $8 million funded in the 2022-2024 grant period, and now $1.8 million from the $18 million funded in the 2025-2027 grant period. As part of this agreement, Louisville Institute staff are in the employ of LPTS.
What was not included in the October 15 release sent by LPTS, was that all four of the Louisville Institute’s female staff members had been fired. The post briefly mentions the impact to staff, while reassuring stakeholders “that the decisions being made are part of a deliberate process aimed at good stewardship of both resources and talent.”
But documentation obtained by the Presbyterian Outlook paints a different picture. Claims of gender discrimination, of supervisory retaliation, and of inadequate policies and procedures to address such concerns preceded the wholesale removal of highly regarded staff persons from a popular and, by all accounts, well-run grants and fellowship program.
For privacy purposes, and to protect the integrity of staff severance packages and non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), no fired LI staff members were contacted in our reporting, nor will they be named. The only exception is Rev. Dr. Aimee Moiso, the former associate director of the Louisville Institute, who has chosen to go on the record for this article. All persons named in this article are identifiable by the public record of their service and tenure.
The Louisville Institute is currently without an executive director and has, since 2022, had four executive directors in rapid succession. Rev. Dr. Edwin Aponte left LI in June 2022 and was replaced by Rev. Dr. Gerardo Martí as interim director for the period July 1, 2022 – May 31, 2023. Rev. Dr. Edwin Hernández served as executive director from June 1, 2023 – March 31, 2024. On April 15, 2024, Rev. Raymond Bonwell, was appointed as interim executive director. Prior to Bonwell’s appointment, the job description for the executive director was revised to not require a Ph.D., Th.D., or S.T.D. degree. Bonwell, the only executive director in the history of the Louisville Institute to not hold a doctoral level degree, resigned as interim executive director effective September 18, 2024, though LI staff was told he remained in the seminary’s employ for ongoing projects related to the Louisville Institute.
The Louisville Institute is currently without an executive director and has, since 2022, had four executive directors in rapid succession.
Despite these changes in top leadership, the programming at the Louisville Institute continued as chartered with four staff members consistently serving constituents and the mission of the organization. Recognizing the stress the staff was under, a group of 27 Louisville Institute doctoral and postdoctoral fellows and mentors signed a letter addressed to the “Board of the Louisville Institute.” The letter was submitted via email to the LI advisory board and Bonwell on June 26, 2024, saying, in part:
“[C]ycling through constant leadership change is inevitably disorienting, presenting challenges for maintaining a steady institutional voice and growth toward fulfilling the organizational mission. We wish you to know that, nevertheless, we have experienced the constant, dedicated leadership of Aimee, [and three other staff members] throughout our time as fellows. In different ways, each of them embodies and deepens the mission of the Louisville Institute to forge bridges between the church, the academy, and the larger communities in which we live.
The letter went on to “ask that the Board in turn show [the staff] its appreciation for their having steered the ship of this Institute for the past two-plus years. We suggest that the Board might consider a variety of ways to express its appreciation including financial compensation and organizational promotion.”
Concluding its remarks, the fellows and mentors said, “[T]he work of the Institute — the missional work — has been done, and done exceptionally well, by the staff. We hope that as the Board looks to the future of the Institute it will take care of the people who have shepherded the Institute through tumultuous times with incredible dexterity, care, and commitment. Too often in our churches, organizations, and broader society, the work that women do is not equally valued, esteemed, and compensated. And so we have written today simply to affirm our appreciation and admiration for Aimee, [and three other staff members], and to ask that you join us in celebrating them.”
“[T]he work of the Institute — the missional work — has been done, and done exceptionally well, by the staff.” — A letter signed by a group of 27 Louisville Institute doctoral and postdoctoral fellows and mentors
Andrew Stone Porter is an assistant professor of theology and religious studies at Bellarmine University and one of the fellows who co-authored and signed the email. He said Bonwell acknowledged the email the day it was submitted, extending thanks to the signees, and saying the letter would likely be an item on the LI advisory board’s upcoming September meeting.
But rather than receiving appreciation for their work, the four staff members received termination warnings from Bonwell on July 16 and 17, 2024. While addressing each employee individually, the warnings contained a boilerplate page with generalized accusations. Staff provided individual written responses to the termination warnings on July 22.
These termination warnings and counter-responses were the most recent indication of a troubled workplace and one record among many criticisms leveled against LI and LPTS leadership through official channels. Primary among these complaints was a Title IX (gender discrimination) filing by Moiso in late 2023.
During a meeting between LPTS President Andrew Pomerville, Hernández, Moiso and LPTS VP for Finance and Operations Theresia Smith on September 25, 2023, frustrations mounted and, according to a November 6 employment letter to Moiso, Moiso “slammed the table, leaving us all stunned by this unprofessional behavior.” The letter also accuses Moiso of at least two other instances of insubordination and questioning the executive director’s leadership, along with general claims of “unprofessional and undermining behavior.”
Moiso does not deny the incident and clarified in her response that she “slapped the palm of one hand on the table” during the meeting at which she was “repeatedly interrupted” by others as she voiced questions about “salaries and equity” for LI staff. In her response, Moiso also refuted the claims of insubordination.
“The meeting in question was one of many related to the writing of the 2025-2027 Louisville Institute continuation grant to fund our work,” Moiso said. “Throughout that process, LI staff had to remind leadership about details of the proposal, repeatedly request information that was needed for the document, and correct perpetual errors. We were in the position of knowing what was needed but not being heard. We knew the Louisville Institute, but our expertise was not respected — and sometimes not even included.”
On December 6, 2023, Moiso filed her Title IX complaint with the seminary. She claimed three Title IX violations in the document, summarized here:
- That her actions, including the table slapping incident, were “interpreted negatively through gender-biased understandings of ‘appropriate’ behavior in the workplace and stereotyped roles of women.”
- That the culture and protocols of LPTS “reinforce gendered forms of hierarchy, support gender-biased explanations of behavior, and privilege the interpretations of a male supervisor over those of a female employee,” to include “[u]nclear or inadequate HR policies that exacerbate the potential for gender bias.”
- That Louisville Institute employees have been subjected to “ambivalent sexism” in the workplace, which is expressed in both “hostile” and “benevolent” sexism.
All LI staff members were interviewed during the December 8, 2023, to March 2024 investigation conducted by the then LPTS Dean of Community Life and Title IX Coordinator, who has since retired.
Just 40 days after the Title IX investigation began, Hernández’s resignation as the Louisville Institute’s executive director was made public on January 19, 2024. On January 30, Moiso was informed that two of her three claims were dismissed in light of Hernández’s departure because they related to his supervision. From this point on, only section two, regarding seminary policies and processes, would be considered in the Title IX complaint.
“We were all surprised by [Hernández’s] resignation,” Moiso said, “but I was glad that portions of the Title IX complaint were moving forward anyway. My intention had always been to make seminary policies better so that this kind of discrimination wouldn’t happen to others, and I thought the complaint was one way to do so.”
Moiso received a draft report, dated February 26, 2024, of the Title IX investigation on March 25, 2024. On April 8, she responded to the draft with changes and corrections, as did other LI staff members. On April 19, Moiso received the corrected copy of the final investigation report, and a month later was notified that her on-campus hearing would be on June 5, 2024. Just a few days later, Moiso received an offer from the seminary to enter into an informal resolution process instead, to which she agreed and awaited word of next steps.
On June 10, Rishe Consulting was hired to facilitate the Title IX informal resolution. Moiso then discovered a relationship between LPTS’ President Pomerville and a partner at Rishe Consulting, who worked together at Alma College for several years. In light of this information, she requested a new facilitator. The informal resolution process was suspended, and on July 22, 2024, LPTS hired external Title IX firm Grand River Solutions to review the investigation and suggest next steps.
While Moiso’s Title IX resolution process was being considered, Raymond Bonwell began work as the Louisville Institute’s interim executive director on April 15, 2024. By the end of May, Moiso recalls, there had been two meetings between LI staff members and seminary ombuds to discuss problems with Bonwell’s supervision. According to Moiso, meetings with Bonwell were contentious, and staff repeatedly requested that he take action to address the communication and relational issues. On July 15, staff sought a meeting with HR to “discuss concerns related to Bonwell’s leadership.” This meeting was scheduled for July 24.
The previously mentioned termination warnings were issued by Bonwell to LI staff on July 16 and 17. In addition to written responses to these warnings, LI staff submitted a complaint of retaliation against Bonwell on August 5 under the auspices of the existing Title IX complaint. On August 9, the four staff members of the Louisville Institute submitted a complaint of a hostile work environment to the seminary based on Bonwell’s actions.
An investigation into these retaliation and hostile work environment claims took place August 9-28 by Mary Mitchell, a human resources consultant for the seminary. No Louisville Institute employees who were part of the complaint were interviewed during this investigation.
On August 21, 2024, LPTS published its revised Title IX Sexual Harassment Policy. The policy does not provide protections against gender discrimination as outlined by the U.S. Department of Education. Rather, following a district court injunction that exempts schools in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia from applying the broader policy, the LPTS policy, following this injunction, narrowly defines sexual harassment as dating violence, domestic violence (on the basis of sex), stalking (on the basis of sex), sexual assault or quid pro quo sexual harassment.
As a result, on August 27, Moiso received notice her Title IX complaint was being dismissed on the basis that it did not fit the criteria for sexual harassment under the new LPTS Title IX policy. Instead, it was remanded to the seminary’s HR department for adjudication under seminary discrimination policies.
“[The Title IX case] originally started with the former director [Hernández],” recalls the Rev. Dr. Shannon Craigo-Snell, LPTS professor of theology, and a person familiar with the case. “When the new director [Bonwell] comes in, things go from bad to worse.
“While the Title IX case is being adjudicated, we don’t have an actual Title IX policy in place. So they hire a consultant to write the Title IX policy while adjudicating the Title IX case at the same time. And it comes to the not-so-surprising result that this [complaint] does not qualify as a Title IX policy violation.”
“While the Title IX case is being adjudicated, we don’t have an actual Title IX policy in place. So they hire a consultant to write the Title IX policy while adjudicating the Title IX case at the same time. And it comes to the not-so-surprising result that this [complaint] does not qualify as a Title IX policy violation.” — Rev. Dr. Shannon Craigo-Snell
Craigo-Snell, who is leaving LPTS next spring after 13 years at the seminary, said any response to the Title IX complaint was an “opportunity for self-reflection” on the part of the institution.
“Are we being who we say we want to be?” she pondered. “It would have been appropriate during that investigation of that Title IX complaint to talk with the women at the Louisville Institute. It would have been appropriate to actually hear and listen to the voices of the women involved. And that did not happen. It would have been appropriate for us to attempt to find a way to do better by our employees.”
The day after Moiso received notice her Title IX complaint was being dismissed, she said HR consultant Mary Mitchell and President Pomerville met with LI staff and, according to Moiso, were “told their experience does not rise to the legal definition of hostile work environment under the law in Kentucky, though the situation was deemed ‘toxic.’”
Further attempts by Moiso and LI staff to clarify the policy on discrimination complaints were made in the following weeks. During the week of September 16, LI staff were informed the termination warnings issued by Bonwell had been revoked and deemed “without merit.”
“Are we being who we say we want to be?” — Rev. Dr. Shannon Craigo-Snell
Bonwell’s resignation was announced to the Louisville Institute on September 19, and then to LPTS faculty on September 25. On October 3, LI staff received summary reports of the investigations into their hostile work environment and retaliation claims. The summaries were inconclusive and, in an email on October 14 from HR consultant Mitchell, had been “resolved” because the Title IX case had been dismissed. On October 14, Moiso again requested information about discrimination policies, providing a timeline of the entire case and reiterating that the Title IX complaint had never actually been adjudicated under appropriate seminary policies.
The next day, a week after the successful completion of the Louisville Institute’s 35-person October 7-8 Vocation of the Theological Educator gathering, LPTS announced the restructuring of the Louisville Institute and terminated all four female employees.
Outlook’s request for an interview with President Pomerville was not granted, though he did send the following statement:
“This transition is an opportunity for the Louisville Institute to refocus its mission and position itself for growth and expansion that will provide essential support for the next generation of students and leaders.”
“This transition is an opportunity for the Louisville Institute to refocus its mission and position itself for growth and expansion that will provide essential support for the next generation of students and leaders.” — LPTS President Andrew Pomerville
The restructuring press release provides assurance that “[t]he LI leadership team, including the LI Advisory Board, LPTS Board, and our funding partners at LEI (Lilly Endowment Inc.), are united in their support of these efforts.” However, the Outlook’s multiple requests for interviews with Lilly’s grant and program advisors to clarify this support garnered the response, “Please contact Louisville Seminary with any questions about the restructuring of Louisville Institute,” from Lilly’s Communication Director Judith Cebula.
Other responses to the restructuring and termination of the four staff have been swift.
In addition to being terminated from the Louisville Institute, Moiso was fired from her adjunct teaching position at LPTS. A LPTS student forum with President Pomerville to address concerns over these terminations is scheduled for Wednesday, October 23, at 4:30 p.m. on the LTPS campus and a GoFundMe appeal has been established to “Support the Louisville Institute Staff in Transition.”
Stone Porter, the postdoctoral fellow who helped pen the June 2024 letter of staff support, has also written to the Louisville Institute Advisory Board, Pomerville and the LPTS board chair. His October 21 letter reaffirmed his support for the staff saying, “These four women kept the organization alive, and thriving, by managing the application and selection process for all of LI’s grants and fellowships; helping fellows make contacts and contracts with partner universities, seminaries, and organizations.”
He continued by praising the staff’s work at LI-organized events, where they often cared for fellows’ children so the scholars could be attentive in sessions.
Asked if he believed the terminated staff could have adapted to the press release’s call for the restructuring to “reflect a greater diversity of voices and theological perspectives,” in the grant and fellowship programs, Stone Porter said LI grant and fellowship recipients were already representative of a broad diversity within the Christian academy.
“We were, in my experience, a highly diverse, religiously diverse, racially diverse and internationally and culturally diverse cohort,” he said. “And I can only speak for myself, but I think the fact that so many of them are ardently supporting the staff in this moment shows that they were indeed capable of doing that.”
Rev. Dr. Amy Plantinga Pauw, a LPTS professor of doctrinal theology who served two terms as a member of the Louisville Institute Advisory Board over her 34-year tenure at the school, asked on October 16 to discuss the restructuring at the next LPTS faculty meeting in an open email to President Pomerville that copied all faculty.
Having seen several Louisville Institute restructuring efforts in years past, she said none “involved the firing of all the permanent staff.” Quoting the seminary’s press release in which it reaffirmed the institution’s mission to “care for all and work for justice in communities everywhere,” she questioned the removal of the staff members.
“I’m wondering how that applies to these four members of our community,” she posited. “For example, has the seminary provided for the continuation of benefits for them and their families while they try to find new jobs?
“I would be very interested to hear the new vision for the Louisville Institute that required demolishing the existing staff structure.”
