Anti-LGBTQ+ Hiring Policies Prompt Lower Bond Rating for SPU

The Board of Trustees at Seattle Pacific University has been under fire for months for refusing to budge on a policy that bars hiring openly LGBTQ+ individuals, despite widespread opposition across campus. Now that stance, and the fallout, have led S&P Global to lower its bond rating for SPU. The private, Free Methodist–affiliated university maintains the hiring policy in accordance with church doctrine, which states that marriage should be between a man and a woman.