September 5, 2025 

Dear Seminary of the Southwest Alumni and Friends, 

With a heavy heart, I write to inform you that yesterday the Board terminated Dean and President Scott Bader-Saye effective immediately.  

Dean Bader-Saye’s termination comes following his admission of developing an inappropriate relationship with an employee with whom he was in a supervisory relationship. The behavior violates the professional standards required of all employees of the Seminary by the Personnel Handbook and the Safeguarding God’s People policies included therein, and of the faculty by the Faculty Handbook. As Dean and President, he was responsible for abiding by those policies himself, as well as ensuring they were upheld by all members of the community and responding appropriately when they were not. As Professor of Christian Ethics and Moral Theology and Dean and President of the Seminary, Dr. Bader-Saye bore the greatest responsibility for careful compliance with these policies and for leading by example. 

Though his departure will require careful planning and attention, both in the short term and for the healthy future of the Seminary, the Board, Academic Dean Ben King, the President’s Cabinet, and the faculty have begun that important task. We all have deep confidence in the day-to-day work of the formation of students and of the administration of the Seminary’s mission.  

To support the Faculty and Administration in their work, the Board is looking for a short-term Acting Dean preparatory to calling an Interim Dean to serve during a search process.  

The current Ethics class will be taught by Dr. Tony Baker, Professor of Theology, whose PhD is in Theology, Ethics, and Culture, and who worked with Dr. Bader-Saye to design and coordinate the Theology and Ethics portions of our curriculum. Other adjustments to duties will be communicated as they are determined. 

I know that this news will be unsettling individually and collectively. I invite you to join me in prayer for all those affected, especially for our students, faculty, and staff. We place our trust in God’s deep love and power to heal. Know that we are providing pastoral resources for the community and for individuals in the coming days and weeks. In challenging moments, I find it helpful to remember our purpose, articulated in our mission statement: “Rooted in the reconciling ministry of Christ, the mission of Seminary of the Southwest is to form people for vocations of ministry, service, and healing.” Upholding the dignity of every person, maintaining healthy boundaries, and respecting professional standards are central to the lives and work for which this Seminary forms its students. These principles require truth-telling, repentance, and appropriate consequences as part of the journey of reconciliation. 

I ask your continual prayers and support as we seek to be true to this mission. 

With trust in the God who redeemed all of us, all sinners, through the life, death, and resurrection of God’s Son and our Savior Jesus Christ,