“At the meeting after the chapel, the students explained that their demonstration was meant to express concern that Dr. Butterfield’s story would be interpreted by the community as prescriptive rather than descriptive,” Ash said. “They expressed the desire for other stories to be told among the community in order to represent more than one person’s individual experience.” 

Students sat on the front steps of Edman Chapel holding signs and singing on Friday morning, Jan. 31, in a demonstration of solidarity and a desire to be heard before chapel guest Rosaria Champagne Butterfield gave her testimony and address to the Wheaton College community.

The demonstration, named “More Than a Single Story” by its organizers junior Justin Massey and sophomore Jordan-Ashley Barney, featured students holding signs that said “We’re all loved by God,” “This is not a protest,” “Rosaria’s story is valid, mine is too,” and “I’m gay and a beloved child of God. This is my story,” among many others. The students remained on the steps until just before chapel began, at which point they prayed together and then entered into the chapel to hear the message. Plans for the demonstration were formed on Wednesday, when Barney and Massey learned about Butterfield’s coming to Wheaton and heard from friends about their concern for the possibly negative impact that Butterfield’s story could have on Wheaton students.

Butterfield, who is the author of “The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert,” gave her message on her conversion to Christianity and her thoughts on sexuality through a Christian lens. Chaplain Stephen Kellough, who is responsible for inviting speakers to campus, felt that Butterfield’s “thoughtful and passionate articulation of a life transformed by Christ” would be beneficial for students to hear.

“My invitation to Dr. Rosaria Butterfield was intended to help us to think through issues of sexuality, to be sure,” Kellough said. “But really, my interest in having her speak in chapel was much more than that. It was her profound and winsome description of an entire life — sexuality and all — transformed by the gospel that was the most compelling reason for her being invited to speak in chapel.”

Massey said that he feared that students would be isolated or marginalized by Butterfield’s story of transformation from “radical, lesbian, leftist professor to this morally good Christian,” which could make LGBTQ or feminist students feel that those two identities were “oppositional” or mutually exclusive.

“We feared that if no conversation was added to the single message of the speaker that students who are not very well informed were going to walk into chapel, hear the message, and have misconceptions confirmed or that students who are LGBT would be told that this story is the absolute way that things happen,” Massey said.

Following the demonstration, Massey, Barney and other students who took part in the demonstration were invited to a “talk-back” discussion including Butterfield, a few alumni, associate dean of Student Care and Services Allison Ash, dean of Student Engagement Steve Ivester and ministry associate for discipleship and Grad Chapel Clayton Keenon. There, students had the opportunity to discuss with Butterfield their concerns about her message and its impact on students who have expressed feelings of marginalization and hurt on Wheaton’s campus.

“At the meeting after the chapel, the students explained that their demonstration was meant to express concern that Dr. Butterfield’s story would be interpreted by the community as prescriptive rather than descriptive,” Ash said. “They expressed the desire for other stories to be told among the community in order to represent more than one person’s individual experience.”

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Statement from Wheaton College President Philip Ryken on Chapel Demonstration