klip11
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Women Are Prey in WELS Schools
Left the WELS cult after being a lifelong member of 40+ years - including WELS K-8. Nice to see stories and similar experiences as mine. The way WELS was practiced in Wisconsin and Michigan was nothing short of a cult and is particularly dangerous to women/young girls.
My last act as a member of WELS was sharing with the Conference of Presidents my disappointment that an adult, 34 year old professor at Wisconsin Lutheran College was allowed to convince a 19 year old student to leave her mother's home, move in with him and marry him. This professor, Dr. Andrew Schmiege, faced zero consequences for his actions. He comes from a well-connected family that provides many teachers and pastors to the polluted WELS Synod.
Young women that attend colleges and universities deserve to be treated as young scholars and not as potential sex partners. The Conference of Presidents and the President of WLC ignored my requests to protect young women and should be ashamed of how this situation was handled.
See my email to the Conference of Presidents as well as an internal family email that highlights the fact that Dr. Schmiege preyed upon a vulnerable young student. Removed the young woman's name to protect her privacy - note the 'XXXXXXXX' in the internal, family email. Also note the apparent secrecy around the inappropriate relationship.
Please feel free to email WELS leadership about this matter.
\_\_\_\_\_\_
Brothers in Christ.
I am writing to you today in the spirit of Matthew 18:15.
I want to share with you the disappointment I feel in how the WELS has handled a recent event at WLC. As you will see in the attached email a male professor at WLC, Dr. Andrew Schmiege, who is in his mid 30’s went to the home of a female student and felt that this was not a good environment for her to live. This young woman was barely a year out of high school.
Andrew Schmiege then recommended that she move into his apartment. I struggle to understand his reasoning here. Was it the sleeping on a sofa that was intolerable? I think not. I have slept many nights on sofas without any physical or emotional damage. Was it the cohabitation of her mother in that home environment? That would mean that the sin of cohabitation is worse than other sins. It seems to me that moving from the house of one sinner to the house of another sinner, for we are all in fact sinners, might not have been the motivation here.
In fact, since this young woman was receiving a Christian education at WLC, it might have been better for her to stay in the home and witness to her family.
Instead, she shared an apartment with this professor and then later decided to get married because it was not a good situation. Is this a good reason to get married? Doesn’t this sound a lot like the world around us? Let’s move in together and later get married. How do we witness to unmarried couples living together when we tolerate this behavior from a called worker?
In today’s society, a relationship between coworkers where one has authority over the other or holds a higher position than the other is frequently forbidden and often results in one or both parties losing their employment. So here we have a professor and a freshman student in a relationship and nothing happens.
Sometimes we wonder why younger people are not receptive to our message. Well, it seems to me that when the corporate world has a higher moral standing than does our church body it makes sense that they would not want to join with us.
Instead of pointing out this apparent predatory behavior on the part of the professor, the family and several called workers came together to celebrate this inappropriate relationship. It seems to me that any called workers attending this celebration in July of this year may be in need of some counseling and/or disciplinary action regarding this matter.
Young women that attend institutions of higher education deserve to be treated as young scholars and not as potential mates and sex partners. That fact that this young woman was particularly vulnerable due to her home situation means she should have had even more protection from the predatory behavior she was exposed to at a WELS supported school.
I expect that the WELS and WLC will take action in this matter and that both will develop and implement strong policies to protect women in the workplace and in our schools. If this does not happen, I believe I have no choice but to make this a public matter as instructed in Matthew 18:17.
I look forward to your response.
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
From: **Eileen Schmiege** <[eileen@XXXXXXX.net](mailto:eileen@schmiege.net)\>
Date: Mon, Sep 14, 2020 at 12:16 PM
Subject: A few more things.........
To: <[carrie@XXXXXXXXX.com](mailto:carrie@teachabcxyz.com)\>, Lance Meyer <[lance.meyer@XXXXXXXXXX.org](mailto:lance.meyer@stmarcus.org)\>, Rachel Barnard <[Rachel.l.Schmiege@XXXXXXXXX.com](mailto:Rachel.l.barnard@gmail.com)\>, Nathan Schmiege <[nschmiege@XXXXXXXX.com](mailto:nschmiege@yahoo.com)\>, <[jenniferschmiege@XXXXXXXXX.com](mailto:jenniferschmiege@yahoo.com)\>
A few more things I learned about Andy and XXXXXX's decision. At her mom’s house, XXXXXX did not have a bed or a bedroom. She lived with her great grandma for a while until her great uncle (the man at the wedding) came home from Texas to live with the great grandma. Then she had to move out. At her mom’s house, XXXXXXX slept on a couch. Her mom promised to clean up space for her by the beginning of the school year. Andy & XXXXXX went there mid August to check the progress and nothing had been done. They went again intending to clean up things themselves but it was pretty hopeless. Andy said XXXXXXXX should not live there – a mess. She has been sleeping on the couch at Andy’s, which was not a good situation. So they made the decision to get married now.
Her mom does not work – has a live in boyfriend. XXXXXXX discovered her mom did not have health insurance for XXXXXXX. It is hard for me to understand a family situation like this because I have been truly blessed. Her mom seemed pleasant for the short time we saw her. XXXXXXXX’s dad does not know that she is married or even that she was dating anyone.
I think XXXXXXX appreciates all of you and your Christian way of life very much.
We will pray for them and their happiness in marriage.
They are OK now with everyone knowing they are married. They will celebrate next summer as planned.
Love,
Mom