UNITED STATES
The Mennonite

The Mennonite Church USA Panel on Sexual Abuse Prevention has terminated its participation in the investigation into the handling of reports of sexual abuse at Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Va., Virginia Mennonite Conference and Lindale Mennonite Church, Linville, Va. On Aug. 2, EMU announced that it had contracted with D. Stafford & Associates (DSA) and Mennonite Church USA, VMC and Lindale were in contract negotiations with the group.

On Aug. 3, in a statement to The Mennonite (and published on the MC USA website Aug. 8), the panel wrote, “We cannot affirm the process that resulted in the selection of D. Stafford for EMU, or any process that does not involve Lauren Shifflett…We are sorry for the ways in which we have been complicit in this, and view it as a missed opportunity. Now we are choosing to support Lauren, victims and survivors over this…