Misconduct
According to articles in the Elkhart Truth, allegations of sexual misconduct against Yoder circulated for decades and became known in wider Christian circles, but were never publicly acknowledged until 1992. After repeated institutional failures to address these abuses a group of victims threatened to engage in a public protest at a Bethel College conference where Yoder was to be a speaker. The college President rescinded Yoder's invitation, the student newspaper reported the story, and one of the victims reported that Bethel was "the first institution in the church that has taken this seriously" (Mennonite Weekly Review, March 12, 1992). The Elkhart Truth articles detail an extensive pattern of sexual assaults and harassment of students and others.
From the summer of 1992 to the summer of 1996, Yoder submitted to the discipline of the Indiana–Michigan Conference of the Mennonite Church for allegations of sexual misconduct. Yoder vaguely acknowledged misconduct but suggested that the Mennonite Church had instructed him not to formally apologize to any of his victims (Yoder communicated this to Barbra Graber, a friend of some of the victims). Yoder's writing in the unpublished 1995 book "The Case for Punishment" suggest he believed he was the innocent scapegoat of a conspiracy. Upon the conclusion of the process, the church urged Yoder "to use his gifts of writing and teaching."
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