Staff Resignations, and No Accountability for Unprofessional Conduct

In the fall of 2023 and summer of 2024, at least 6 staff members chose to resign explicitly because of the conduct and decisions of the church’s Executive Team, led by Rev. Alison Miller.

An organized response from congregants began in June 2024, with the forced resignation of DeReau Farrar, the Director of Music since 2016. The church cited “divisions among leadership” and provided no clear justification for DeReau’s removal.

Congregants learned later that DeReau had spearheaded several efforts to increase accountability for Rev. Alison’s conduct, most notably by requesting an investigation from the Board and then from the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). The investigations affirmed that Rev. Alison had behaved inappropriately and unprofessionally, though not to a level that required disciplinary action. Church leadership portrayed Rev. Alison as the victim of an unwarranted personal attack and refused to acknowledge any of the findings that reflected poorly on her.

The Board of Trustees did not engage seriously with the concerns expressed by resigning staff members. Publicly, church leadership insisted that turnover is “normal” and denied that the resignations were related, even though every single resigned staff member said otherwise.

DeReau’s removal shocked most congregants and prompted an outpouring of concern, anger, grief, and organized protest. The Congregant Action Team formed to make visible the concerns of congregants and put pressure on church leadership to take accountability for the loss of several beloved staff members.

Congregant protest was met with immediate condemnation from church leadership—despite a long UU tradition of praising “disruptors” and activists. In particular, First Unitarian Church leadership

• used the pulpit to malign dissenting congregants

• issued blanket warnings about “misinformation” while spreading lies about congregants and resigned staff

• formally banned “protesting” on church property

• prohibited dissenters from sharing information (e.g., flyers) on church property

• ignored reports of verbal and even physical aggression toward dissenters

Meanwhile, many other congregants expressed their grief and bewilderment in non-disruptive ways and were largely ignored. By the end of the summer, an estimated 80-100 congregants vanished from the music program. Church leadership did little more than shrug.

By late September 2024, the Congregant Action Team lost faith in church leadership. We held an online Town Hall and launched two petitions: one to call a vote on four policy proposals, and one to call a vote on whether to dismiss Rev. Alison Miller.

The right of congregants to petition for a congregational vote is stated plainly in the Bylaws of First Unitarian Church. Yet, the Board of Trustees publicly denounced the petitions, failed to provide us with essential information, and finally—after stalling for more than two months—invented a retroactive requirement that invalidated our online petitions.

The Board’s obstruction of the petition process strengthened our resolve to take our concerns to the congregation at large. We used an Oregon Law to request the church’s member list so that we might send an email about our petitions. The Board failed to comply with the law. Worse, the Board warned the congregation about our request in a tone that made some congregants fearful for their literal safety, even after we retracted our request.

We remained determined to offer our perspective to the congregation at large. We spent several months compiling evidence in support of our recommendation to dismiss the Rev. Alison Miller from First Unitarian Church. Our argument, “The Case for Calling a Vote on Whether to Dismiss the Rev. Alison Miller,” cites transcripts of public remarks, Board meeting minutes, email exchanges, notes from meetings with church leadership, and testimonials from congregants, former staff, and a former Board member. We also wrote up our research in support of our policy proposals.

In late February 2025, we emailed our work to as many church members as we could. We encouraged each person to embrace the 5th UU Principle: ”The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.” We hoped that congregants would engage with our information alongside the church’s perspective to make informed decisions about the future of the church.

Our outreach campaign yielded more signatures on our petitions, but not such overwhelming support as to compel us to continue struggling against the Board’s obstructions. Still, we felt at peace. We had completed the work we felt compelled to do. We were ready to walk away.

Then, the Board of Trustees issued a Cease and Desist letter demanding we take down this website. The Board asserted that the website contained “false statements and distortions about Reverend Alison Miller.” Well, we had invited the Board to send us corrections several times, and we had not received any. We were not interested in cooperating with the wholesale censorship of public criticism. Our inbox remained open for corrections.

A month later, the Board voted to expel the members of the Congregant Action Team from the First Unitarian Church of Portland for the sole reason that we did not comply with the demand to take down the website. Ironically, the Board failed to expel two members of the team who were (and remain) listed on this website. The sloppiness of the process was astounding.

Former Board member Adam confronted church leadership about the decision. Adam asked for examples of the “falsehoods.” One Board member provided examples of two claims that he believed to be unsubstantiated. In fact, we had provided extensive evidence in support of those claims, and we would have gladly pointed the Board member to our documentation if he had bothered to ask. Meanwhile, the Board Moderator confessed to Adam that she had never so much as visited our website, though she supported the motion to expel us.