April Armstrong just wanted an education. When she entered Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) in Fort Worth, Texas, in 2004, she thought she knew exactly the sort of education she would receive. She had been homeschooled by Southern Baptist parents, and though she had attended the secular University of Oklahoma for her undergraduate degree, she told me that she had largely remained sheltered from the outside world. SWBTS, the second-largest of the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) seminaries, seemed like a familiar place.

It proved to be entirely different from what she expected.

“There was definitely a culture shock with how much I had to deal with what I would characterize as sexual harassment, which I was subject to just for existing,” she said. Armstrong had chosen to study for a theology degree, though she did not intend to enter the ministry. There were few women in her program, and the school’s stance against women preachers made Armstrong suspect to campus conservatives. “I was put in a position where I was constantly having to defend myself against gender-based hostility,” she explained.

Armstrong succeeded academically despite these challenges. The faculty voted to award her the prestigious Albert K. Venting Jr. Memorial Award shortly before her graduation in 2007. At the ceremony, Armstrong was one of only two women to receive awards. The other woman was recognized for achievement in women’s ministry, the spiritual instruction of women by other women.

Armstrong’s time at SWBTS coincided almost exactly with the beginning of Paige Patterson’s tenure as seminary president. As The Washington Post has reported, Patterson came under fire for claiming that it is unbiblical for an abused wife to divorce her husband and for describing a 16-year-old as “built” and “very attractive” in a sermon illustration. After an outcry from Southern Baptist women, SWBTS trustees voted to remove Patterson as president. The Post later reported that, as president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, another SBC institution, Patterson had counseled a rape victim against reporting her attack to police.