The Erskine Declaration was a proclamation of students enrolled at Erskine Theological Seminary that declared that racial segregation was inappropriate for most Christian congregations. It became a pattern for declarations several other seminary student bodies adopted in the 1980s and 1990s. The Erskine Declaration stated: The institution did not officially recognize the document, which was considered very controversial at the time, but the faculty informally agreed to send student preachers only to those congregations who would accept students regardless of race.