No premarital or gay sex. No adultery. No public drinking. No faculty at Shorter University?
Huffington Post has an item today that Shorter University’s personal lifestyle statement, which we discussed here in October, is causing the Baptist school to lose faculty members.
That is what many of you predicted when the AJC first reported that the Rome college required employees to sign a “Personal Lifestyle Statement” forbidding premarital sex, adultery and homosexual sex. The Personal Statement also requires that employees be active members of a local church. And the employees must agree to not drink in public places where students may see them, including restaurants, concerts and sports events. Nor can they attend a Shorter function if they consumed alcohol six hours prior to the event.
The school has had a policy since 2008 to hire Christians only who adhere to strict interpretations of the Bible. My AJC colleague Laura Diamond explained that the policy does not impact students’ ability to get federal loans because the college serves as pass-through and the money belongs to the students not the college.
In its update, Huffington cites Inside Higher Ed, which reported last month that an anonymous employee survey found that 12 percent of the faculty said they planned to stay at Shorter. Here is a good Rome News-Tribune story on the survey.
According to Huffington:
An online campaign called “Save Our Shorter” seems to blame the departure of many employees on the pledge, even though the university’s president told the Religion News Service that some of those who resigned did not state their reason for leaving.
“I feel that Shorter, the GBC, the Board of Trustees, and/or whoever can do what they want to the school,” one student writes on the site. “It’s their school, but I cannot personally attend a school so full of hate. The personal lifestyle statement is picking and choosing which sins are worse than others, but a sin is a sin. Why were homosexuality, premarital sex, and adultery singled out? What about child molesters?”
One of the school’s tenured professor felt similarly. “Lest anyone think I am ‘promoting’ homosexuality, please know that I am not,” professor Sherri Weiler, who resigned last week, wrote in the Rome News-Tribune, according to the “Save Our Shorter” site. “I am simply not going to judge anyone who expresses his/ her sexuality in this way.”
She continued, “All I know is that I cannot sign a document that “reject[s] as acceptable” any one of God’s creatures, be they adulterers, sexual ’sinners’ of any stripe, or drinkers of alcohol in public. All I know is that I cannot ‘reject as acceptable’ people who have sinned in any way, because I’ve sinned, too, and no doubt will again.”
Still, Nelson Price, who was chairman of the Board of Trustees when the lifestyle statement was approved, denounced the survey cited by Inside Higher Ed, describing it as “skewed” to the Rome News-Tribune . “The senders sent it to a group they selected and left out persons known to be in support of the direction the school is going,” Price noted. “It was not an objective blind survey…the questions were highly biased.”
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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66 comments Add your comment
Jay Page
May 24th, 2012
11:17 pm
*IS NOW GOING.
Refugee from the "Sahara of the Bozart" (Thank God and H.L. Mencken We Escaped)
May 24th, 2012
11:33 pm
This may be a blessing, as it could put Shorter U. on the path of training the students for the jobs of the future. It now appears there will be great demand for someone trained in the fine art of “scourging” homosexuals as suggested by Rev. Sean Harris, so that they will repent of this horrible sin. Maybe some exorcists, and lots of down-home Bible scholars. If Rev. Worley has his way, there will be fences around the “homos and queers” and the fine graduates of Shorter will be aquipped to “minister” unto them.
The Lord works in mysterious ways.
Refugee from the "Sahara of the Bozart" (Thank God and H.L. Mencken We Escaped)
May 24th, 2012
11:35 pm
aquipped = equipped
etc…
Refugee from the "Sahara of the Bozart" (Thank God and H.L. Mencken We Escaped)
May 24th, 2012
11:42 pm
H.L. would love this story. He would poke a little fun at Rev. Nelson(Miss Nellie)Price. Wonder when the truth will come out on “Miss Nellie” like happened to Bishop Eddie Long shortly after his very public anti-gay crusade.
C’mon Miss Nellie, let your hair and your smokescreen down.
Progressive Humanist
May 24th, 2012
11:43 pm
I will say that the faculty members at Shorter who have resigned have my respect. It will not be easy to find other higher ed employment at this time when there are thousands of academics with PhDs out of work and budgets continue to be tightened. And their prospects are not enhanced by having Shorter at the top of their vitas. Leaving now is truly a principled decision because they’re willing to accept the hard road ahead over remaining at what is a farce of a university.
A Georgia college president weighs in on Shorter controversy: Believers v. non believers | Get Schooled
May 25th, 2012
3:01 am
[...] Oglethorpe University president Lawrence M. Schall sent me a link to his recent Huffington Post blog on the Shorter University controversy; the Baptist college is requiring its faculty to sign Personal Lifestyle statements forbidding premarital sex, adultery and homosexual sex. The pledge is reportedly causing upset faculty to leave the school. [...]
LM
May 25th, 2012
7:28 am
Not only is it a career killer for the faculty to continue teaching at Shorter, it’s an embarrassment for those of us who hold degrees from the institution we were once proud of. My music degree from Shorter used to be a point of great pride on my resume that was sure to be noticed, but now I don’t even bother to list my degree until very small, fine print at the bottom of my resume. I choose, instead, to list the professors with whom I studied since their reputations are still unsullied by this nonsense. They were able to get out in time. My degree is from Shorter College, not this ridiculous excuse for an institution of higher learning, Shorter “University”.
Frankie
May 25th, 2012
8:09 am
I personally do not think they are going downt th right path. If you asked me upon my accepting employement there to submit a letter from my church basically saying I am a active member in good standing, no problem there.
But do not ask me to change my life outside of your school my life is just that MINE….as long as I do not involve any of the Shorter students what i do on my time is my business…
But if you have already hired me and then some time later you come back and say that i have to sign some pledge or agreement well, as soon as i sign it iwill be looking for another job at a school that respects me as a person….
Shorter-ex
May 25th, 2012
8:28 am
I recently resigned from the Shorter faculty after over 20 years of faithful service to the school. Though the Lifestyle Statement gets all the press, faculty and staff are also required to sign a Faith Statement to continue employment. This document goes far beyond traditional statements of Christian Faith such as the Apostles Creed and affirms belief in biblical inerrancy (which includes belief that the earth is c. 6,000 years old) and belief that the only way to heaven is acceptance of Jesus as personal Lord and Savior. Faculty are now expected to incorporate ‘Biblical principles’ in all courses. These intrusive measures account for many departures by excellent Christian faculty members who have a broader religious view. That is, many of us who have resigned believe that not all Christians are alike, and don’t need to be, and that there is room in Christianity for personal interpretation. All Baptists used to affirm this as well in the doctrine called ‘Priesthood of the Believer.’
Maureen Downey
May 25th, 2012
8:34 am
@Chris, Sorry. It was Shorter College for so long that I slip back into that, although I know that it changed its designation two years ago.
Maureen
CobbGOPer
May 25th, 2012
11:00 am
@Rickster
May 24th, 2012
4:45 pm
Hey, I didn’t judge them until after they judged me first. So find better snark.
Jim Morris
May 25th, 2012
8:45 pm
Follow this link to see the letter of resignation from a highly respected Biology professor at Shorter. I am a Shorter alumni and the school has been part of my life for many years. It is a school that has always been known for extremely high academic standards and for being a diverse Christian based school. What the GBC is doing is distorting the word of God and it is proving to be an embarrassment to Christians everywhere. Richard Pirkle explains very well the reasons why the bulk of the faculty are leaving.
http://saveourshorter.com/2012/05/22/letter-of-resignation/
A Georgia college president weighs in on Shorter controversy: Believers v. non … | GeorgiaNewsPress.com
May 25th, 2012
9:32 pm
[...] Oglethorpe University boss Lawrence M. Schall sent me a couple to his new Huffington Post blog on a Shorter University controversy; a Baptist college is requiring a expertise to pointer Personal Lifestyle statements ominous premarital sex, adultery and homosexual sex. The oath is reportedly causing dissapoint expertise to leave a school. [...]
Progressive Humanist
May 26th, 2012
12:30 pm
Enter your comments here
Truthbetold
May 28th, 2012
1:38 pm
I agree with Mitch. I’d rather believe the WORD of God and be a part of “organized religion” any day, than to live a life apart from God and the Bible. One day we will all know the truth as we will all have to give an account for the choices we’ve made.
I am all for Chrisitan values. If you don’t like Shorter’s regulations, leave or don’t go there.
James
May 29th, 2012
10:54 am
For those of you that are either moral relativists or clueless on why these “specific” sins are listed on the pledge and not others, let me spell it out for you: Crimes like child molestation and what not are already illegal and have laws against them, so those crimes/sins go without saying. This pledge is seeking to bridge the gap in the difference between what society/U.S. government says is wrong/illegal/immoral and what the Bible says. Many parts of society not only do not oppose these sins (pre-marital sex, adultery, homosexuality), in fact they promote them.
So please stop saying things like “why didn’t they put child molestation or kidnapping on the list”, it makes you seem really obtuse. Prior to having a pledge like this, Shorter could not terminate an unmarried employee who was suddenly pregnant, or a male staff member that had a “boyfriend.” Those are things that would not be illegal under U.S. Law. At schools like Shorter, the faculty and staff are supposed to be role models and paragons to their students. It’s a part of their mission. It is not about discrimination as some of you are trying to make it seem, it’s about having a faculty that reflects a Christ-like life and character.
For the record, I don’t have a dog in this fight, as I don’t work at, nor did I attend Shorter University.