Wheaton College. Prof. Hawkins, and the Army

In December 2015, Professor Larycia Hawkins wore a hijab. As she stated in her December 10th Facebook message,

I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God. [Source]

Apparently, this was controversial. Though her employer, Wheaton College, took no issue with the headscarf (they avoided the term "hijab"), her intent to associate with Islam touched a nerve.

On December 15th, Provost Stan L. Jones sought clarification on her perspectives. Wheaton College employees must sign a Statement of Faith annually, and he believed several of her Facebook statements conflicted with various aspects of the Statement. She complied.

Apparently, it wasn't good enough. According to a statement from the college, "While her statement was thoughtful, well-written, and would probably be acceptable as part of a new faculty application, given the particular issues raised, he felt that further conversation was indeed needed. [Source]

At that point, she refused to make further statements, which led to an "impasse." For its part, according to the Washington Post, the college "did not answer a question about what specifically the college was looking for her to clarify in follow-up conversations." [Source]

On January 5th, Wheaton College initiated termination proceedings against Dr. Hawkins. [Source]

Darrell Bock, one of the 17-member board of trustees, said that it has turned into a personnel matter. If that's the case, there are a slew of problems right around the corner. Faculty are watching the process closely; if even the theology department is divided, "what would happen to them if the college maintains her statement does not adhere to the statement of faith?" [Source]

And then there's the whole equal opportunity issue. Hawkins is one of Wheaton’s five black tenured professors, who make up 2 percent of the faculty, and its only full-time black woman professor. [Source] What does it say about the nature of Wheaton College if it can't suffer the diversity of beliefs in its own staff?

Wheaton may say that the issue was Hawkins' refusal to further clarify the issue, but a column from USC's Religion Dispatches believes Wheaton isn't being honest about the real issue. Whatever Hawkins says, Wheaton will split hairs because it's using the issue for its own publicity.[Source]

It's an issue that has faced Wheaton in the past -- is it a legitimate institution for higher learning, or a vehicle to promote a particular brand of evangelical orthodoxy? Two instances within the military science department come to mind.

A few years ago, the Army published an ROTC position for Wheaton in the senior captain's list. Its "Must be of Christian faith" requirement drew the ire of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. The foundation argued the requirement was an unconstitutional religious test.[Source]

Plus, in an April 2013 article, its ROTC program self-identified "as the only Christian ROTC program in the nation." [Source]

So, what is Wheaton College all about? I look forward to the February 11th hearing.