The Jesuit-run Marquette University has punished a Christian group for dismissing an officer after he revealed himself as a practicing homosexual, reports Jeremy Kryn for LifeSiteNews:
Last Friday, Marquette political science professor John McAdams blogged about the outrage of the Jesuit-run Catholic university initially suspending its InterVarsity Christian Fellowship chapter.
The suspension has now been changed to a probation.
McAdams indicated the suspension was imposed because of the chapter’s dismissal of “an officer who ‘came out’ of the closet as homosexual, said he was involved in a homosexual affair which he would continue,” and made it clear that he disagreed with the organization’s interpretation of Christian teaching about homosexuality.
Today, Director of University Communications Kate Venne confirmed to LifeSiteNews why the campus chapter was placed on probation.
“The probation results from a finding that the chapter violated its own policies and procedures in dealing with a complaint,” Venne said. “This failure and the lack of clear communication regarding why action was taken caused significant personal hurt and resulted in allegations of discrimination.”
She added, “Marquette expects all student organizations to adhere to the university’s Statement on Human Dignity which ‘recognizes and cherishes the dignity of each individual regardless of age, culture, faith, ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, language, disability or social class.’”
In his Friday blog post, McAdams said that Dean of Students Stephanie Quade has reversed the initial decision to suspend the campus chapter. In addition to the current one-year probation for upholding Christian moral principles, McAdams reported that InterVarsity Christian Fellowship will have to submit to a review of their constitution.
The Harvard University alumnus said that the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship mobilized a letter writing campaign in support of its actions. While Quade acknowledged receiving a large number of emails, she denied that they had a role in her decision to reverse the suspension.
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