Tuesday, August 12, 2008

An example of religious discrimination in academics

Last week I posted about some stories regarding discrimination and religion in academic settings. Jim posted a comment that I think is worth highlighting. It's his own story of the problems of having faith in an academic setting. My sense is that this type of discrimination is under the radar for most college administrators, but it does seem to happen. Thanks Jim!

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"While I was on the tenure track at U of Central Arkansas (chemistry), two of us were warned by the department chair that the fact that we could be identified as Christians would be negatively considered during his review of our tenure applications. His evaluation was a major portion of the tenure process there. Within three years, both of us had left (one tenured Christian chem prof was denied promotion to full professor in the same time period), in part at the suggestion of tenured chemistry faculty that were themselves visibly active Christians and worried that we were not going to be granted tenure based on the chair's "block". Keep in mind, NONE of us mentioned our Faith in class or to our students during professional interactions and the only way that we could be identified was because in one departmental social setting (a birthday party), church attendance was mentioned. I went on to becoming the project head for a educational project for the Lebanese government, my colleague is a senior research biochemist at the Mayo Clinic Research Facility.

God is Truly good"

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