Illinois Christian college seeks to fire professor for comments on Islam

Officials at a Chicago Christian college said
Tuesday they are moving forward with firing a
professor who was placed on leave after
asserting that Christians and Muslims worship
the same God.
Provost Stanton Jones initiated the termination-
for-cause proceeding after Larycia Hawkins
refused to participate in clarifying the comments
she made about the two religions, Wheaton
College said in a statement on its website.
Wheaton College said it placed Hawkins on
administrative leave in December because of
theological statements "that seem inconsistent
with Wheaton College's doctrinal convictions,
which she voluntarily agreed to support and
uphold when she entered into an employment
agreement with the college."
Hawkins began to wear a hijab to show solidarity
with Muslims, whom she felt were being
persecuted in the wake of the San Bernardino
shooting and the terror attacks in Paris
perpetuated by Muslim extremists. She told
reporters last month her actions were “motivated
by a desire to live out my faith.”
“I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims
because they, like me, a Christian, are
people of the book,” she posted on
Facebook. “And as Pope Francis stated last
week, we worship the same God.”
The school insists that is not why she was
placed on leave.
The college said it has had frank conversations
with Hawkins on doctrinal issues as it pursued
the possibility of reconciliation with her but that
"Hawkins has stated clearly her unwillingness to
participate in such further clarifying
conversations."
The Chicago Tribune reported that Hawkins had
been asked to affirm the college’s statement of
faith four times since she started teaching at
Wheaton College nine years go. Hawkins and the
school have butted heads over a paper relating
the Bible and race relations in America, a photo
taken of her inside a home at a party on the
same day as Chicago’s Pride Parade and
suggesting the college's curriculum should include
sensitive vocabulary for talks concerning
sexuality, according to the paper.
A spokeswoman for Hawkins, Shelly Ruzicka, said
the professor had no immediate comment on the
effort to fire her but she "maintains Christian
support for the Muslim community amid the
ongoing anti-Muslim climate."
Hawkins now faces a hearing with the college’s
Faculty Personnel Committee, according to the
Tribune.
The panel is made up of nine tenured faculty
members. After hearing from both sides, the panel
will make a recommendation on Hawkins'
continued employement to Wheaton College
President Philip Ryken.