Professor Who Wore Headscarf To Leave Christian College

Wheaton College professor Larycia Hawkins speaks during a news conference Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, in Chicago. Hawkins, who's Christian, posted her views on Facebook and wore a headscarf to show solidarity with Musli... Wheaton College professor Larycia Hawkins speaks during a news conference Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, in Chicago. Hawkins, who's Christian, posted her views on Facebook and wore a headscarf to show solidarity with Muslims is disputing the university's account of interactions with administrators who've initiated steps to fire her. Suburban Chicago's Wheaton College initiated the termination-for-cause proceeding against Hawkins on Tuesday, saying she refused to participate in "clarifying conversations" about theological issues. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green) MORE LESS

CHICAGO (AP) — A professor
of a Christian college who asserted Christians and Muslims worship the
same God will leave her post, the school near Chicago announced.

In a statement posted
on Wheaton College’s website, the school and Larycia Hawkins said they
“have reached a confidential agreement under which they will part ways.”
The statement didn’t go into details.

The college had placed
Hawkins, a Christian and an associate professor of political science, on
leave in December after she posted her views on Facebook. Hawkins also
began wearing a hijab, the headscarf worn by some Muslim women, to
counter what she called “vitriolic” rhetoric against Muslims.

Shortly afterward, the college began efforts to dismiss her despite objections by some faculty members.

“I
appreciate and have great respect for the Christian liberal arts and
the ways that Wheaton College exudes that in its mission, programs, and
in the caliber of its employees and students,” Hawkins said in the
statement posted Saturday on the school’s website.

College
officials and Hawkins said in the statement that neither will speak
publically about their relationship before a news conference scheduled
for Wednesday.

“Wheaton College sincerely appreciates Dr. Hawkins’
contributions to this institution over the last nine years,” President
Philip Graham Ryken said in the statement. “We are grateful for her
passionate teaching, scholarship, community service and mentorship of
our students.”

College officials previously had said Hawkins’ views were inconsistent with the college’s “doctrinal convictions.”

Hawkins
had maintained that nothing about her views contradict the college’s
statement of faith, which all instructors sign. Among other things it
affirms belief in “one sovereign God,” views on Adam and Eve and the
existence of Satan.

Nearly 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students attend Wheaton College, which is roughly 30 miles from Chicago.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.

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  1. Avatar for kuvasz kuvasz says:

    “I was blind but now I see!”
    John 9:25

  2. Every single artful or statuary rendition of the Blessed Mother (Mary) is depicted wearing the hijab. We don’t have competing gods, we have competing religions.

  3. Avatar for condew condew says:

    I’ve got to really question the academic rigor of a religiously-oriented school that would dismiss a professor for saying the God of Christians, Jews, and Muslims is the same God, the God of Abraham. It’s a fact that few contest.

  4. Avatar for jinnj jinnj says:

    Nearly 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students attend the philosophically Ass-Backward Bigoted Wheaton College,which is roughly 30 miles from Chicago.
    The ultimate ugly collateral damage of this whole stupid ignorant fundamentalist melt-down is the crap-splatter from this that hit the wonderful & progressive & enlightened
    Wheaton College,which is roughly 40 miles from Boston .

    This has been an absolute nightmare for the good folks at Wheaton College in Massachusetts.

  5. She’s better off.

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