U of IL to 'Review' Firing of Catholic Prof [U of Illinois]

LifeSiteNews.com ^ | July 13, 2010 | Kathleen Gilbert

[topher]

Tuesday July 13, 2010

---

U. of IL to 'Review' Firing of Catholic Prof.

By Kathleen Gilbert

URBANA, Illinois, July 13, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The University of Illinois has issued an open-ended statement regarding a professor of a Catholicism course who was fired after stating that homosexual activity is contrary to the natural moral law. The university statement says only that the school preserves a "commitment to the principles of academic freedom" and that the matter is being reviewed.

The university did not respond to LifeSiteNews.com's (LSN) request for comment Monday. However, in an email response posted on CatholicVoteAction.org, University of Illinois President Michael J. Hogan stated that "academic freedom is at the core of our teaching and research missions," and that he has directed the UIUC Senate’s standing Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure to review the firing of Dr. Kenneth Howell.

Dr. Howell had taught “Introduction to Catholicism and Modern Catholic Thought” at the university's Department of Religion since 2001, and also taught at the diocesan-run Newman center on campus. It was revealed late last week that, according to the professor, he was terminated after the Office of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Concerns learned of his email explaining to students how homosexuality was contrary to the natural moral law.

Howell's email stated in part: "Natural Moral Law says that Morality must be a response to REALITY. In other words, sexual acts are only appropriate for people who are complementary, not the same."

Robert McKim, chairman of the Department of Religion, persisted in terminating Howell even after Howell offered not to address the topic of homosexuality in class. Howell is now seeking legal action with the help of Alliance Defense Fund attorneys.

In his statement, Hogan insisted that "the University administration shares my commitment to the principles of academic freedom," but "at the same time, we do believe it’s important to fully investigate all of the details related to this situation."

"As I’m sure you’re aware, it is sometimes the case that public reports may convey only part of the story. I think it important to reserve judgment until I have all of the facts and I hope you’ll agree," he wrote.

Hogan said he expected the review "to be completed very soon."

To contact the University of Illinois:

Michael J. Hogan, president
(217) 333-3070

Office of Public Affairs
(217) 333-5010

URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jul/10071305.html

---

Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.

[topher]

This is an update to the original article [on FreeRepublic] from LifeSiteNews.com:

U of Illinois Fires Catholic Prof for Explaining Church Teaching on Homosexuality

From the updated article is that University President is asking for a review of this matter:

From the article:

University of Illinois President Michael J. Hogan stated that "academic freedom is at the core of our teaching and research missions," and that he has directed the UIUC Senate’s standing Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure to review the firing of Dr. Kenneth Howell.

The University's president statement is encouraging. Also, a multi-million lawsuit, plus upsetting the alumni, will hurt the University.

I think the Gay/Lesbian group might lose this one...

[Enchante]

hope that FREEDOM is protected at last in this case

but the way that academic “hiring committees” function, in vastly more cases the “issue” is never even allowed to arise openly, b/c a person of “politically incorrect” views never gets hired in the first place

[Stevenc131]

But of course academic freedom doesn’t appy to ‘hate speech’, which is defined as anything that contradicts liberal philosophy.

[left that other site]

I am not Roman Catholic, but I am a Christian and I am a proud American.

Even if one believes in equal SECULAR rights for all, the fact remains that the RC Church derives its standards from the Bible, and the Bible says that the ACTS of Homosexuality (not the proclivity) are sins.

If all this man was doing was teaching the facts, according to the book, then his firing was a grave injustice and MUST be corrected.

[secondamendmentkid]

“b/c a person of “politically incorrect” views never gets hired in the first place”

And in case they may have made a mistake, they will put him/her thru numerous litmus tests BEFORE tenure arrives.

But also, think about this - would you as a conservative PHD want to go to an environment where you had to repress your views or be treated as a pariah? It takes a very strong person to be working among his “enemies” all of the time.