Professor fired for not being fundie enough?

[paganbaby]

The reasons are murky, but a longtime professor of religion and history at William Carey University in Mississippi was fired in spite of holding tenure. The murkiness is hard to penetrate because he was notified by letter his contract would not be renewed, with no explanation given. He has a lot of fans among current and former students, who have started a petition on his behalf.

Quote

Faculty sources said they believed Browning offended a few students and some university administrators because of the way he taught the Bible. They said that while Browning is a deeply religious man, he teaches Genesis as having great value that does not depend on it being a literal history. While Browning does not teach evolution, his teaching of Genesis, they said, makes it possible for students to stay close to their faith at the Baptist university without rejecting modern science.

Because we wouldn't want a university that includes a medical school to have anything to do with modern science.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/05/09/students-and-alumni-william-carey-demand-answers-dismissal-tenured-faculty-member

I can't find much about this on the interwebs, and I don't have many contacts in Mississippi these days, so I don't know what the local gossip is.

[PennySycamore]

Good grief!  I remember years ago when Baptists (at least the ones I was around) didn't get their knickers in a twist about Genesis.

[Palimpsest]

This is - extremely unusual.

[paganbaby]

25 minutes ago, PennySycamore said:

Good grief!  I remember years ago when Baptists (at least the ones I was around) didn't get their knickers in a twist about Genesis.

Since he taught there for 26 years, I'm pretty sure he can remember that day too!

16 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

This is - extremely unusual.

I think only about 2 percent of tenured faculty are ever fired. The university denied this meant they were cutting back their religion department, so there's something else going on.

[docmom]

Those lucky DO students.  No need to learn about antibiotic resistance or emerging pathogens because without evolution they just don't exist.

 

[CTRLZero]

I'll be interested if anything further comes out to explain this firing.  I hope they didn't terminate him because some students were upset by using critical thinking skills.  Does this college accept a large number of applicants from the SOTDRT system?  Questions, questions.

[FundieFarmer]

Here's something a senior at the school published a bit ago: http://www.clarionledger.com/story/opinion/columnists/2016/05/10/william-carey-university-professor-firing-unjustified-sara-jolley/83991458/

She sai it's been squirrely for a while and he's very much beloved, so people are up in arms about it. Apparently hundreds have signed a petition on his behalf...

[paganbaby]

45 minutes ago, FundieFarmer said:

Here's something a senior at the school published a bit ago: http://www.clarionledger.com/story/opinion/columnists/2016/05/10/william-carey-university-professor-firing-unjustified-sara-jolley/83991458/

She sai it's been squirrely for a while and he's very much beloved, so people are up in arms about it. Apparently hundreds have signed a petition on his behalf...

So they merged the schools of music and ministry and refused to explain why? I'd certainly want to know, because that doesn't appear to be the most logical pairing. It looks like the administration has been after this professor for some time.  From comments I see on the petition site, President King isn't nearly as popular as Browning, so it could be personal instead of, or in addition to, doctrinal.