Ken Howell & the U of I’s Response: A Poison Pill

A local Champaign reporter who has been interviewing me about the aforementioned affair told me earlier today about the U of I’s offer to Ken Howell. Apparently they have rehired him to teach one class per semester for $10, 000 per semester but he has to cut all ties with the St. John’s Catholic Newman Center. He asked me for my thoughts on the matter. Here is what I told him:

On the one hand, this is positive news. The commission of the faculty senate has put the lie to the claims by LAS that teaching about the Catholic faith in a class about Catholicism is hate speech. Nevertheless, the good fruit is laced with poison.

The offer seems to be exactly what I was afraid of. The prohibition against Dr. Howell’s association with the Newman Center is another violation of his academic freedom and it is likewise a violation of his freedom of religion. How many other adjuncts or part time faculty are prevented from working for an organization associated with their faith as a condition of employment?

The U of I appears to be making an economically untenable offer with the intent of voiding a 90+ year relationship with the Newman Center. I suspect that they are banking on the fact that since Dr. Howell cannot work for the Newman Center, which paid him a full professor’s salary, he will not be able to afford to take the position. The U of I is offering him perhaps a little more than a quarter of his Newman Center salary.

Even if Dr. Howell does manage to figure out how to make such a situation work, at the very least this stipulation seems to corroborate my experience that all too many at the U of I have a prejudice against faith. To suppose that being paid by a religious institution somehow disqualifies a professor from academic rigor and fair-mindedness is bigotry of the first order. The fact that seminaries all across the country, whose faculty are paid by religious bodies, are also accredited by such associations as that which accredits the U of I (North Central Association of Colleges and Schools) indicates that funding from a religious source provides no warrant for suspicion. Indeed, Catholic Chairs at major universities usually involve funding from Catholic donors and consultation with the local bishop about faculty appointments. I do hope that this offensive stipulation is challenged.

See here and here for my previous posts on this matter.