In light of what Sam has found, maybe we should take up the whole matter in Boston, or better yet drive up to Salem and hold hearings there?
Without meaning to joke about a serious matter, I find the whole idea of crawling of AALL member institutions Web sites looking for what may offend our own sensibilities (even if invited to do so) to smack too much of a medieval inquisition.
I mean why stop with Liberty U. I'm sure we could dig up something offensive on all sorts of religious schools and institutions. And why stop with AALL, let's take it the accrediting agencies? Then we can follow that with disqualifying anyone with a degree from religious institutions from serving as a librarian or academic. We could also make AALL members sign oaths to make sure everyone is totally non-discriminatory in outlook (what ever that my mean).
In case you can't tell, I find the whole process disconcerting.
Paul D. Callister, JD, MSLIS
Director of the Leon E. Bloch Law Library & Associate Professor of Law
University of Missouri-Kansas City
________________________________
From: owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu on behalf of Samuel Trosow
Sent: Sat 3/13/2004 1:56 PM
To: law-lib@ucdavis.edu
Subject: Some links on Liberty University / Jerry Falwell and some questions
Having taken up Mr. Kistler's invitation to learn more about Liberty
University by reviewing their website, I would take issue with his
assertion that the "job description was crafted to be honest, open and
transparent." What emerges from a review of the website, as well as from
reading about Rev. Falwell's views on education, is indeed much more
extreme than what appears from the job posting.
I am also of the opinion that this institution would be ineligible from
utilizing formal AALL Placement services, even under the very permissive
second tier which provides some exceptions from the general
non-discrimination standard.
I tried to look further into the employment practices at LU. I found the
human resources page at
http://www.liberty.edu/Administration/HumanResources/index.cfm?PID=174
which has a link to the employee handbook, but it is not accessible.
The EEO statement (which is accessible) does confirm that neither
religion nor sexual orientation are among the listed protected categories.
The doctrinal statement
[http://www.liberty.edu/Administration/index.cfm?PID=286] says, inter
alia, "We affirm that the return of Christ for all believers is
imminent. It will be followed by seven years of great tribulation, and
then the coming of Christ to establish His earthly kingdom for a
thousand years. The unsaved will then be raised and judged according to
their works and separated forever from God in hell."
The Faculty Application
[http://www.liberty.edu/media/pdf/FacultyApp_adb.pdf] recites the
doctrinal statement and advises applicants that should they reach the
interview stage, their responses to questions about the statement will
be part of the interview discussion, and applicants are asked to write a
to biographical sketch including "how you came to Christ for salvation."
The staff application asks for a similar essay. I am unclear whether
the position is considered staff or faculty but the end result is the
same. based on a review of these pages, I doubt very much that this
institution would meet the requirements of AALL's placement policy, even
at its second tier ("...a separate category for law schools having a
religious affiliation or purpose that wish to exercise their rights
under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution to apply
employment policies related to that affiliation or purpose. These
provide a preference for persons adhering to the religious affiliation
or purpose of the law school, but shall not be applied to preclude
applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin,
disability, or sexual orientation.")
Given the nature of the application on the website, I don't think this
institution would qualify because they do, as a realistic and practical
matter, preclude applicants on the basis of religion.
Also interesting are some examples from the "Reprimands and
Consequences" section of the Student Affairs pages at
http://www.liberty.edu/StudentAffairs/index.cfm?PID=1378 :
1 reprimand for each half hour of curfew violation, 4 reprimands for
horseplay, 6 for attendance at a dance, 6 for use of tobacco, 12 for
"Attendance at, possession or viewing of, an "R," "NC-17" or "X"-rated
movie", 18 for "Association with those consuming alcohol", and 30 for
"involvement with witchcraft, séances or other satanic or demonic activity."
Since I couldn't access the employee handbook, it is not clear how these
standards apply to faculty and staff, perhaps Mr. Kistler could clarify.
The statement about the vision of the law school
[http://www.lc.org/radiotv/nlj/nlj1202.htm]is also telling.
("The faculty of this school will be comprised of committed Christians
who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. These faculty must
have a passion that burns within them and which compels them to dedicate
their lives to teaching young people, using biblical and legal
principles that will revitalize and revolutionize America. ") The job ad
doesn't mention this requirement, but I think it is fair to read this
language as precluding applications on the basis of religion.
Finally, here are some articles that might help inform the current
discussion on the topic of Liberty University:
Falwell Fights Heresy on Campus
http://www.buildingequality.us/ifas/fw/9711/university.html
The Christian closet: at religious colleges, gay men and lesbians hide
to avoid harassment and expulsion.
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m1589/n769/21152502/p1/article.jhtml
With the exception of one particularly hateful posting, this thread has
for the most part, been a good discussion with many contributors
raising issues related to intellelctual freedom and the norms of our
profession. Keeping in mind that this list is not formally an AALL
project, one question I have is whether LU intends to avail itself of
the formal AALL-sponsored job recruitment mechanisms. Do they intend to
post their position on the AALL job line or use AALL's facilities at the
conference for interviewing? Perhaps Mr. Kistler can answer this
question. I think if the answer is in the affirmative, there are some
serious policy questions that we need to address as an organization. And
as this whole thread foreshadows, maybe we should have that discussion
anyway.
Samuel Trosow
Assistant Professor
University of Western Ontario
Faculty of Law / Faculty of Information & Media Studies
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