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Pro-gay Hope College professor: 'I had no choice' but to leave

By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman

HOLLAND – Speaking up for gay rights is detrimental to your career, at least if you're a professor at Hope College.
That's the message that Dr. Miguel De La Torre says he received from the college after publishing an editorial critical of James Dobson's anti-gay stance in the local paper in February. James Dobson is the founder of Focus on the Family, an anti-gay rights group. De La Torre's editorial made fun of a speech that Dobson gave in Washington, D.C., during which Dobson seemed to claim that the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants was gay.
"That I chose to leave – yes, that is true," said De La Torre. "But the reasons why I left have a great deal to do, I think, with … my possible future here at Hope."
De La Torre claims that, as a result of the editorial, he was turned down for a merit increase, despite having published three books in one year.
"The status committee recommended me for a merit increase – the chair of my department, my dean, it went all the way up the line. [Hope President James Bultman] chose not to give me the merit increase," he said.
"What this means is that when I come up for full professorship, the fact that I may have published three books in one year, or seven since I've been here, nine by next year – will mean nothing."
De La Torre's claim seems to be validated by a March 14 letter he received from Bultman which criticized De La Torre's editorial and claimed the editorial would hurt Hope's chances with conservative donors.
In a May 24 article, the Detroit Free Press quoted Bultman's letter as saying that, "Hope is dependent on enrollment and gifts to drive the college financially… When people are displeased with what we do, their only recourse is to exercise their options with regard to enrollment and gifting. Several have indicated their intention to do so."
Dr. David Myers, another Hope College professor and the author of "What God Has Joined Together? – A Christian Case for Gay Marriage," said that his experience has been different from De La Torre's.
"I haven't personally experienced any restraint on my academic freedom. I've kept the college, via my dean, informed about this book from before the time of the contract, and never was discouraged from writing," Myers said.
Myers, who has been at the college since 1967, stressed that, "The college issued a statement that made clear, as I have, that I speak solely for myself, not for Hope College."
De La Torre, said that Bultman's letter, coupled with the president's refusal of a merit increase, "means that my scholarship, number one besides not being appreciated, is not rewarded." De La Torre had been at the college since 1999.
"So if I want to remain active in academia, I have no choice but to leave for an institution that is willing to reward and celebrate my scholarship," De La Torre said. "So in a way, did they force me to leave? No. Did they make the circumstances in such a way that I had no choice but to leave? Yes."
De La Torre said that the controversy surrounding his Dobson editorial was not the first time he was reprimanded by Bultman for something he had written. In 2002 he published an editorial in the Sentinel. "I made the connection that the reason why many Christian schools began their operations in the late 60s, early 70s was a way of getting around the desegregation laws of the Supreme Court. And I had my hand slapped for that because a lot of our students come from Christian schools."
A BTL web search for Hope College's official position on homosexuality discovered an April 22, 2002 press release which says, "Hope College's Institutional Statement on homosexuality adopted by the Board of Trustees largely reflects that perspective of the Reformed Church in America, the founding denomination with which the college remains affiliated. The RCA and the college distinguish between homosexual orientation and practice, identifying the latter as 'contrary to Scripture' while, also in keeping with biblical teaching, encouraging 'love and sensitivity' in the care of all people."
Hope spokesperson Tom Renner refused to comment on the college's position on homosexuality. In response to questions about De La Torre's resignation, Renner read a statement which says, in part, "The college has accepted his resignation with regret knowing that he has a passionate voice for the marginalized in our society and a message that is a good one for all of us to hear. Miguel de la Torre is a talented person and all of us who know and care for him wish him well in his new position."

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