[News] [VA, USA] Hampden-Sydney extends professor's contract amid transgender uproar
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Richmond Times-Dispatch, VA, USA
Hampden-Sydney extends professor's contract amid transgender uproar
Posted: Monday, May 23, 2016 1:42 pm
By KARIN KAPSIDELIS
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Hampden-Sydney College reversed course last week and decided to renew the contract of a visiting professor amid an uproar over his comments that appeared to advocate violence against transgender people.
Retired Lt. Gen. W. Gerald Boykin, who has held the endowed professorship for nine years, blamed “PC Police” on his Facebook page May 18 for his contract not being extended, which he said was because of his stand opposing policies allowing transgender people to use the restroom they choose.
At The Awakening 2016 conference in Orlando, Fla., in March, Boykin told the audience that “the first man” who walked into his daughter’s restroom “just because he feels like a man today” would not have to worry about sex-change surgery.
The publicity put the all-male liberal arts college in the culture war crosshairs, with former presidential candidate Ted Cruz starting a “Stand with Gen. Boykin” web page seeking contributions on his behalf.
On May 19, the college announced it would extend Boykin’s contract another year, but gave a different explanation for what had transpired.
College spokesman Thomas H. Shomo said Monday that the Wheat Visiting Professor of Leadership position that Boykin holds was never intended as a long-term appointment. Boykin had held it on a year-to-year basis “because of various curriculum needs,” he said.
H-SC decided to retain Boykin for another year in order “to take a more phased approach” to returning the professorship to a rotating position, he said.
Asked if Boykin’s comments in March were a factor, Shomo said, “It was not a determining factor in the decision.” He said he could not say whether it was a factor at all because he “was not privy to discussions” leading to the decision.
Shomo said the decisions not to renew Boykin’s contract and then to extend it were made by interim President Dennis G. Stevens.
Boykin, former commander of the U.S. Army’s Delta Force who served as deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence under President George W. Bush, teaches in H-SC’s Military Leadership and National Security program.
On his Facebook page, Boykin denied that his comment at the conference advocated violence.
He repeated the comment as saying “the first man who goes in the restroom with my daughter will not have to worry about surgery.” Boykin said he “was referring to perverts who will use these policies to get into locker rooms with girls and women.”
In a YouTube video of his talk, Boykin says Christians should flock to the city council to say, “‘No, you’re not going to let a man go in my daughter’s bathroom just because he feels like a man today.’ Where are the Christians that are standing up to this kind of evil?” he said, and added, “But I will tell you what: the first man that walks in my daughter’s bathroom, he ain’t going to have to worry about the surgery.”
Boykin did not immediately return a request for comment.
Traylor Nichols, associate editor of H-SC’s student newspaper, said Boykin told him in an interview that he “never mentioned the term homosexuality” in The Awakening talk. But when Nichols asked about other anti-gay public comments he had made, Boykin “sounded very irate,” Nichols said.
Nichols, noting the campus “is extremely conservative,” said his sense is that students are glad that Boykin’s contract was extended.
“A lot of students like his class,” he said. They “were unhappy that he was fired” and dissatisfied with the explanation for it.
“I felt differently,” said Nichols, a rising senior from Powhatan County who describes himself as “rather conservative.”
“This is not a manner of conservative vs. liberal,” he said.
“It’s not the general’s views. It’s how he expresses those views,” he said. Hate speech is not in keeping with the principles taught at Hampden-Sydney and its rhetoric program, he said.
His talk was “not one that enhanced any sort of discussion, rather it shut it down,” he said.
Boykin is executive vice president of the Family Research Council, which praised H-SC’s rehiring decision on its website, noting that the retired general “likes to say that he left the Army to join the culture war. And this week, that war came right to his front door.”
Two H-SC alumni circulated a letter to be sent to Stevens objecting to Boykin’s views and his professorship.
“He has caused enough harm, not only to LGBT students and alumni (whether out or closeted), but also to the College’s brand and reputation in the wider world,” the letter stated. “The world is changing rapidly, and open gay-bashing, anti-LGBT rhetoric, and, particularly, advocating for violence against a sexual minority has no place at Hampden-Sydney.”
Jeffrey Harris, who co-authored the letter with Demas Boudreaux, said nearly 200 people affiliated in some way with H-SC signed the letter.
Harris said Boykin’s comments did not sound like a joke to him and appeared to advocate violence.
“That was too far in my mind,” he said. “We can all disagree on various things but once you move into what seems to be a violent perspective, that’s crossing a line beyond debate.”
Harris, a 1990 graduate from Hampton, said he had his own challenges at H-SC as one of two African-Americans in his class, but he loved the college then and now.
“I adore my alma mater. It made me into the man I am,” he said.
H-SC is “a conservative school and that’s fine,” but he said he spoke out now because “I want to see the college put it’s best foot forward, always.”
Shomo said the initial decision not to extend Boykin’s contract was made before the alumni letter, dated April 21, was received.
Last Wednesday, May 18, the college sought to clarify “so much misinformation” that was being circulated about Boykin and his relationship with H-SC.
“Given the rotating nature of the Wheat Professorship, it is inaccurate to suggest that General Boykin was fired,” the college said in a statement on Facebook. “It is also an injustice to General Boykin’s service to Hampden-Sydney and its students.”
The next day, the college posted that “after discussions with Hampden-Sydney College, Gen. Jerry Boykin has accepted another year’s contract to teach. ... Boykin stated, he ‘loves the college and its students and would be honored to teach for another year.’”
At the end of the next academic year, the college “will continue with its plan to restore the Wheat Professorship to short-term appointments in order to bring multiple perspectives on leadership to its students.”
Comments to the H-SC posting largely favored keeping Boykin on. “I’m glad for the students that General Boykin took the high road and agreed to return. He is the type of man we should always lift up as an example for our sons,” one said.
© 2016 BH Media Group, Inc.
http://www.richmond.com/news/article_6b599472-2b35-56bc-b27d-a7c6f3d566dc.html
Hampden-Sydney extends professor's contract amid transgender uproar
Posted: Monday, May 23, 2016 1:42 pm
By KARIN KAPSIDELIS
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Hampden-Sydney College reversed course last week and decided to renew the contract of a visiting professor amid an uproar over his comments that appeared to advocate violence against transgender people.
Retired Lt. Gen. W. Gerald Boykin, who has held the endowed professorship for nine years, blamed “PC Police” on his Facebook page May 18 for his contract not being extended, which he said was because of his stand opposing policies allowing transgender people to use the restroom they choose.
At The Awakening 2016 conference in Orlando, Fla., in March, Boykin told the audience that “the first man” who walked into his daughter’s restroom “just because he feels like a man today” would not have to worry about sex-change surgery.
The publicity put the all-male liberal arts college in the culture war crosshairs, with former presidential candidate Ted Cruz starting a “Stand with Gen. Boykin” web page seeking contributions on his behalf.
On May 19, the college announced it would extend Boykin’s contract another year, but gave a different explanation for what had transpired.
College spokesman Thomas H. Shomo said Monday that the Wheat Visiting Professor of Leadership position that Boykin holds was never intended as a long-term appointment. Boykin had held it on a year-to-year basis “because of various curriculum needs,” he said.
H-SC decided to retain Boykin for another year in order “to take a more phased approach” to returning the professorship to a rotating position, he said.
Asked if Boykin’s comments in March were a factor, Shomo said, “It was not a determining factor in the decision.” He said he could not say whether it was a factor at all because he “was not privy to discussions” leading to the decision.
Shomo said the decisions not to renew Boykin’s contract and then to extend it were made by interim President Dennis G. Stevens.
Boykin, former commander of the U.S. Army’s Delta Force who served as deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence under President George W. Bush, teaches in H-SC’s Military Leadership and National Security program.
On his Facebook page, Boykin denied that his comment at the conference advocated violence.
He repeated the comment as saying “the first man who goes in the restroom with my daughter will not have to worry about surgery.” Boykin said he “was referring to perverts who will use these policies to get into locker rooms with girls and women.”
In a YouTube video of his talk, Boykin says Christians should flock to the city council to say, “‘No, you’re not going to let a man go in my daughter’s bathroom just because he feels like a man today.’ Where are the Christians that are standing up to this kind of evil?” he said, and added, “But I will tell you what: the first man that walks in my daughter’s bathroom, he ain’t going to have to worry about the surgery.”
Boykin did not immediately return a request for comment.
Traylor Nichols, associate editor of H-SC’s student newspaper, said Boykin told him in an interview that he “never mentioned the term homosexuality” in The Awakening talk. But when Nichols asked about other anti-gay public comments he had made, Boykin “sounded very irate,” Nichols said.
Nichols, noting the campus “is extremely conservative,” said his sense is that students are glad that Boykin’s contract was extended.
“A lot of students like his class,” he said. They “were unhappy that he was fired” and dissatisfied with the explanation for it.
“I felt differently,” said Nichols, a rising senior from Powhatan County who describes himself as “rather conservative.”
“This is not a manner of conservative vs. liberal,” he said.
“It’s not the general’s views. It’s how he expresses those views,” he said. Hate speech is not in keeping with the principles taught at Hampden-Sydney and its rhetoric program, he said.
His talk was “not one that enhanced any sort of discussion, rather it shut it down,” he said.
Boykin is executive vice president of the Family Research Council, which praised H-SC’s rehiring decision on its website, noting that the retired general “likes to say that he left the Army to join the culture war. And this week, that war came right to his front door.”
Two H-SC alumni circulated a letter to be sent to Stevens objecting to Boykin’s views and his professorship.
“He has caused enough harm, not only to LGBT students and alumni (whether out or closeted), but also to the College’s brand and reputation in the wider world,” the letter stated. “The world is changing rapidly, and open gay-bashing, anti-LGBT rhetoric, and, particularly, advocating for violence against a sexual minority has no place at Hampden-Sydney.”
Jeffrey Harris, who co-authored the letter with Demas Boudreaux, said nearly 200 people affiliated in some way with H-SC signed the letter.
Harris said Boykin’s comments did not sound like a joke to him and appeared to advocate violence.
“That was too far in my mind,” he said. “We can all disagree on various things but once you move into what seems to be a violent perspective, that’s crossing a line beyond debate.”
Harris, a 1990 graduate from Hampton, said he had his own challenges at H-SC as one of two African-Americans in his class, but he loved the college then and now.
“I adore my alma mater. It made me into the man I am,” he said.
H-SC is “a conservative school and that’s fine,” but he said he spoke out now because “I want to see the college put it’s best foot forward, always.”
Shomo said the initial decision not to extend Boykin’s contract was made before the alumni letter, dated April 21, was received.
Last Wednesday, May 18, the college sought to clarify “so much misinformation” that was being circulated about Boykin and his relationship with H-SC.
“Given the rotating nature of the Wheat Professorship, it is inaccurate to suggest that General Boykin was fired,” the college said in a statement on Facebook. “It is also an injustice to General Boykin’s service to Hampden-Sydney and its students.”
The next day, the college posted that “after discussions with Hampden-Sydney College, Gen. Jerry Boykin has accepted another year’s contract to teach. ... Boykin stated, he ‘loves the college and its students and would be honored to teach for another year.’”
At the end of the next academic year, the college “will continue with its plan to restore the Wheat Professorship to short-term appointments in order to bring multiple perspectives on leadership to its students.”
Comments to the H-SC posting largely favored keeping Boykin on. “I’m glad for the students that General Boykin took the high road and agreed to return. He is the type of man we should always lift up as an example for our sons,” one said.
© 2016 BH Media Group, Inc.
http://www.richmond.com/news/article_6b599472-2b35-56bc-b27d-a7c6f3d566dc.html
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